General ⇒ Inclusion of certain Packages fails

[jhmicro]

Hello- I am using Kile (v 2.1.0) on Ubuntu 11.10. I am having trouble loading packages. I think Kile is looking in the wrong place for some packages?

As usual I use the \usepackage command to load various packages. However this doesn't seem to work for several packages including "rotating" and "multirow". These packages (as .sty files) are located in /usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/latex/.

Any ideas?


Thanks for any information you can provide.

-jh

[localghost]

[…] I think Kile is looking in the wrong place for some packages? […]

Kile does nothing in this regard. It is only the editor (or IDE).

[…] However this doesn't seem to work for several packages including "rotating" and "multirow". […]

What exactly means "doesn't seem to work"? Are there error messages in the log file?

Furthermore it is of interest whether you installed TeX Live from the repositories of your Linux distribution or from the original DVD. The path you mentioned suggests the first.

Try to locate the concerned packages inside the TeX installation tree on the terminal by commands from the KPathSea library.

Code: Select all

kpsewhich rotating

If this returns nothing, the packages are not on your system. As far as I remember, you then probably need to install "texlive-latex-extra" (or something similar) from the Ubuntu repositories. After that try the above check again.


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten

[jhmicro]

Hi Thorsten- Thanks very much for the quick reply. You are right, I did install Tex Live from the repositories, and I have also installed the texlive extras. When I said that the packages did not work, I meant that the "rotating" package was not being recognized, i.e. could not landscape a large table. I was able to fix this problem by simply copying and pasting the .sty file into the folder which contains the LaTex file that I am working on... perhaps the obvious answer!!

When I was working on a Windows computer, I would use Miktex to download/install packages. Once the package was downloaded, it would be automatically available for all my LaTex documents. It seems now I have to manually put each package into the folder of the active document.

As you can see, I am pretty green when it comes to working with LaTex... that's why these forums are so useful for me. Thanks for your time.

-jh

[localghost]

[…] I have also installed the texlive extras. When I said that the packages did not work, I meant that the "rotating" package was not being recognized, i.e. could not landscape a large table. […]

That's why I suggested the test on the command line. If the actual package file (*.sty) exists in the installation tree, there has perhaps something gone wrong during the installation process. Try to refresh the file name database (FNDB) on the command line.

Code: Select all

sudo texhash

[…] I was able to fix this problem by simply copying and pasting the .sty file into the folder which contains the LaTex file that I am working on. […] It seems now I have to manually put each package into the folder of the active document. […]

This can't be the final solution. So try what I suggested above.

[jhmicro]

Hi Thorsten- your suggestion to "refresh the file name database (FNDB) on the command line" using the included piece of code appears to have worked!! I removed the rotating.sty file from the folder containing the tex document and re-compiled the document with no problems. I also compiled an old document with the multirow package with again no problems. Thanks very much for your help. Take care,

-jh