[ANN] ELPA package for ODT and JabRef exporters

[ANN] ELPA package for ODT and JabRef exporters

[Jambunathan K]

I have prepared an ELPA package

    org-odt-*.tar

for easy distribution of bug fixes from private git repository [fn:1].

The package contains both ODT exporter and JabRef exporter.  You need to
make sure that you are using

1. org > 8.0
2. Emacs > 24.3.50

----------------------------------------------------------------

Steps for installing ODT + JabRef ELPA package
=============================================

1. Clear out your .emacs.  (Not needed, if you know what you are doing)

2. Visit http://repo.or.cz/w/org-mode/org-kjn.git/tree/master and
   download the a tar file named org-odt-YYYYMMDD.tar.  (Click on the
   "raw" link)

   As of now, the file is available at:
   
   http://repo.or.cz/w/org-mode/org-kjn.git/blob_plain/master:/org-odt-20140123.tar

3. M-x package-install-file RET <path-to-org-odt-*.tar> RET

4. Goto start of .emacs and add the following line.  (It should be the
   first line in your .emacs)

       (setq org-odt-data-dir nil)

5. Check the ODT option under

        M-x customize-variable RET org-export-backends RET

6. Restart Emacs

7. Make sure that the following commands point to the ELPA directory

       M-x locate-library RET ox-odt RET
       M-x locate-library RET ox-jabref RET
       C-h v org-odt-styles-dir
       C-h v org-odt-schema-dir

8. Visit test.org and export it. Enjoy.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Some existing gotchas and bugs
=============================

(4) above is needed to work around a bug in Emacs snapshot and Org build
system.


Wrt (2) and (3), I would have expected that the following

    (custom-set-variables
     '(package-archives
       (quote
        (("gnu" . "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/")
         ("org-odt"
          . "http://repo.or.cz/w/org-mode/org-kjn.git/blob_plain/master:/")))))

would suffice to do install via

      M-x list-packages.

Unfortunately for some reasons package.el refuses to download the
"archive-contents" located at
http://repo.or.cz/w/org-mode/org-kjn.git/blob_plain/master:/archive-contents.
Any one interested in investigating this and if necessary file a bug
report against Emacs.

----------------------------------------------------------------

How to host the above files on your own ELPA server
==================================================

If someone wants to distribute the above files, please put the following
files in your web-server.

1. Copy org-odt-YYYYMMDD.tar
2. Copy archive-contents

See directory structure of http://orgmode.org/elpa/

1. Various tar files are under that directory.
2. archive-contents points to the very latest tar file.

   http://orgmode.org/elpa/archive-contents

----------------------------------------------------------------

ODT exporter and Copyright Issues and a Note to the Users
=========================================================

[fn:1] http://repo.or.cz/w/org-mode/org-kjn.git

The above repo. contains many bug-fixes and enhancements that are NOT
available with Emacs-24.4 or Orgmode git repo.

For some reasons, emacs-devel, org developers and I don't meet eye to
eye. See
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2013-12/msg00509.html.  So
the above fixes are unlikely to be avaible with Emacs or Org git repo.

To the people who rely on ODT exporter for their day to day use and want
it as part of Emacs

1. Find someone with Copyright Assignment to fix the critical issue(s).

2. Write to Gnu/Linux distributors - Debian, Gentoo etc - and persuade
   them to apply patches from my private repo before building the
   org-mode or Emacs deb packages.

Note to Org developers
======================

If anyone comes this far, let me note that Bastien's latest change to
ox-odt.el resembles very much fix on my Org private repo.  I would argue
that this fix borrows "very liberally" from my un-assigned changes.  So
<fill-in-the-blanks>.

Re: [ANN] ELPA package for ODT and JabRef exporters

[Jambunathan K]

This message SUPERSEDES instructions in the parent post (at
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2014-01/msg01134.html)

Elevator Pitch
==============

I fixed few bugs in ELPA tarball (Thanks Benjamin).  Adding the
following URL to

    http://repo.or.cz/w/org-mode/org-kjn.git/blob_plain/master:/

to

   C-h v package-archives

should work now.

WARNING: Don't forget the trailing "/" in the above URL.


ELPA tar for ODT + JabRef
=========================

I have prepared an ELPA package

    org-odt-*.tar

for easy distribution of bug fixes from private git repository [fn:1].

The package contains both ODT exporter and JabRef exporter.  It also
contains a standalone documentation (in both info and pdf format) for
the ODT exporter.

Pre-Requisites
==============

Before installing the ODT tarball please ensure that you are using

1. org > 8.0
2. Emacs > 24.3.50

A good way to find out if you are running org > 8.0 is to do this:

    M-x locate-library ox

If you get a hit, then you are using org > 8.0.

If you don't find ox.el, you need to upgrade to org > 8.0.  The best way
to upgrade to the most recent org is via package manager (i.e., M-x
list-packages)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Steps for installing ODT + JabRef ELPA package
=============================================

1. Clear out your .emacs.  (Not needed, if you know what you are doing)

2. Ensure that you are using org > 8.0 (See previous instructions)

3. Update your package archives to include the "org-odt" repo.

    (custom-set-variables
     '(package-archives
       (quote
        (("gnu" . "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/")
         ("org-odt"
          . "http://repo.or.cz/w/org-mode/org-kjn.git/blob_plain/master:/")))))

4. Now do

       M-x list-packages

   Look out for "org-odt" package.  Install it.

5. Goto start of .emacs and add the following line.  (This should be the
   FIRST LINE in your .emacs)

       (setq org-odt-data-dir nil)

6. Check ON the ODT option under

        M-x customize-variable RET org-export-backends RET

7. Restart Emacs

8. Make sure that the following commands point to the ELPA directory

       M-x locate-library RET ox-odt RET
       M-x locate-library RET ox-jabref RET
       C-h v org-odt-styles-dir
       C-h v org-odt-schema-dir

9. Visit test.org and export it. Enjoy.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Some existing gotchas and bugs wrt `org-odt-data-dir'
=====================================================

(5) above is needed to work around a bug in Emacs snapshot and Org build
system.

----------------------------------------------------------------

How to host the above files on your own ELPA server
==================================================

If someone wants to distribute the above files, please put the following
files in your web-server.

1. Copy org-odt-YYYYMMDD.tar
2. Copy archive-contents

Hint for ELPA Hosting
======================

See directory structure of http://orgmode.org/elpa/

1. Various tar files are under that directory.
2. archive-contents points to the very LATEST tar file.

   http://orgmode.org/elpa/archive-contents

----------------------------------------------------------------

ODT exporter and Copyright Issues and a Note to the Users
=========================================================

[fn:1] http://repo.or.cz/w/org-mode/org-kjn.git

The above repo. contains many bug-fixes and enhancements that are NOT
available with Emacs-24.4 or Orgmode git repo.

For some reasons, emacs-devel, Org developers and I don't meet eye to
eye. See
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2013-12/msg00509.html.  So
the enhancements that are distributed with the above archive are
unlikely to be avaible with Emacs or Org git repo.

To the people who rely on ODT exporter for their day to day use and want
it as part of Emacs

1. Find someone with Copyright Assignment to fix the critical issue(s).

2. Write to Gnu/Linux distributors - Debian, Gentoo etc - and persuade
   them to apply patches from my private repo before building the
   org-mode or Emacs deb packages.

Note to Org developers
======================

If anyone comes this far, let me note that Bastien's latest change to
ox-odt.el resembles very much fix on my Org private repo.  I would argue
that this fix borrows "very liberally" from my un-assigned changes.  So
<fill-in-the-blanks>.

Re: [ANN] ELPA package for ODT and JabRef exporters

[Aric Gregson]

Jambunathan,

I have tried to install this. I even created a blank .emacs file as you
suggested. Everything appears to be fine with the exception of 

>        C-h v org-odt-styles-dir
>        C-h v org-odt-schema-dir

These do not appear as options for me. I'm not sure if that matters.

Thanks, Aric

Re: [ANN] ELPA package for ODT and JabRef exporters

[Jambunathan K]

Aric Gregson <aorchid@mac.com> writes:

> Jambunathan,
>
> I have tried to install this. I even created a blank .emacs file as you
> suggested. Everything appears to be fine with the exception of 
>
>>        C-h v org-odt-styles-dir
>>        C-h v org-odt-schema-dir
>
> These do not appear as options for me. I'm not sure if that matters.

Most likely that ODT backend is not loaded.  Try this.

1. Configure org-export-backends and add ODT to it.
2. Put (setq org-odt-data-dir nil) at the start of Emacs.
3. Visit an Org file and export to ODT

Now check the *Messages* buffer and the value of the above variables.


> Thanks, Aric

Re: [ANN] ELPA package for ODT and JabRef exporters

[Aric Gregson]

Jambunathan K <kjambunathan@gmail.com> writes:

> 3. Visit an Org file and export to ODT

I think this was the key because I had entirely altered my org and
org-odt set-up to use elpa and your tar file, so there had never been an
export. 

> Now check the *Messages* buffer and the value of the above variables.

Yes, now they are defined. And they point to 
"~/.emacs.d/elpa/org-odt-20140127/etc/styles/"

Thanks.