Re: Using Emacs, Org-mode and R for Research Writing in Social Sciences

[Axel Kielhorn <org-mode@axelkielhorn.de>]

Am 15.05.2014 um 06:49 schrieb Vikas Rawal <vikaslists@agrarianresearch.org>:

>>> I removed explicit inclusion of these packages from this document and the instructions, because I wanted to reduce the work in terms of setting things up.
>> 
>> You achieved the opposite.
>> Now a user *has* to enable the config file.
>> Otherwise it would be clear that additional packages may be needed which may not be part of a minimal TeX Live installation.
>> 
> 
> May be I should specify the packages that are being called, so the user can make sure those are installed or modify the config file. But I prefer the basic set of LaTeX packages being called by default rather than being added in every file.

This will be a problem when one of your collaborators doesn't use your config files.
There are many packages for tabular/table environments.
Having them in the document gives a strong hint that there is something different that may collide with the packages another user prefers. (No-one can agree on a basic set of LaTeX packages:-)

If you keep them in the configuration file, the user has to extract the relevant information 

(setq org-latex-default-packages-alist …)

from your configuration and add it to their configuration file.

You can always supply a template file with all the relevant
+LaTeX_HEADER 
definitions.

You can even have lines like

#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{tabulary}   % provides column specification LCRJ
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{threeparttable} % A table with cation and notes
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \renewcommand{\TPTminimum}{\linewidth} % configure threeparttable
#+Latex_HEADER: %\usepackage{tgschola}  % enable to use the Schola font
#+Latex_HEADER: %\usepackage{tgbonum}	% enable to use the Bonum font
#+Latex_HEADER: %\usepackage{tgpagella} % enable to use the Pagella font
#+Latex_HEADER: \usepackage[urw-garamond]{mathdesign} \linespread{1.0609}

and let the user decide which to use instead of hiding this in an option which requires modifications of the latex exporter.

(My Latex template has several pages of commented preamble. I activate only what I need but I have everything available, including common usage examples.)

But in the end this is your decision, you know what works best for your users and I know how to modify the configuration to suit my needs.

Axel