Create a configured LaTeX manuscript folder with `scikit-package`

Overview

This is a tutorial for using scikit-package to create a configured manuscript folder by running the command

package create manuscript

We strongly recommend that you read through (Recommended) Customize the your LaTeX repositories to unleash the full potential of creating a manuscript folder with scikit-package.

Prerequisites

To proceed with the following steps, we assume that you

know how to use conda to create an environment and install scikit-package in the environment. Please see (Required) Use conda environment to install packages and run Python code for more information.
(Optional) know how to manage repositories on GitHub. Please see the GitHub tutorial GitHub Hello World for more information.

Create a manuscript folder with minimum setup.

Create a conda environment with scikit-package installed and activate the environment. Please see (Required) Use conda environment to install packages and run Python code for more information.
```
conda create -n <project-name>-env scikit-package
conda activate <project-name>-env
```
Go to the path where the manuscript folder will be created.
```
cd <manuscript-folder-parent-folder>
```
Run the command.
```
package create manuscript
```

Answer the following questions:

Prompt

Description and example

project_name

The name displayed in the README.rst. Use name-with-hyphens e.g., my-manuscript.

journal_template

Specifies which journal template to use to create the manuscript. The default value is [1], which corresponds to the article template.

user_latex_repo_url

The URL to the GitHub repository where the LaTeX files are located. Files with the specified names will be parsed, and the other files will be copied directly into the manuscript folder. e.g., https://github.com/scikit-package/default-latex-headers.git

Note

You may press the “Enter” key to accept the default values for the questions.

Done! A manuscript folder named <project_name> is created inside <manuscript-folder-parent-folder>.

(Recommended) Customize the your LaTeX repositories

The flexibility of using package create manuscript to create a manuscript folder is the ability to customize LaTeX repositories for different manuscripts. The following steps will help you create a LaTeX repository to be used by package create manuscript.

Example

Create a GitHub repository. Please see Create a new GitHub repository for more information. As an example, set Repository name to be my-latex-repo-example, choose the visibility to be public, and select None for .gitignore and license. You will be directed to the my-latex-repo-example page in GitHub after it is created.
Find the Quick setup section in the my-latex-repo-example page, choose the HTTPS option and copy the URL in the section. The URL will be referred to as <copied-my-latex-repo-example-url> in the following steps.
Open the terminal and clone the my-latex-repo-example repository. After the command, a my-latex-repo-example folder will be created locally.
```
cd ~
git clone <copied-my-latex-repo-example-url>
```
Create usepackages.txt and newcommands.txt inside the ~/my-latex-repo-example directory.

usepackages.txt is used to import packages using \usepackage{graphicx} into the main LaTeX file. newcommands.txt is used to add commands like \newcommand{\a_command}[1]{\mathrm{#1}} into the main LaTeX file. The main LaTeX file is manuscript.tex in the manuscript folder by default.

Note

No LaTeX syntax check is executed during package create manuscript. The content in usepackages.txt will be inserted after \documentclass and the content in newcommands.txt will be inserted after all \usepackage commands.

Example of usepackages.txt
```
\usepackage{mathtools}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{mathtools}
...
```
Example of newcommands.txt
```
\newcommand{\command_1}[1]{\mathrm{#1}}
\newcommand{\command_2}[1]{\mathbb{#1}}
\newcommand{\command_3}[1]{\mathcal{#1}}
...
```
You can also add any additional files inside the ~/my-latex-repo-example folder. These are the files that will be copied directly into the manuscript folder. e.g.
```
cd ~/my-latex-repo-example
touch my-class-file.cls
touch my-style-file.sty
touch my-bib-file.bib
```

Commit the change and sync the my-latex-repo-example repository in GitHub.

git add .
git commit -m 'skpkg: initialize a LaTeX repository'
git push origin main

Done! To test it, go to the path where a manuscript folder will be created and run package create manuscript with <copied-my-latex-example-url> as the input for <user_latex_repo_url>.
```
mkdir ~/my-manuscripts
cd ~/my-manuscripts
package create manuscript
```

A manuscript folder will be created in the ~/my-manuscripts. Files from the my-latex-repo-example GitHub repo will be copied into the manuscript folder. Packages and commands in usepackages.txt and newcommands.txt will be inserted after \documentclass in the main LaTeX file (manuscript.tex by default) in the manuscript folder. The names of all .bib will be added to the \bibliography entry in the main LaTeX file.

In this example, we used a GitHub repository named my-latex-repo-example to store the LaTeX files. The repository is maintained locally in ~/my-latex-repo-example and five files my-class-file.cls, my-style-file.sty, my-bib-file.bib, usepackages.txt and newcommands.txt are created inside my-latex-repo-example. The name for the repository and its local location can be chosen freely. You can also add, remove, or modify any files in that repository.

Want a new manuscript template?

Feel free to contribute it! You are welcome to create issues and PRs in scikit-package-manuscript.

Create a configured LaTeX manuscript folder with scikit-package