not able to install drivetex

[pmarcum]

I was quite eager to try out this code, as I have been looking for a long time for what I think this application provides. However, the instructions for installation that are provided do not seem to work for me. Are they perhaps now obsolete? In particular, the last command: gcloud preview app deploy public/app.yaml --version=3 --promote is what returns errors such as "preview app" now being a deprecated option. When I just type gcloud app deploy public/app.yaml --version=3 --promote, I continue to get errors. Some of the errors suggest that I need to include some kind of [bucket] as part of the options. At that point, I went down a seriously deep rabbit hole, after noticing that the "public" folder was marked as "Migrate to Polymer 1.0" and then trying to learn about Polymer to see if there were alternative ways to get the files installed. Are these files eventually supposed to end up on my Google Drive account? Or reside on the local hard drive of my computer? I'm just confused about what the end-state is supposed to be, and definitely confused as to how to get there. Some help regarding how to install this code (a step-by-step guide would be helpful for a newbie like me) would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[xylo04]

Hi @pmarcum, can you clarify what you're trying to accomplish? As I mentioned on your commit comment, DriveTeX is meant to be hosted online, not installed on your computer. If you just want to use the app, visit https://drivetex.appspot.com and use it there.

The build instructions are only necessary if you want to change the code. If you want to mess with the code, or you really want to use a copy that's installed on your computer, follow the Test locally instructions; it will be usable and still connect to Google Drive for storing and retrieving your LaTeX documents.

The only reason you'd use the Deploy to App Engine command is if your intent is to host your own copy of the application on Google App Engine for yourself and others to use. In that case you'll want to check out the App Engine documentation for serving static files. The commands I put in the README file are very likely out-of-date. There's really no need for that since I'm already hosting it, but if you'd like to try your hand at deploying this to App Engine, go for it.

Feel free to contact me directly: [email protected].

[xylo04]

I'm re-reading your post, and I feel like I should clarify the intent of the project: it's like Google Docs, but for LaTeX documents. You can visit https://drivetex.appspot.com, authorize it to connect to Google Drive, and in theory, it would then be really easy to open up any .tex file saved in Google Drive. Since I haven't had time to polish, it's not quite that simple; after opening DriveTeX and authorizing it to use Drive, you'll have to go back to Drive, find your file, right click and "Open With" -> DriveTeX.

The point of the project is that you shouldn't need anything other than a web browser to edit your LaTeX documents stored in Google Drive. I have a long ways to go before I fully realize that vision, but that's the idea.

[xylo04]

Based on this conversation, I've added a short User Manual to the README. Hopefully that helps!