Question

Due to using both Windows and Ubuntu on my computer I’d like to be able to create documents independently. I have one directory for logos and I want to use them in any documents everywhere.

The problem with different file addressing I solved with those commands:

\newcommand{\winlogo}{D:/logo/}

\newcommand{\linlogo}{/media/DATA/logo/}


\includegraphics{\winlogo logo_bw}

How to provide this feature:

if(parameter==windows){adress:=D:/logo/}

elseif(parameter=linux){adress:=/media/DATA/logo}

else{error}

Answer 1

I’ve run into this problem as well, and I found that hard-coding the paths is an absolutely terrible idea. Also, keeping these directories in sync will eventually be a problem once your projects begin to grow.

The way I solved this was to put everything in version control (I like git, your mileage may vary).

Then I created an images folder, so my folder hierarchy looks like this:

Working-Dir
|– images/
|– myfile.tex
|– nextfile.tex

Then in the preamble of my documents: \usepackage{graphicx} and \graphicspath{{images/}} which tells latex to look for a folder called images, then look for the graphics inside the folder.

Then I do my work on on comp, push my finished work back the repo, and when I switch computers I just pull from my repo. This way, everything stays in sync, no matter which computer i’m working on.

Treating tex source like source code has greatly improved my work flow and efficiency. I’d suggest similar measures for anyone dealing with a lot of latex source.

EDIT:

From: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Importing_Graphics

Graphics storage

There is a way to tell LaTeX where to
look for images: for example, it can
be useful if you store images
centrally for use in many different
documents. The answer is in the
command \graphicspath which you supply
with an argument giving the name of an
additional directory path you want
searched when a file uses the
\includegraphics command, here are
some examples:

\graphicspath{{c:\mypict~1\camera}}

\graphicspath{{/var/lib/images/}}

\graphicspath{{./images/}}

\graphicspath{{images_folder/}{other_folder/}{third_folder/}}

please see
http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/required/graphics/grfguide.pdf

As you may have noticed, in the first
example I’ve used the “safe” (MS-DOS)
form of the Windows MyPictures folder
because it’s a bad idea to use
directory names containing spaces.
Using absolute paths, \graphicspath
does make your file less portable,
while using relative paths (like the
last example), you shouldn’t have any
problem with portability, but remember
not to use spaces in file-names.
Alternatively, if you are using
PDFLaTeX, you can use the package
grffile which will then allow you to
use spaces in file names.

The third option should do you well– just specify multiple paths for the \graphicspath I wonder if LaTeX will fail gracefully if you just include all of your paths in there (one for images, one for your logs on linux, one for your logos on windows)?