How to type Greek in Latex and the greektex package

[tekkenlord]

This is a tutorial on how to install the greektex package (http://www.research.dryllerakis.gr/greektex.html) on Ubuntu. It should work on other LinuX distributions as well. There are other alternatives for typing in Greek in LateX, see for example http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=697569. However, most of the other packages require to insert a command before typing in Greek or English (based on Babel).

I presume you are using texlive and not tetex. Besides, texlive is more recent and I think that the development on tetex has stopped.

The greektex package can be found in the ubuntu repositories. However, it does not work "out of the box". You will need to copy some files to the appropriate directories in your TeX path.

There are instructions for these (found on the greektex link posted earlier) but IMHO they are out of date. That's why I decided to write this simple guide based on the original instructions. Ok, let's start!


The STEPS:

1) Install unzip and gzip, if you do not have it already, with:

sudo apt-get install unzip gzip;



2) Install the greektex package:

sudo apt-get install texlive-lang-greek;



3) Issue in a terminal the following commands:

sudo unzip /usr/share/doc/texlive-lang-greek/latex/greektex/ywcl.zip -d /usr/share/texmf-texlive/fonts/source/public/ywcl;

sudo gzip -d /usr/share/doc/texlive-lang-greek/latex/greektex/gehyphw.gr.gz;

sudo mv /usr/share/doc/texlive-lang-greek/latex/greektex/gehyphw.gr /usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/generic/hyphen/;



4) Open with your favourite editor the file /etc/texmf/language.d/09texlive-base.cnf (you will need root access, use sudo). NOTE: If you are using recent distros (10.04) you will have to edit /usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/generic/config/language.us instead.

Find the line that reads:

english hyphen.tex % do not change!

and change it to

english hyphen.tex gehyphw.gr % do not change!




5) In a terminal type:

sudo update-language;

sudo texhash;

sudo fmtutil-sys --all;


The very last step is essential for the hyphenation to work correctly. Full credit and many thanks go to user eumataxas for spotting this, correcting it and making this guide complete.

That's it. Make sure that when you type Greek in your LateX editor (I use Kile) you have the encoding "Greek iso-8859-7", otherwise you will get weird fonts in the DVI, PDF etc. I attach a TeX document using the greektex package. Rename it to "greek.tex" and use it to check whether greektex works properly.

Good luck!

Keywords: greektex, latex, linux, ubuntu, greek

[eumetaxas]

hi and thanx for that post.
i've been using greektex for about a year with no prlblems. suddenly (probably after upgrading to ubuntu 8.04) hyphenation does not work. i've tried installing and re-installing, a couple of tutorials but hyphenation still does not work!
any help? xgreek hyphenation stopped too. babel hyphenation got back after a lot of experiments!
thanx in advance!
ευχαριστω!

[tekkenlord]

Hi and you are welcome! I do not quite understand. How exactly are you using the hyphenation? Do you input the dashes manually (like this? syl_1\-syl_2 ) or do you have a file containing the hyphenation of the words? Does the hyphenation work when used with English or is it just the Greek?

[eumetaxas]

Thanx for your quick answer!

inside greektex package there's a file that i think is with hyphenation rules.
"gehyph.gr" and documentation coming with greektex (and your instructions) say to put that file in \usr\share\texmf\tex-texlive\generic\hyphen and also says to edit the language.dat file. All of this used to work perfectly and automatically. they still work i windows box at work. Suddenly hyphenation sropped working (as i've said probably after upgrade - i do not use texlive everyday). i reinstalled texlive-lang-greek, did everything again as the first time but still does not work.
i am at work now but as i recall english is ok.
How do you use hyphenation with greektex?

Thanx again!

[tekkenlord]

To be honest I do not use greektex that much. I just installed it because I wanted to recompile a greek document I had written when I was using Windows. In that document, I use hyphenation with the slash and the dash, like this \- and the word breaks up successfully.

I am sorry if you have already tried this but can you check that the file /etc/texmf/language.d/09texlive-base.cnf contains exactly what I have written in the tutorial? Refer to step (4) of the tutorial.

Can you also post a TeX document that you are having problems with? I can try it on my computer and check if I have the same problem. I am sorry for not being a big help so far...

Regards,
Giorgos

[eumetaxas]

το αρχείο 09texlive-base.cnf περιέχει ακριβώς ότι έχεις γράψει πιο πάνω γιατί το έχω ελέγξει επανειλημμένα. Μέρος του κειμένου είναι αυτό που σου στέλλω αλλά έχω δοκιμάσει και διάφορους τυχαιους συνδιασμούς λέξεων για να δω αν τις "σπάζει". Αυτό πρέπει να ναι γενικότερο πρόβλημα του greektex για GNU/LINUX γιατί το έχω βρει και σε άλλα Posts στο Google χωρίς όμως λύση. Στα Windows όλα καλά. Μάλλον όπως "χάλασε" αυτόματα πρέπει και να φτιάχνεται!
Ευχαριστώ πολύ!
Ευγένιος

[tekkenlord]

Hi again, keep writing English, we might get reported. So, I tested the file you sent me and you are very right. It does not work on me either unless I manually break it (check the file I attach). Sorry but I do not know what is wrong, I will try and play with it a bit more. If I find anything, I will let you know. Kali sinexeia file!

[eumetaxas]

thanx!
did not know that we might get reported! saw some spanish guys writing and thouhgt it was ok.sorry for that.
thanx a lot my friend. i'll wait for your, or anybody's alse, suggestions!
thanx again!

[eumetaxas]

probably the only extra necessary step is the last one!

1.Complete uninstall texlive
2.minimal new install ~200mb
3.Copied hyphenation (gehyphw.gr) file as said in step 3 of tutorial
4.edited language.dat file in /var/lib/texmf/tex/generic/config/language.dat and added gehyphw.gr as said in tutorial
5. taxhash AND
6. sudo fmtutil-sys --all

and works like a charm!!!

thank you and especially tekkenlord!

[tekkenlord]

You are the best. I tried only the last step without uninstalling anything and it worked perfectly! I will add your last step in the tutorial and give you full credit. Thank you!