SCons Build Environment for LaTeX Theses
========================================

NB: This structure and setup has been modified from the original framework at 
http://www.kloss-familie.de/moin/TidBits/SconsLatexThesisSkeleton
I've changed a few things round for better or worse and based the latex output on a very slightly modified
verison of Andy Buckley's HepThesis.cls.
The ReadMe below is taken from the first source.

It is hard enough to write a thesis. And whoever has done some work
using *larger* documents knows that it is well worth investing some
effort into structure. This thesis skeleton tries to help in adding
structure without adding a significant work overhead.

 * structured directory hierarchy
 * figures for the document go into separate directories for the
   different chapter LaTeX sources
 * build automation using SCons
 * automatic generation of dependent/needed image files:
   * generation of `pdflatex` compatible output file formats from EPS
     figures
   * generation of `latex` compatible output file format from
     PDF/PNG/JPG figures
   * generation of EPS and PDF output from GNUplot input files
   * automatically finds image files for individual chapters to
     process
 * choice of DVI or PDF build target: `scons` or `scons dvi`
 * "Easy as" cleaning of build junk: `scons -c` (or `scons -c dvi`)

== Recipe ==

 * Edit your thesis.tex to suit your needs.
 * Make some configuration changes to build_config.py.
 * Write your chapters into .tex files in `chapters/`.
 * For figures:
   * Add a directory with the chapter's name to `images/`, and place
     chapter figures in there.
   * GNUplot: Add a directory with the chapter's name to `images/`, and
     place GNUplot source files (`*.gnuplot`) and corresponding data
     files in there.
   * Make sure that for every chapter directory you've got a
     corresponding directory name in `generated/` where the builder
     can place the generated dependent output files.
 * To build, just type `scons` in the root directory of the
   project. To get DVI or PDF output, you may also call `scons dvi` or
   `scons pdf` respectively.
 * To change the default from PDF to DVI output edit `build_config.py`.
 * To clean up all junk (e. g. for submitting to a Version Control
   System or for backup) use `scons -c` (or `scons -c dvi`).

== Directory structure of this thesis skeleton ==

./
 |- thesis.tex                           <- * main LaTeX document
 |- SConstruct                           <-   master build script
 |- build_config.py                      <- * main document configuration
 |- README                               <-   this file
 |- aux/                                 <-   auxilary files
 |  |- builders.SConscript               <-   config. of some builders
 |  |- SConscript                        <-   sub build script
 |  |- creativecommons.tex               <-   CC LaTeX macro definitions
 |  `- __init__.py                       <-   needed for Python imports
 |- chapters/                            <- * contains per chapter LaTeX
 |  |- LicenseDisclaimer.tex             <- * LaTeX for LicenseDisclaimer
 |  |- chap01.tex                        <- * LaTeX for chap01
 |  |- chap02.tex                        <- * LaTeX for chap02
 |  |- SConscript                        <-   sub build script
 |  `- __init__.py                       <-   needed for Python imports
 |- images/                              <- * sources for figures (GNUplot)
 |  |- LicenseDisclaimer/                <-   
 |  |  `- ... Creative Commons icons ... <-   PDF images for license page
 |  |- chap01/                           <- * chap01 figures
 |  |  `- icebert.png                    <- * a PNG figure for chap01
 |  `- chap02/                           <- * chap02 figures
 |     |- histogram_analysis.eps         <- * an EPS figure for chap02
 |     |- Illuminants.gnuplot            <- * GNUplot imput file
 |     |- IlluminantD65.txt              <- * data file for "Illuminants"
 |     `- FluorescentIlluminants2.csv    <- * data file for "Illuminants"
 `- generated/                           <- * output directory for generated images
    |- LicenseDisclaimer/                <-   
    |- chap02/                           <- 
    `- chap02/                           <- 

* Files/directories denoted with the asterisk "*" are the ones that
  usually need modification for the specific LaTeX projects.


== To Do ==

 * Integrate a `makeindex` builder, which still requires manual
   intervention.
 * Automatically create (missing) directories to leave generated
   output from figure format conversions.


== Changelog ==
 * added automatic detection of image files for chapters
 * simplified the directory structure for images
 * still possible to configure things in a `*_config.py` file per
   chapter (if needed)