Help! .dtx -> .sty, or where to find the .sty ?

[Robert Knop]

OK. Here's my deal. I'm trying to use the package "dcolumn" with this
bloody table that I'm typesetting.

I know about "dcolumn" from both "Making TeX Work" and "The LaTeX
Companion."

Now. How do I find this mythical dcolumn package? According to "Making TeX
Work," I can find it in CTAN:macros/latex/distribs/array. Only, that
directory doesn't seem to exist on CTAN.

Searching CTAN, all I can find is dcolumn.dtx. I have no clue what a .dtx
is. I can't find any FAQ or book which tells me what is is, nor what to do
with it. Is there something I can use to turn this dcolumn.dtx into
dcolumn.sty? If not, where on earth can I find dcolumn.sty? (It certainly
doesn't seem to be at CTAN, or if it is, it's very well hidden.)

As I've said, I've RTFM, but the various FMs don't shed enough light on the
situation to solve my problem.

Thanks for any help anybody can provide.

-Rob Knop
rk...@mop.caltech.edu

--
-Rob Knop rk...@cco.caltech.edu rk...@netcom.com
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[Keith Reckdahl]

Robert Knop <rk...@netcom.com> wrote:
>Searching CTAN, all I can find is dcolumn.dtx. I have no clue
>what a .dtx is. I can't find any FAQ or book which tells me what

>it is, nor what to do with it. Is there something I can use to

>turn this dcolumn.dtx into dcolumn.sty?

Rob,

While you did a good job finding dcolumn.dtx in the
/tex-archive/macros/latex/packages/tools directory,
you failed to look in the "readme.txt" file in the
same directory. Don't feel bad, as this is a common
mistake. Not every directory has a readme.txt (or
README, etc.) file, but many do.

In this case, "readme.txt" includes:

`tools' bundle
=================
This `bundle' consists of LaTeX2e packages written
and supported by members of the LaTeX3 project.

The documented source code of each package is in a file
with extension `.dtx'. Running LaTeX on the file tools.ins
will produce all the package files, and some associated TeX
files. So you should first process tools.ins:
latex tools.ins
The files with extensions .sty and .tex (including a file `.tex')
should then be moved to a directory on LaTeX's standard input path.
Documentation for the individual packages may then be
obtained by running LaTeX on the `dtx' file.
For example:
latex array.dtx
will produce array.dvi, documenting the array package.

Hope this helps,

Keith
reck...@leland.stanford.edu

[Timothy Murphy]

rk...@netcom.com (Robert Knop) writes:

>Searching CTAN, all I can find is dcolumn.dtx. I have no clue what a .dtx

>is. I can't find any FAQ or book which tells me what is is, nor what to do

>with it. Is there something I can use to turn this dcolumn.dtx into

>dcolumn.sty? If not, where on earth can I find dcolumn.sty? (It certainly
>doesn't seem to be at CTAN, or if it is, it's very well hidden.)

dcolumn.dtx is in /tex-archive/macros/latex/packages/tools at the CTANs.
You should retrieve the whole of this directory,
and run "latex tools.ins".
This creates dcolumn.sty from dcolumn.dtx.

You will find that there is almost always a .ins file
in any directory containing .dtx files,
and you have to latex this .ins file to get the .sty file(s).

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: t...@maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland