** MacTeX Distribution FAQ **

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MacTeX-2007 requires Mac OS X 10.3 or higher.


  The Most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

First, a note to Fink and teTeX users... [ please read ]

Q0: I am having trouble opening the .dmg file or completing the installation process. How can I get MacTeX installed?

A0: Some people obtain a corrupted MacTeX.dmg file after downloading the large file. This is almost never due to a bad file on the server because we test after uploading new versions. One exception occurs if you are running system OS X 10.2. The .dmg will not open on that system, but then again MacTeX will not run on that system either.

In case of trouble, we recommend downloading from an alternate CTAN site. To do this, go to
    http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/systems/mac/mactex/
and download MacTeX.dmg (currently 739411 Kbytes). You will be asked to pick a mirror site; download from a location close to you.

If you are at an institution with a large body of TeX users, a support person could put MacTeX.dmg on the DVD and loan you the DVD.

A final solution, if all else fails, is to go to http://www.tug.org/mactex/morepackages.html and download one of the smaller MacTeX distributions; these distributions are still quite complete and serviceable. The smaller download may cause fewer problems. Download gwTeX (321MB) or BasicTeX (39.7MB). You will also need the front ends and utilities in MacTeXAdditions.dmg (103MB).



Q1: I am running MacTeX on Mac OSX 10.3, but ConTeXt does not seem to work. Why not?

A1: The latest ConTeXt requires an updated version of Ruby, which is in OS X 10.4, but not in OS X 10.3. Since Ruby is part of the Apple system, we are reluctant to modify it in MacTeX. You may be able to find a Ruby upgrade for OS X 10.3 on the web, but the easy solution is to upgrade to OS X 10.4.

Q2: Typesetting in TeXShop gives an error message:
"Can't find required tool. /usr/local/teTeX/bin/apple-powerpc-darwin-current does not exist. Perhaps teTeX was not installed or was removed ..."

A2: The latest version of TeXShop fixes this problem automatically, but it only runs on OS X 10.4. An earlier TeXShop, version 1.34, is installed on OS X 10.3. This version must be manually configured for TeX Live. Thus to fix the problem, go to TeXShop Preferences, under the Engine tab, and change the first entry to
    /usr/texbin

Q3: Do I need to uninstall my previous TeX distribution before installing MacTeX?

A3: No. The TeX Live in MacTeX installs in a new location, /usr/local/texlive/2007, and does not overwrite the old distribution. Consult the documentation for your older distribution to uninstall it, if you want to save space.

Q4: Where do I put my personal additions to the texmf tree?

A4: They go in
    ~/Library/texmf
and various subdirectories structured according to the standard TeX conventions. Here ~/Library is the Library folder in your home directory. You may have to create the texmf folder, and any subfolders of it mentioned below. For instance, TeX will find any file in
    ~/Library/texmf/tex
or a subfolder of this folder, and LaTeX will find any file in
    ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex
or a subfolder of this folder. It is not necessary to run texhash when adding files to this local tree.

Q5: Why can't the latest MacTeX find my local BibTeX files? Earlier versions of MacTeX worked correctly.

A5: TeX Live is slightly pickier about placement of these files. ".bib" files go in
    ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bib
or subfolders of this directory, and ".bst" files go in
    ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bst
or subfolders of this directory.

Q6: TeXShop refuses to start, or behaves strangely. Or, for example, you get the message: 
           "/usr/texbin/altpdflatex does not exist.
           Perhaps teTeX was not installed or was removed during a system upgrade."

A6: There may be a damaged TeXShop preferences file. Quit TeXShop, move the file
    ~/Library/Preferences/TeXShop.plist
to your desktop, and restart. If this fixes the problem, reset your preferences as desired. If not, put the old plist file back to restore your old preferences.

Make sure you are using the latest version (2.13) of TeXShop with MacOS X 10.4.x (Tiger).

About altpdftex...


Q7: TeXShop complains of a damaged Macros file when it starts.

A7: There may be a damaged Macros folder in TeXShop's configuration files. Quit TeXShop, move the Macros folder
     ~/Library/TeXShop/Macros
to the desktop, and restart TeXShop. It will create a new Macros folder with a working Macros file.




For more information about other frequently asked questions please

If you still have problems with the MacTeX Installer, you may contact us via the mactex-support webpage.