[OS X TeX] Can't compile - pdflatex issue

[Richard Koch]

On Apr 12, 2009, at 5:55 AM, Herbert Schulz wrote:

> Seems that all it takes is to install Fink's (Old) TeX Distribution  
> to get the interference. It would certainly be nice if they would  
> update it (is it still teTeX?) and add the TeX Distribution  
> preference pane.

I once asked someone involved with Fink's TeX (or maybe it was  
MacPort's TeX) if they could install a TeX Dist structure. The answer  
was that by general policy these systems don't install anything in / 
Library. I think that's a reasonable policy.

By design, a TeX Dist structure can exist even if the actual  
distribution isn't there; the Pref Pane is smart enough to check if  
the TeX Dist structure points to something reasonable before offering  
it as a possibile default system. MacTeX installs TeX Dist structures  
for Fink's TeX and MacPort's TeX. Thus a user who has both Fink or  
MacPorts and MacTeX does have the appropriate TeX Dist structures.

I believe the actual problem is that Fink and MacPorts add /sw or /opt  
to the start of PATH. This doesn't matter for applications which can  
be configured to look for TeX in /usr/texbin, but many people who  
switch from other platforms call TeX from a shell. Even in that case  
the problem is easy solved once the user understands what is happening.

Dick Koch