[tex-live] porting a TeXLive-Installation to another PC

[Lars Madsen]

Andreas Hirsch wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I'm teaching a LaTeX-course at school and (as always) there are some
> problems for the kids to get TeX running at home.
> 
> In special, some of my pupils have no or a bad internet-connection.
> 
> I've downloaded the iso - but this is freezed as of august 2008.
> 
> Is ist possible to copy an up-to-date installation of TeXLive to another
> PC? Is changing the PATH-Variable enough for runnig?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Andreas
> 

if it is linux there is no problem at all (just make a copy, on Linux 
TeXLive does not integrate it self into the system).

For MAC I would assume you could do the same.

On windows we need a little more. I would assume that you can copy a 
LaTeX dist from one windows to another, but you also need the system 
integration, aka adding the PATH to the system, adding stuff to Start -> 
programmes.

I'd really like to have such a tool as well. A student organisation at 
the uni where I work had a LaTeX insall party and installed TeXLive on 
all systems (Linux, MAC and Windows) and it takes FOREVER. (they has 
burned the ISO and was running the installation from DVD).

Later we found out that it was bit faster to copy the contents of the 
iso to disk and install from there.

But why not simply start by having a fully updated TeXLive on a linux 
system including the windows binaries. Copy this (compressed?) to a USB 
stick. Copy it onto a windows in say C:/program files/texlive/2008/ and 
then run some extra windows script that takes care of the system 
integration.

I would think that this is not that had, we just have to dissect the 
Windows installer. But I'm no windows programmer.

Such a tool would make install parties a lot easier, and would help in 
other batch installing situations.



-- 

/daleif