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

[Lars Madsen]

Siep Kroonenberg wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 01:38:37AM +0100, Reinhard Kotucha wrote:
>> Siep Kroonenberg writes:
>>  > On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 01:49:23AM +0100, Reinhard Kotucha wrote:
>>  >> I think that copying an installed system and ask people to run Siep's
>>  >> script is the easiest way in this case.
>>  > 
>>  > This script was intended as a proof-of-concept script to give users
>>  > on a LAN access to a pre-installed system to which they didn't have
>>  > write access.
>>  > 
>>  > It would probably work, but please review the code first: do you
>>  > want a file association tying psview to .[e]ps, are you going to use
>>  > xetex, what manuals deserve menu shortcuts? And, most importantly,
>>  > add a shortcut to tlmgr and make sure it works.
>>  > 
>>  > Also, how important is it really that the system is up to date? You
>>  > could just give them the DVD as-is, and most people would be happy
>>  > with it.
>>
>> ....
>>
>> If you install a customized version of TeX Live on your local machine
>> and then create a ZIP file containing the whole tree, it will probably
>> fit on a CD.  A CD is cheaper than a DVD.  This helps the German
>> government to save money.  They are currently in shortage of money.
>> The magic formula is not to invest into education.  Yes, a lot of
>> money can be saved, but....
>>
>> Siep, IMO your script is very useful.  Maybe feedback from users can
>> help to improve it, if necessary at all.  Unfortunately it's hidden in
>> the doc tree and my poriferous brain is unable to remember the name of
>> the script or its location.  It would be nice if your script could be
>> more eye-catching.
>>
>> It would be nice if more poeple are aware of it.  It's definitely a
>> good thing.
>>
>> Regards,
>>   Reinhard
> 
> It is mentioned in chapter 4, `Network installations', of the TeX
> Live manual. But of course nobody reads the documentation...
> 
> If somebody want a companion cd/dvd to their LAN installation, there
> is probably quite a bit of customization so a ready-to-run script
> would be inappropriate.
> 
> In our case, I wrote a single script which tests whether it is run
> from the LAN installation or from the ISO.
> 
> I went about it as follows:
> 
> - create the installation under Linux, using the TL installer
> - create a Samba share for this installation
> - write a Windows installer along the lines of the sample client
>   script
> - test with a Windows virtual machine as samba client
> - package into a zip for unpacking on the real network, and into an
>   ISO for private installation
> 
> I put the ISO into the root of the final installation, since
> distribution of physical cds would have been a bit of a hassle.
> 

Have you had any problems regarding very long filenames?

Windows unzip terminated without error on this

2008/texmf-dist/tex/generic/pgfplots/oldpgfcompatib/pgfplotsoldpgfsupp_pgflibraryplothandlers.code.tex

PowerArchiver too, though I got a hint.

I just tested again, PowerArchiver can unzip the file where the above is 
removed. But WinXPs own unzip runs throug it all and is missing a lot of 
files and dirs, including bin/, so I guess there are still som long 
names some where.

The sample installer mentioned, seems to be working well. Though I'd 
like to see it install the same things as the 'real' installer, and that 
it create an uninstaller that removes TL as well.

For mass installations this greatly reduces installation time, in my 
latest test it was about 10 mins including

transfer via samba
unzip via PowerArchiver
install-w32client

At lot better that the several hours it might take using a DVD.


-- 

/daleif