[tex-live] Integrating vanilla TeX Live with Debian

Norbert Preining preining at logic.at
Thu Sep 13 00:33:15 CEST 2012


Hi everyone,

On Di, 11 Sep 2012, simon at getthingsfixed.co.uk wrote:
> Are the instructions in the debian page[1] correct?

Depending on what part of it.

> The texlive-local does not seen to do much. Shouldn't it suppress synaptic/... 
> from wanting/allowing the installation of the distro's packages?

Not necessarily.

> If you list the packages it says that texlive-local is installed, but it 
> allows me to install the distro packages. Is this right?

Yes, there is no conflict. But if all the necessary "Provides" would
have been added, aptitutude should not install anything, because we made
it believe everything is already instaled.

What is currently outdated is the example config file, it doesn't list all
the necessary provides.

On Mi, 12 Sep 2012, simon at getthingsfixed.co.uk wrote:
> This is what it seems to do, i.e. texlive-local looks broken.

No, it is not broken. It simply does not provide all the necessary
package names.

> What I would have expected was that synaptic would vehemently refuse to 
> install the vanilla distro's texlivel packages. As it is I can install them 
> as if texlive-local wasn't there.

THat *NOBODY* said at any time ...And it is not written there, neither.
So why do you assume this?

Please read up on the Debian Policy Manual, chapter 7, declaring relationships
on the meanings if you need.

The point is not that we forbid it, but that you don't need to install it.

If you want to prohibit installation of native packages, you have to
add
	Conflicts: ...
to the config file.

> Even if texlive-local worked: how do we ensure that it contains the correct 
> packages and that we haven't missed any?

texlive-local does not contain *anything*? Or do you mean *provides* the
right packages?

> Would it not be better if there was a utility that can nose the dpkg tree for 
> texlive and use that to build the texlive-local?

Well, one can, but nobody has written it up. Something in the lines of

apt-cache show texlive-full | grep Depends
then massage the output by removing the versions, and some external
packages not shipped in TUG TeX Live
also check for recommends and suggests, ...
and from this generate the list of package names that should be provided.

So yes, one can do it ...

> -- 
> Get Things Fixed

Really? By asking other peole to fix it?


Best wishes

Norbert
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norbert Preining            preining@{jaist.ac.jp, logic.at, debian.org}
JAIST, Japan                                 TeX Live & Debian Developer
DSA: 0x09C5B094   fp: 14DF 2E6C 0307 BE6D AD76  A9C0 D2BF 4AA3 09C5 B094
------------------------------------------------------------------------
OSSETT (n.)
A frilly spare-toilet-roll-cosy.
			--- Douglas Adams, The Meaning of Liff


More information about the tex-live mailing list