The Full MacTeX
The full MacTeX-2024 install package contains four pieces
TeX Live 2024: the full distribution with over 4 gigabytes
of material.
GUI Applications: front ends, utilities,
and a small amount of startup documentation.
Ghostscript 10.03.0
A Smaller Distribution, Basic TeX
TUG recommends the full MacTeX, even for beginners. It contains all files most users ever need. Beginners using it don't face
the daunting task of searching for missing components and figuring out how to install them in the TeX distribution.
BasicTeX is a much smaller alternate TeX Distribution for users who do not want to download the full TeX Live, or have unreliable internet connections. It contains all of the standard tools needed to write TeX documents, including TeX, LaTeX, pdfTeX, MetaFont, dvips, MetaPost, and XeTeX. BasicTeX does not overwrite the full distribution; it is installed in /usr/local/texlive/2024basic.
BasicTeX only contains the TeX Live piece of the full distribution; it does not contain GUI programs or Ghostscript. To use TeX on the Mac, it suffices to install BasicTeX and a front end. To make life easier for users who want to use BasicTeX instead of the full TeX Live, we include links below to various pieces of
MacTeX that can be added as needed.
Click the following link to obtain Basic TeX:
BasicTeX.pkg.
BasicTeX.pdf (Basic TeX documentation).
The Size is
91M - 09 March 2024
The MD5 sum is
b70fff604f892e86e1785cf8a62c83f0
The SHA512 sum is
7e9efca410b33fe96f5a7394d005b1e482994b9d0df05aaf9cf25f5775c440e490144e2465ca48138cfe7a580b521d8c1b07d53db53f8f6b5863967cb6361e28
GUI Programs and Documentation from MacTeX
The GUI section of MacTeX contains four front ends and utilities.
These programs are often updated, so it is best to get them directly
from their respective web pages. Here are links:
TeXShop, a front end: TeXShop.
LaTeXiT, a package which typesets equations to be pasted into Keynote, etc.: LaTeXiT.
TeX Live Utility, a program to update and maintain TeX Live: TeX Live Utility.
BibDesk, a program to handle bibliographies: BibDesk.
Ghostscript 10.03.0 from MacTeX
Ghostscript is not required to run TeX (pdfLaTeX, XeTeX, etc.), but is often
useful for converting eps illustrations to other formats, or processing
dvi files. This link gives the full install package:
Ghostscript.pkg.
The Size is
44M - 09 March 2024
The MD5 sum is
09f9b930bc94261c9e23f36c321cbbc7
The SHA512 sum is
cbe23d21e12bd1fec4a8a89aa6dd06dd7e607daa2314885e6c114c5648bae73e4bd8f9fb6463e6129e9050ec44eb389412efe044597e509f4df36a4a71b1624b
Ghostscript-Extras 10.03.0 from MacTeX
The program dvisvgm requires the Ghostscript Library libgs and an extra binary called mutool. These pieces are an optional install in the full MacTeX package. They are available in a separate install package named Ghostscript-Extras 10.03.0. The link below gives this install package:
GhostscriptExtras.pkg.
The Size is
67M - 09 March 2024
The MD5 sum is
e96c99c7ff39a8c54d6784a90f82f774
The SHA512 sum is
8f1baaee1a3c5e4ceec4672d61b85079c438d666d837ec608ea0be735bddc1586abdca0fe5bab5fb7b47e2809abc8dda75da63a04e68c5b5b79a37c551da7a82
