[texhax] TeX Live installation: directory shifting

[Reinhard Kotucha]

Karl Berry writes:
 >     Is there some way to persuade the installer to put these files where I 
 >     want them?
 > 
 > Not really.

I suppose that 'not really' means that it can't be done by the
installer.  This is what Michael asked for but it's quite easy to
do it manually.

Just install to /usr/local.  The binaries will be in
/usr/local/bin/sparc-solaris.  Move them to /usr/local/bin, remove the
empty directory /usr/local/bin/sparc-solaris (if you want), and
replace $SELFAUTOPARENT by $SELFAUTODIR in texmf.cnf. 

I suppose that it works.

 > The current installer has an option "install symlinks" in the menu which
 > will create symlinks in your system directories (whatever you specify)
 > to the binaries within TL.  It wouldn't work to have the actual binaries
 > outside the TL tree, then they couldn't find their configuration files
 > (without a lot of additional work on your part).
 > 
 > We were actually going to drop this option in the new installer we are
 > working on, but I guess we shouldn't.

Hmm, though I don't use this option myself I think it's a nice thing.
If you enable this option and start installation you get a running
TeX Live system when the installer is finished.  No need to edit
config files (bashrc) manually.  Quite nice for people who are not
very familiar with their operating system.

Since Norbert already provided the code it doesn't save us any time if
we drop it.  BTW, in TL-2007 the default target directory was
/usr/... but I changed it to /usr/local/... because I think it's what
most people want.

Regards,
  Reinhard

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinhard Kotucha			              Phone: +49-511-4592165
Marschnerstr. 25
D-30167 Hannover	                      mailto:reinhard.kotucha at web.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------