[OS X TeX] OS X TeX newbie needs help installing TeX on non-boot volume

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 10.09.2005 um 18:01 schrieb Rowland McDonnell:

>>
>> I think there is nowhere a place to change the location where
>> i-Installer installs teTeX ...
>
> I can see a button in the i-installer UI which says, quite plainly,
> `Change install location'.

Probably when you try it the first time at all ... (I can't see it!)

>> 1. Set an environment variable TEXMF in ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist
>> that points to a teTeX 'root' directory on the other volume.
>
> I don't have such a directory (or file for that matter).  Could you  
> tell
> me what uses it and why I might want it?  Of course I can create the
> directory/file pair easily,

Really? The directory and the file in it come from NeXTSTEP. They are  
explained in Technical Notes:

http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1067.html
http://developer.apple.com/qa/qa2001/qa1255.html

On your local disk you might have /Developer/ADC Reference  
Library/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/BPRuntimeConfig/Concepts/ 
EnvironmentVars.html (or  
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/ 
BPRuntimeConfig/Articles/EnvironmentVars.html). Apple provides this  
file too:  
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/ 
OSX_Technology_Overview/CommandLine/chapter_8_section_4.html

>
>> Log off
>> and log in again, maybe as the owner of the TeX software,
>
> I don't understand what this means.  How can there be an owner of
> software that's not installed?

OK, I still act too often as a human being. I meant: the future owner.  
(An administrative account only, quite useful with fast switching  
between users and helpful to preserve an important installation from  
damage by viruses etc. the "normal" user might bring into the system.)

>>
>> 2. Create on the command line a sym-link! First you should have
> created
>> a new and empty directory (folder),
>
> What is the folder you refer to for?

This folder is an invisible one. You can make it visible by entering on  
the command line in Terminal 'open /usr <Return>' or 'open /usr/local  
<Return>' or in Finder by Cmd-Shift-G and entering the pathname /usr or  
/usr/local.

>
> I'm afraid I don't follow you at all here.  I know how to create  
> folders
> and I can see how to create Unix symbolic links from what you write.  I
> don't see what you're trying to get me to achieve by following these
> instructions.

The aim is to have a symbolic link /usr/local/teTeX that points to the  
teTeX folder on the other volume.

>
>> You probably only have the "thin" versions (a bundle of various
> scripts
>> and configuration files).
>
> What makes you think that?

Experience ... but I know there's a 'make fat' entry in some menu of  
i-Installer.

>
>> This measure too will help you in a case when you want to
>> reconfigure your installation and install an addition, for example add
>> a new format or delete a language from Babel or make the fonts in the
>> PDF output files to "download" to the printer,
>
> Could you explain what i-installer has to do with this?  I thought all
> that sort of stuff was done by configuring the packages directly.  I
> certainly don't want to get i-installer involved when I am creating new
> new formats!

Some users are not that experienced and need to use any of the other  
two modes of operation i-Installer offers: Configure Only and  
Uninstall. These two other buttons (modes of operation) are other  
interfaces to your teTeX installation's administration (a third one is  
on the command line).

>
> (and I don't use Babel - I've rolled my own on the hyphenation side
> because I only want UK English and US English hyphenation patterns
> available - I have a hyphen.cfg file looking like this:

That's what *you* have! Do you already know what the TeX i-Package has?  
How do you make i-Installer use your file somewhere on a multi-volume  
disk?

>
>> i.e. the usual set of
>> PostScript fonts that comes with the PostScript printer is downloaded
>
> Erm?  Why assume that I have a PostScript printer?  I was using HP
> inkjets exclusively up until not long ago when I did, finally, buy a PS
> printer.  But I've been using home computers for 25 years now and only
> got round to acquiring a PS printer in the last handful of months.

Usually the built-in PostScript interpreters in hardware offer a better  
quality than soft RIPs.

>
> Can anyone help me?
>

I don't know. We're only seven billions on Earth ... and almost 100% of  
us have no idea of Mac OS X and TeX!

--
Greetings

   Pete

 From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.
                                                             -Sigmund  
Freud

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