[OS X TeX] question about fontspec/manually installing packages

[Philipp Mathey]

Hi,

I recently looked at xetex, together with fontspec, because I wanted  
to use a font other than the
standard computer fonts. It is really impressive.

I need the latest version of the fontspec package - v1.9- which comes  
with
some new \special{} -commands. The latest version in gwtex is v1.8 so  
I downloaded
the new version 1.9 and put in ~/Library/texmf/tex/xelatex. I also  
had to update the xkeyval
package and put the latest version in ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex/

Everything works fine. I didn't do " sudo texhash".

My question is this : could someone on this list explain/recap what the
recommended procedure in cases like this one is, i.e. if there is a need
to install a package which is not part of Gerben Wierda' tetex or an  
existing package
has not been updated yet, where should one place the (new version of  
the) package ? What is the
difference between placing a package in ~/Library/texmf/ and placing  
it somewhere
in /Library/teTeX/share/texmf.local/ ?

Of course, the most important aspect is : what happens when gwtex is  
being updated ?
How can one ensure the update is compatible with the manually  
installed packages?
Of course, if, for example, the update installs fontspec v.1.9 there  
would be no need for a manually
installed fontspec v1.9 in ~/Library/texmf/  anymore.

Maybe this has been explained countless times but I would be grateful  
if someone could
summarize what the recommended procedure is.

Thanks.
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