[OS X TeX] i-Installer installation question

[Gerben Wierda]

> I have to install TeX and friends on a number of computers today.
>
> To save  time, I wondered if it would be possible to:
>
> 1. use i-Installer to install all the packages on one computer
> 2. copy the i-Packages directory  (and other bits and pieces)  to a CD
> 3. copy the i-Packages directory (and i-installer and TeXShop etc) to
> another computer from the CD
> 4. Run i-Installer on the computer with the copied files.
>
> It would save time in downloading which can be pretty painful here.
>
> Thanks for any pointers.

i-Installer Help contains:
- Information on the relation to it downloading content and using content
in Help -> Basic Operations
- Information on what happens when you update in the Help description of
the Pkg Properties tab of the Package window
- Information on fattening in Help->The Menu
- Information on working without remote repositories, e.g. either
fattening or setting up your local repository mirror in Help ->
Performance Issues

In short: i-Installer is an installer which installs the content of .ii2
bundles (i-Packages) on your system. It has a lazy download mechanism that
makes it download stuff from a remote repository into your local i-Package
only when it is needed. If you make sure everything has been downloaded
already into your local copy of the i-Package (.ii2 bundle), you can
fatten it. Any fattened i-Package (.ii2 bundle) can be copied in a normal
way and used independently of network access. Locking the package even
prevents i-Installer from *trying* to update. A fattened and then locked
i-Package is a complete and independent thing.

You can do it the way above, but i-Packages may react to differences on
the various systems and depending on those differences need different
(internal) parts. That it needs internal parts 1-4 on system 1 may not
guarantee you do not need also internal part 6 on system 2. Hence,
fattening an i-Package is your friend. A word of warning: fattening
downloads *everything*, hence in the TeX i-Package it downloads binaries
for 3 versions (2003, 2004 and 2005) and two basic texmf trees (teTeX 2
and teTeX 3). You will download more than twice the amount you actually
need.

G

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