[OS X TeX] Installing packages not available as iInstaller-Packages

Axel E. Retif axretif at igo.com.mx
Wed Feb 28 10:46:10 CET 2007


On Feb 28, 2007, at 03:35, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Le 27 févr. 07 à 19:14, Axel E. Retif a écrit :
>
>> The advantage of installing in ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex/, as Herb  
>> Schulz suggested, is that if you have more than one current  
>> distribution (as I do: gwTeX-2003-2005, gwTeX and TeXLive-2007),  
>> you just install in one place and any active distro will see your  
>> packages.
>
> I once suggested <http://tug.org/pipermail/macostex-archives/2007- 
> January/027996.html> that it would be nice to adjust the TeXDist  
> structure so as to have one single real folder /Library/TeX/Local,  
> inside which an admin user could put local additions to the  
> existing texmf trees, and then turn the various local texmf trees  
> from each distribution, as defined by the variable TEXMFLOCAL from  
> texmf.cnf, namely:
>
> - For TeXLive, /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local
>
> - For gwTeX, /usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.pkgs
>
> into symlinks to that /Library/TeX/Local. Alas, that message of  
> mine was too long and too convoluted as usual, and I doubt it read  
> much.
>
> Advantages would be that you could manipulate this local texmf  
> folder directly from the Finder (create subfolders, move files,  
> copy files, etc.), without having to resort to the command line.  
> And that you could maintain a single local texmf tree (i) for all  
> distributions installed on a given Mac and (ii) for all the users  
> of this Mac.
>
> Gerben's answer <http://tug.org/pipermail/macostex-archives/2007- 
> January/028015.html> seemed to suggest that this is indeed possible  
> and does not even require symlinks. Instead, a simple edition of  
> the texmf.cnf of each distribution would do the trick. Namely, edit  
> the lines:
>
> - For TeXLive, in /usr/local/texlive/2007/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf,
>
> 	TEXMFLOCAL=$SELFAUTOPARENT/../texmf-local
>
> - For gwTeX, in /usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.cnf,
>
> 	TEXMFLOCAL = $SELFAUTOPARENT/texmf.local
>
> to simply:
>
> 	TEXMFLOCAL=/Library/TeX/Local
>
> Alas, I did not attempt that modification, as (i) I wasn't sure to  
> have properly understood what Gerben meant and (ii) I was afraid to  
> break the TeXDist structure by doing so.
>
> In any case, the above couldn't work for teTeX, given the local  
> directory for it is /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf.local which is not  
> only TEXMFLOCAL but also VARTEXMF, implying that, with a unique / 
> Library/TeX/Local, teTeX would not only read its content but also  
> put the generated files such as psfonts.map and *fmt files inside  
> it, which would break gwTeX and TeXLive.

By far the best solution --all (current) distributions could read the  
same local directory, and all users could have the same additions. I  
only keep GWteTeX as a safety net, for old jobs.

Best,

Axel


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