[OS X TeX] Installing "MacTeXtras" using MacPorts

[Roussanka Loukanova]

On Fri, 2 Mar 2007, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Le 2 mars 07 à 10:54, Peter Dyballa a écrit :
>
>> I-Installer uses or used (I am not using it anymore since I do not want a 
>> geek TeX and unwanted preference panes, disk space abuse, and ability to 
>> switch between coarse TeX distributions) [...]
>
> In my opinion gwTeX is all but a geek TeX. It has allowed people with no Unix 
> expertise to use TeX on OS X for years, especially in conjunction with 
> TeXShop. And it is remarkably consistent, reliable and bug-free, with great 
> awareness of user needs and response to user requests.
>
> MacTeX goes one step further, by providing really a one-click installation of 
> TeX, hence providing for the first time a true MacOS TeX experience. However, 
> because it is based on TeXLive, which -- due to huge size and less strict 
> control from the developers -- is not as reliable as teTeX which used to form 
> the core of gwTeX, MacTeX is my experience not as reliable as gwTeX, though 
> in daily use most users won't ever meet the occasional bugs.
>
>> I also do not use Mac TeX (why should I download a set of CDs or a whole 
>> DVD to update some 10 MB?). I don't remember for sure whether Mac TeX did 
>> similiar things with gs as i-Installer did one year ago (I assume it did 
>> not, it rather would have installed the product of this conversion since 
>> it's basically a copy of a TeX installation done with i-Installer in its 
>> basic mode), I remember a discussion to install a version of gs that is X11 
>> enabled, that could be used in xdvi to render PostScript inclusions on 
>> screen.
>
> AFAIK both i-Installer and MacTeX check at install time whether X11 is 
> already available, and if so install an X11-enabled version of GhostScript; 
> if not, they install a not-X11-enabled version.
>
> Pete, though we have a few things in common (like taste in music)
...

I've been trying to keep with pace, but I have, certainly, missed that in 
the parentheses. Otherwise, Bruno have spoken my mind. I myself work on a 
Mac, namely because of the availability of Gerben's i-Installer and TeX, 
and now, gwTeX and MacTeX.

Roussanka

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