Macports without tetex (was: Re: [OS X TeX] Re: Multi-distribution woes)

[M A]

On 5/11/07, Richard Koch <koch at math.uoregon.edu> wrote:
> Both Gerben, installing gwTeX with i-Installer, and MacTeX,
> installing various distributions,
> add /usr/texbin to the END of
> the PATH variable. But MacPorts adds /opt/local/bin to the START of
> the PATH variable.
> Thus when you issue TeX commands from a shell, the MacPorts teTeX comes
> first and is used.
>
> The solution is easy. Add /usr/texbin to the START of your PATH,
> before /opt/local/bin.
> Then TeX commands from shell will execute the command in gwTeX, but
> nonTeX commands
> from shell will execute the MacPorts command. This PATH change is
> made by manually
> editing .profile, or possibly other shell login scripts.
>

This is really just additional information as Gary's problem is solved
by Dick's solution. But, it is possible (and probably desirable) to be
able to install software such as gnuplot without having to install a
whole new (or make that old and getting-outdated) TeX distribution. To
allow macports to find your already installed latex copy
/opt/local/etc/ports/ports.conf to ~/.macports/ports.conf (create the
directory .macports if it doesn't exist already) and add the following
lines to the end of the file:

# Set the bin path so it can find tex stuff.
binpath
/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/usr/texbin

Make sure the binpath line is all on one line (email programs may have
broken the line).

Mark A

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