[OS X TeX] MacTeX 2008?

[Herbert Schulz]

On Apr 8, 2008, at 4:16 PM, Jasper Knockaert wrote:
> Maarten Sneep schreef op 08-04-2008 22:31:
>> On 8 apr 2008, at 00:43, Adam M. Goldstein wrote:
>>> Maybe this is something everyone knows but me---when (if at all)  
>>> will a TeXLive-MacTeX 2008 distribution be put together?
>> When it is done, I guess. I think there are some milestones  
>> expected this year in the development of LuaTeX, with a first  
>> formal release at TUG2008. That is late July, and I expect that  
>> TeXLive 2008 will include a luatex release, if only to get a wider  
>> test of the application. That said, the disk image gets updated on  
>> a regular basis, and work is underway for texlive itself to support  
>> better updating. So a lot is happening, but I don't expect the  
>> texlive 2008 DVD set to be one of my birthday presents (late  
>> october).
>> Remember that a release on December 31st still counts as a 2008  
>> release...
>> Is there a particular reason you ask?
>
> I have always perceived the developments in the world of tex as  
> being both exciting and chaotic. There has been the ongoing and  
> somewhat unfocused effort of the LaTeX3 project (with the question  
> still open if it will arrive before Hurd), then there are the more  
> tangible results of the efforts around pdflatex/pdftex/pdfetex (I  
> never really understood what this naming is about) and the closely  
> related microtype package and probably also hyperref. To get better  
> OS integration especially with respect to fonts support and probably  
> also unicode we got XeTeX which unfortunately does not integrate  
> well with the microtype developments. On the packaging front there  
> were the more or less annually TeX Live distributions (that come in  
> different flavours, MacTex being one of them), the ubiquitous tetex  
> distro which is outdated but still comes with fink and macports, the  
> very state-of-the-art MikTex (unfortunately with a strong Windows  
> focus), and apparently something new is in the works on the TeX Live  
> front. And now there seems to be need for a LuaTeX as well (but  
> forgive me for not having got the message what it is about). And I  
> could go on and elaborate on BibTex (where is this story going?),  
> hlatex (anyone ever managed to successfully update it?), etc.
>
> I may be the only one, but sometimes I wished there would be just a  
> "click here" button that provided me with an up-to-date (and  
> working) LaTeX distribution so now and then. MikTeX on Windows comes  
> pretty close to that.
>
>
> Jasper.


Howdy,

There is... it's called TeX Live 200x and it comes out (very)  
approximately once a year. :-)

Upgrading one part of a system may lead to instability since some  
packages depend upon other packages. If you have a system that is  
working why worry about updating until it is all going to work together.

On the other hand, some package updates have added features or bug  
fixes that can be useful. If you know that is true of a given package  
it really isn't difficult (well, not as simple for fonts), in most  
cases, to get it from CTAN and install in your personal tree (~/ 
Library/texmf/...) where it will be found. Most simple packages can go  
into sub-directories of ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex/.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)