[OS X TeX] Local Switcher and TeXLive2008

[Anthony Morton]

> I am not claiming that MacTeX's installation is not transparent, but  
> to me it is a black box that messes around with the System, which I  
> don't like. Removing Local Switcher's texlive installation and the  
> symbolic links is easy: Move the two symbolic links in ~ and /usr/ 
> local/texlive/2008/ to the trash.

I guess we've all got different perspectives on what 'messing around  
with the System' means, but given you already have to install the /usr/ 
local/texlive hierarchy at System level, the addition of the one  
symbolic link (/usr/texbin) and one Library folder (/Library/TeX)  
isn't doing any damage.  It's quite different from doing things in non- 
sanctioned system-level locations like /System or /etc or /var.

The catch with linking to TeX from your home directory is that you  
then need a PATH entry that points inside your home directory, which  
some consider to be a security risk.

Of course, you should do whatever you feel most comfortable with given  
your own setup, when you're alert to the consequences.

FWIW, the thing I'll be watching for with the MacTeX2008 installation  
is that I don't wind up with a strange mixture of two different  
releases of ImageMagick.  That may mean I install the latest  
ImageMagick from Gerben and skip that part of the MacTeX  
installation.  That's only because I like having the full ImageMagick  
available: installing only the minimal component as MacTeX2008 does  
certainly is 'messing around with the System' far less than the  
alternative.

Tony M.