[OS X TeX] TeX on Snow Leopard

[Peter Vamos]

At 18:04 +0100 31/8/09, Maxwell, Adam R wrote:
>On 08/31/09 06:17, "Peter Vamos" <P.Vamos at exeter.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>>  At 11:49 +0100 31/8/09, Luis Sequeira wrote:
>>
>>>  Most people seem to use the bash shell, which is the default. A 
>>>  similar operation can be done for it, although the syntax is 
>>>  different. Create a .bashrc file (if you don't have it already) and 
>>>  put inside it a line containing
>>>  "export PATH=/usr/texbin:$PATH".
>>
>>  This is _not_ the recommended method. (Snow)
>  > Leopard uses the utility path_helper to produce
>>  your PATH by concatenating the individual pieces
>>  (files) from the /etc/paths.d directory.
>
>The only purpose in using /etc/paths.d is to set it for all users.  If you
>have a single-user system, there's nothing wrong with setting it in
>~/.bashrc.

Adam,

I am sure that you know a lot more about UNIX 
than I do but still: leaving aside the fact that 
you might want to let a visitor use TeXShop via 
the guest account there is the question of 
troubleshooting your system and/or operating from 
a non-admin account yourself. In other words, 
IMHO, even in a single-user set-up you want the 
option of logging in as an other user. It seems 
to me to be good practice therefore to enable 
apps (e.g TeXShop) to be able to run by all users.

>
>>  Similarly for the man PATH from  /etc/manpaths.d
>>  To alter or add to your PATH follow the
>>  instructions given by R Koch in an earlier
>>  message in this thread.
>
>Do not use /etc/manpaths.d on Snow Leopard.  Follow Dick Koch's instructions
>posted previously.

Agreed. I did not advocate this, just described what path_helper does.

Peter