[OS X TeX] MacPorts and MacTeX

[Herbert Schulz]

On Dec 20, 2010, at 4:25 PM, Alan Munn wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I'm thinking about installing some software (specifically shibboleth) using MacPorts to save me the trouble of building all the dependencies by hand.  I have MacTeX installed on the machine, and crucially need command line access to tex binaries, so I need to be sure that there will be no interference between MacPorts and MacTeX (or know how to eliminate it.)  My last foray into using Fink a long time ago caused more problems than it solved, and ever since I've been generally happier building the few unix based binaries that I need myself, but for this job, MacPorts looks like it will save me a lot of time.
> 
> I know that some of you successfully run both MacTeX and MacPorts.  Are there any pitfalls that I need to watch out for, or tricks that will make everything work smoothly?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Alan

Howdy,

If you don't have to install the MacPorts TeX Distribution I don't think there would be interference. If there is interference you should add something to your ~/.bash_profile and/or ~/.profile and/or ~/.bashrc (all that exist in your $HOME directory) for bash/sh use and ~/.cshrc if you use (t)csh that will place /usr/texbin in front of your PATH variable; e.g.,

export PATH=/usr/texbin:$PATH

at the end of the first three files (all that exist---no need to create them if they aren't already there) for bash use.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)