[OS X TeX] problem with texdoc

[Herbert Schulz]

On Dec 27, 2010, at 11:26 AM, Alain Matthes wrote:

> 
> Le 27 déc. 2010 à 15:00, Herbert Schulz a écrit :
>> 
>> It's owned by me with group wheel (but that shouldn't make a difference) on my system. Did you perhaps run something like `sudo updmap` (not updmap-sys) or `sudo fmutil` (not fmtutil-sys) at some point?
> 
> hello
> 
> yes it's possible
> 
> What are the rules ?
> 
> What are the  differences between :
> 
> updmap-sys and
> sudo updmap-sys ?
> 

Howdy,

1)The -sys versions of the commands create files within the TeX Distribution itself (usually within the texmf-var tree starting at /usr/local/texlive/2010/texmf-var) while the non-sys versions of the commands create files in your HOME texlive configuration tree (~/Library/texlive/2010/texmf-var --- not to be confused with your personal texmf tree which starts at ~/Library/texmf).

2)Using `sudo` tells the system to use root privileges. This is necessary if you are working with the TeX Distribution trees (the ones written to by the -sys versions of the commands) since those trees are set up to be owned by root to prevent editing by mistake. However, you shouldn't use `sudo` when using the non-sys versions of the apps because and folders or files created then will have root ownership (even if within your HOME folder) and you get what you are seeing when something tries to write without your normal privileges.

> 
>> If that folder structure wasn't already created by then it might get created with root as owner.
> 
> If the folder was created by root, how I can use it ?
> 
> Best regards
> 
> Alain Matthes

Exactly! You'll want to change the ownership of the folder and its contents to your ownership: if your short name is myname then open Terminal and run

sudo chown -R myname ~/Library/texlive

(substituting your short name for myname above) and give your admin password. That will revert ownership of all those folders and files to you.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)