[OS X TeX] gwTex vs MacTex 2010

[Ross Moore]

On 15/11/2010, at 7:04 AM, Herbert Schulz wrote:

> Unless you have an issue with HD space there is no need to remove gwTeX. The TeX Live installed by MacTeX is MUCH larger than gwTeX but is also very complete; if you have extra packages you installed in your personal tree at ~/Library/texmf/ I'd remove them and see if things still work without them

If you are like me, and never throw away things that may still have a use,
however unlikely, then do the following:

1. rename the directory to reflect what are its contents
    e.g. change   tex/latex/hyperref  to tex/latex/hyperref-v57g  (or whatever)

2. disable the read and execute permission bits of the directory;
   that is, within a terminal navigate to the correct place,
   then use:   
              chmod a-rx hyperref-v57g

   or if super-user is needed:   
              sudo chmod a-rx hyperref-v57g

3. when you've done this to everything you think you need to inhibit

    sudo texhash 

> since old package versions could give rise to strange things happening when they interact with newer versions of packages.

Exactly. Disabling the surrounding directory to a package file,
in the way described above, will render it invisible to TeX's
filename searching --- in particular by the kpathsearch  utilities,
and the files inside cannot be listed by  ls -R .

> If you have things installed in the system local directory (It has been too long since I used gwTeX and I don't remember what it's name was... I'm getting old) for gwTeX you'll have to move them (again, be careful about moving packages) in the proper location in the texmf-local directory and run `sudo texhash` for the TeX system to find them.

Disabling the directories removes the need to move things.
It also means you can get them back where they were, 
should any of your documents stop working.

> Assuming you are using OS X 10.5 or later use the TeX Live Utility to update all the packages once MacTeX/TeX Live 2010 is installed; many packages have been updated since that distribution was frozen. Finally, MacTeX will install a TeX Distribution System Preference Pane that may allow you to switch between your old gwTeX system (may depend upon how old it is) and the TeX Live 2010 system
> 
> Good Luck,
> 
> Herb Schulz
> (herbs at wideopenwest dot com)



Hope this helps,

	Cheers,

		Ross

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ross Moore                                       ross.moore at mq.edu.au 
Mathematics Department                           office: E7A-419      
Macquarie University                             tel: +61 (0)2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                          fax: +61 (0)2 9850 8114
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