[OS X TeX] Re: [texhax] installed MacTeX, unable to typeset anything

[Justin C. Walker]

On Jul 19, 2011, at 07:26 , Jacob Wegelin wrote:

> 
> Thanks to Herbert Schulz and to Victor Ivrii.
> 
> There is no Tex in Preferences. There is no "tex" in my path:
> 
> ~/Documents/tmp> echo $PATH
> /opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/Users/user/bin
> ~/Documents/tmp>
> 
> Should the mpkg modify my path if it installs correctly?
> 
> Thus I will try re-downloading MacTeX.mpkg.zip from http://www.tug.org/mactex/downloading.html.
> 
> But also, that page provides a way to check whether the download was successful, by "md5 checksum." Following the directions on that page, I have typed
> 
> openssl md5

Why are you using "openssl"?

The result of the above is to start "md5", and it is now awaiting input.  For example, type something and then type "RETURN ^D" (that's CTRL-D).  You will see the MD5 checksum ("digest") of whatever you typed.

Typing "md5 /path/to/mactex-file" will give you the MD5 digest of what you downloaded.

To use what you typed, you would need to type

% openssl md5 < /path/to/mactex-file

> Is there any reason to use that approach rather than a command-line "cksum"? I have renamed the zip file that I downloaded a couple days ago. Then I get the following:

md5 is used in preference to "cksum" because the algorithm is "cryptographically stronger" than that uses by "cksum".  To grok the differences, check the man pages for each, and then do some research on "digital signatures" :-}

In any case, the values produced by the two commands are different.

> I'm very curious why openssl md5 would not work.

HTH

Justin

PS: I've clipped off 'texhax' from the recipients in the interests of electron conservation.

--
Justin C. Walker, Curmudgeon-At-Large
Institute for the Enhancement of the Director's Income
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Experience is what you get
  when you don't get what you want.
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