[OS X TeX] Re: MacOSX-TeX Digest, Vol 63, Issue 8: hidden files

[Herbert Schulz]

On Jan 16, 2013, at 10:58 AM, "Leslie Morland (MTH)" <L.Morland at uea.ac.uk> wrote:

>> Thanks for detail Herb.
> 
>> I tried mkdir texmf in ~Library, and told permission denied
> 
> I tried after sudo, asked for password, but keyboard dead; could not type
> anywhere in Terminal
> 
> I think set-up on replaced hard disk may be cause, but would appreciate
> any suggestions to restore sense.
> 
> Leslie
>> 
>> Howdy,
>> 
>> Don't ever put things in /usr/local/texlive/2012 (or any other year).
>> 
>> If you are using the machine for personal use place personal packages in ~/Library/texmf/tex/latex (or sub-directories of that directory, for organizational purposes). Personal bib files go into ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bib (or sub-directories of that...) and personal bst files go into ~/Library/texmf/bibtex/bst (or...). That directory structure in not created by default so you need to go to ~/Library (hold the Option key down and click on the Go Menu to see that Library displayed --- Lion and Mountain Lion hide it by default. Then create the texmf directory/folder and the internal folders.
>> 
>> If there are multiple users of your system and more than you alone need access to those files place them in a similar structure (e.g., bibtex/bib/... for bib files and tex/latex/... for package files) starting at /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local. You'll need to run
>> 
>> sudo mktexlsr
>> 
>> and give your admin password if you place the files in that tree (not necessary if you place files in your personal texmf tree as in the previous paragraph).
>> 
>> Good Luck,
>> 
>> Herb Schulz
>> (herbs at wideopenwest dot com)


Howdy,

You are clearly NOT in ~/Library!

First, there is no need to use Terminal for your personal texmf tree. Simply hold the Option key down while clicking the Go Menu in Finder and you'll see a menu item for the ~/Library (it just says Library) which is the Library folder in your HOME folder. Next, simply create the folder structure, starting with texmf, in that folder by creating a new folder (File->New Folder [Shift-Cmd-N] and naming it texmf and the open that folder, etc.

If you're going to use mkdir in Terminal you shouldn't need to use sudo at all. In Terminal just

cd ~/Library

(Note the ~/, not ~ alone) and then

mkdir texmf

etc.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)