[OS X TeX] To upgrade or not to upgrade (To 10.10)

[Richard Koch]

Alain,

> On , at 2015 Sep 18,3:55 AM, Benoit RIVET wrote:
> 
>> However, a fresh install of TexLive on Yosemite is just as easy (or just as painful…) as a fresh install on any older OS.
> 
> I had forgotten. Thanks to remind me.

Bernoit is correct. MacTeX works fine. 

Incidentally, the problem that problem that “updating to Yosemite after TeX is already installed
causes a long delay at the end” is fixed for the Yosemite to El Capitan update.
> 
>> I would advise you to embrace Yosemite; install Texlive, and enjoy the new shiny OS.
> 
> But WHY should I get Yosemite? Most of what I do is in LaTeX. Other than speed, what will Yosemite do for LaTeX that Snow will not? And I really do not care about speed.

I thought your previous email said that your new machine came with Yosemite. ????

I agree with the above advice. Go with the latest system unless there is a particular piece of
important software that doesn’t work with it.

The following is my opinion and many developers may not agree. I’d separate the cases of
TeX and the various GUI interfaces to it. TeX is mainly command line code which works on all
platforms. On the Mac, PPC versions sitll work fine. It would be highly unusual if a system
change affected its behavior. (The exception is programs which use system fonts, like XeTeX
and LuaTeX, since Apple has been modernizing its fonts at a rapid clip.)

But those GUI developers who don’t write cross platform apps tend to update to new systems
as soon as they are available, and adopt the latest system features. In recent years, Apple
has encouraged this by making updates free, and their advice to developers for some time 
has been “write to the latest system.” 

If a system works for you, it is fine to stick with it. But when the system fails and you have
to upgrade anyway, why not go all the way?

Dick Koch