[tex-live] -var and -local [was:] install for compr...

Fabrice Popineau Fabrice.Popineau at supelec.fr
Tue Jun 22 15:41:36 CEST 2004


> We've been using texmf-var for all such automatically updated stuff for
> years.  Why change now?  Who benefits?

I always advise people against configuration files in texmf-local:
configuration files syntax and semantics have changed over the years, people
tend to put tailored configuration in TEXMFLOCAL and forget about them.

IMHO:
- configuration files should be copied to VARTEXMF
- user (or admin) may do some hand editing on them
- any installer should be allowed to overwrite configuration files when
updating (from TL2003 to TL2004),
- people should be warned they may have to apply their changes in case of
upgrade
- no configuration file should occur in TEXMFLOCAL or outside VARTEXMF and
TEXMFMAIN.

Fabrice




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