[tex-live] TeX Live versus teTeX

[Karl Berry]

Hi Donald,

Just to follow up a little on Seb's response ...

    How should I decide between TeX Live and teTeX?

As Seb said, if you want a maximal distribution, use TL.  If you want a
more "medium" distribution, teTeX is fine.

    I have also observed that teTeX seems to be more widely distributed, in 
    that RPMs for it are in RedHat Linux distributions, and there is a Solaris 
    package available at http://www.sunfreeware.com.  

This is primarily because teTeX can be configured/compiled/installed
similarly to most other free software packages.  TL can't.  (Long story.)

    The TUG home page however, advertises TeX Live and does not mention
    teTeX.  Is TeX Live more official or supported by TUG than teTeX?

No, TUG supports both.  The teTeX home page is in fact on tug.org, and
there are lots of links to teTeX, e.g., on begin.html, interest.html,
etc.  I hadn't thought to put a link on the home page itself, but it
sounds like a good idea, so I just did it.

Also, just to be clear, all support of all the free distributions is on
a volunteer basis.  TUG has exactly one administrative employee; about
as far as banks of support operators answering phones in India as one
can imagine :).

Best,
Karl