[tex-live] [tlpmgui] Re: [tlpmgui] tlpmgui starts in the wrong mode under Win32

[Staszek Wawrykiewicz]

On Fri, 2 Feb 2007, Dirk Ullrich wrote:

> > just rename "your-tex" directory to "my-old-tex' for the moment of
> > testing, that's the simplest solution.
	
Karl> That's an ok workaround, but it seems quite reasonable to me to 
Karl> provide an option to *force* install mode (--install-mode or 
Karl> whatever).  It should be simple: just omit the check for an 
Karl> existing "tex" binary and	go into the installation routines.  
Karl> That would be a lot nicer to document and for users to understand.

Dirk> (1) If tlpmgui's automatic guessing the correct mode (installation vs
Dirk> maintenance) is intended to help avoiding with old / incomplete TeX
Dirk> installations I find the current behavior not ver y helpful: Since
Dirk> tlpmgui does not provide any hint what has it caused to start
Dirk> maintenance instead of installation mode I thus only know that
Dirk> "something went worng" and nothing more. A more verbose message with
Dirk> more details (something like "ther is alread a TEX in Path ..." or so)
Dirk> would be in my opinion much more helpful.
	
Dirk> I understand that many users want an automatic mechanism which 
Dirk> ensures
Dirk> that there are not conflicts between a TL they are about to install
Dirk> and existing TeX installations (or installation fragments). But I do
Dirk> _not_ understand why there should not be an expert mode that allows 
Dirk> me to force things in a way I want-- when I am willing to pay the price
Dirk> to get a ruined system (something like being "root" under *NIX). 
Dirk> Such a possibly dangerous expert mode may start with a bold warning 
Dirk> that I am about to kill my pet or destroy the world ... but I _want_ 
Dirk> to have the choice.

Well, tlpmgui v. 1.69 introduces --install-mode option to force 
installation, but it is not documented. I do not know where to put such
information (except, of course, tlpmgui's help).
Please note that for most windows users even starting such program
with an option is not so straightforward (they are just used to clicking
program name or icon). Again, guessing if the user has any existing,
or not completely unistalled, or perhaps broken previous TeX installation
it is not so easy task. So what more can be done? 
Please note also that most disputants here are in fact good system
hackers, but we have to think about ordinary, not so advanced users and 
they rarely have many TeX installations.

Best,

-- 
Staszek Wawrykiewicz
StaW at gust.org.pl