[tex-live] other problems with install-tl

[Werner LEMBERG]

[Due to a mistake I've used the install-tl version of Okt 26th instead
 of the latest one.  I assume that the problems are still of there.]

First of all: Installation of TeXLive using install-tl worked just
fine, without any problems.  However, there are some `features' which
might scare Joe User.

  . I use KDE with multiple virtual desktops.  Switching to another
    one and then back to the desktop which runs `install-tl -gui', I
    see the result as depicted in the attached image.  Note that after
    a few minutes staying on the same desktop the contents of the
    install-tl window became `better': A white screen with the blue
    vertical stripe on the left side.  But the text and buttons seen
    before has been never restored.

    This really puzzles me.  I know that only a single thread is used,
    making it probably difficult to refresh while the wget process
    runs in the background.  But between the loading process of two
    packages install-tl gains control back so that it can refresh its
    window completely.  A programming error?

  . Since it took many, many hours to complete, I've seen the final
    display of install-tl the next morning; I thus can't tell whether
    anything weird has happened meanwhile :-) A final window popped up
    which suggested to modify PATH, MANPATH, and INFOPATH.  Alas, it
    was not possible to copy the long directory values given there to
    the clipboard (this is, using the mouse to highlight it, then
    pressing Ctrl-C).  Instead, I had to manually type them in.  This
    is error-prone.

    I suggest to emit the path values on the console also (from there
    it is *always* possible to mark and copy it with the mouse).

  . While install-tl shows the name of the current package it
    downloads and installs, it doesn't display how many packages are
    left.  Given that there is really an enormous amount of packages,
    this would be valuable information.

  . Any possibility to add an estimate how long the download will
    still continue, similar to other installation programs?

  . I assume that the texlive database doesn't contain the sizes of
    the lzma archives, right?  Even then, it might be a good idea to
    mention the uncompressed size of the currently downloaded archive
    so that the user has a chance to recognize whether it should take
    really a long time, or whether something unexpectedly is
    happening.


       Werner
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: install-tl.small.png
Type: image/png
Size: 125084 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://tug.org/pipermail/tex-live/attachments/20081102/dde37142/attachment-0001.png