[tex-live] tlmgr cannot install packages

[George N. White III]

On Sat, Nov 8, 2008 at 1:23 AM, Spyros Koutsoumpos
<spyros.koutsoumpos at googlemail.com> wrote:

> I installed the minimal edition of TeXLive 2008 from the net in Ubuntu 8.10.
> In order to complete the installation, I edited (gedit ~/.profile) and
> sourced (source ~/.profile) the .profile file by appending the lines

Did run the installer as "root" or as an ordinary user?
Do you have Unbuntu's TeX distribution installed?

> PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux
> export PATH



> I also appended the lines
>
> export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux/
> export TEXMFCNF=/usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf/web2c/
>
> in the .bashrc file and sourced.
>
> Then, latex -v gives the expected info.
>
> I then tried to install new packages with tlmgr, after I had had installed a
> python package and updated tlmgr itself. The command
>
> tlmgr install mathdesign
>
> will connect to the installation location, install:mathdesign and then quit
> because it "can't mkdir '/usr/local/texlive/2008/temp/' permission denied".
>
> sudo tlmgr install mathdesign, or sudo -H install mathdesign,
>
> will prompt for password only to inform that tlmgr:command not found.
>
> The package manager of MikTeX in Windows Vista similarly requires elevation
> (administrative privileges) to start. If the same is required by tlmgr, why
> is it not recognized by sudo? Why would tlmgr want to download the package
> at a created temp directory where it has no access (me either?).
> I hope you could hint at a solution on this problem, as I only installed
> Ubuntu two days ago and my experience with it is still limited.
> Many thanks in advance,
> S.
>



-- 
George N. White III <aa056 at chebucto.ns.ca>
Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia