[tex-live] error

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 21 July 2010 Martin Schröder wrote:

 > 2010/7/21 chandrasekhar s <chandru.mcc at gmail.com>:
 > >       When i try to compile this pdflatex this error is being shown. I am
 > > using fedora.
 > 
 > How did you install TeX?

Good question.

The output of

  echo $PATH | tr ':' '\n'

is quite helpful too.

Additionally it's helpful to get the output of

  tlmgr conf

I have the impression that not many people are aware of this feature
though it's soooooooooooooo helpful.

It does the same as teTeX's "texconfig conf" but works on Windows too.


Yesterday Chandrasekhar said that he installed TL 2010 and sent us a
log file produced by xetex.  According to the banner, he's actually
using the latest stuff:

This is XeTeX, Version 3.1415926-2.2-0.9997.3 (TeX Live 2010) (format=xelatex 2010.7.14)  19 JUL 2010 23:22

But according to the log file, all macro packages are found in
/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist, thus I suppose that he installed TL in
/usr and overwrote the TL system provided by Fedora.  I'm wondering
why xetex works but pdflatex not.  Maybe the installed Fedora release
doesn't provide xetex yet.  However, such a setup is problematic: The
Fedora binaries are in /usr/bin and the TL-2010 are in
/usr/bin/<platform>/ (if installed this way).  /usr/bin can't be
removed from PATH.  If TL-2010 is really installed this way, it might
help to try this:

Start a new shell (or open a new terminal window) and type:

PATH=/usr/bin/<platform>:$PATH
pdflatex lshort

Does this work?

It's never a good idea to install packages you maintain yorself in
/usr.  Even if this works, it can happen that Fedora's package tool
pulls in TL again if there is a dependency from another package and
overwrites parts of TL-2010 with older stuff.

I strongly recommend to install software you maintain yourself in
/usr/local and leave the rest of /usr to Fedora's package manager.

Chandrasekhar, I don't know how good your internet connection is,
i.e. how painful it is to install TL-2010 again.  But I strongly
recommend to install TL again in the directory proposed by the
installer.

1. Uninstall TL using Fedora's package manager.

2. Remove remnants from TL-2010.  If there is a directory
   /usr/bin/i86-linux or /usr/bin/x86_64-linux, check the creation
   date (ls -ld --time=ctime /usr/bin/<platform>).  If it's from 
   July 19, it was created by the TL installer and can safely be
   removed.  If it's older, you have to investigate whether it
   contains stuff not related to TL.  Also look for directories
   /usr/texlive and /usr/share/texlive.  You can remove them, but
   first save anything you installed yourself in texmf-local.

3. If you want to have Fedora's TeX Live as a fallback, you can
   install it now.  This is not necessary, you can do it any time
   later, if you want at all.

4. Install TL-2010 again using the installation directories proposed
   by the installer.

5. Set your PATH like this:

   PATH=/usr/local/texlive/2010/bin/<platform>:$PATH
   export PATH

   You can do this in your ~/.bashrc if you only need it yourself, if
   you want a system-wide configuration you have to do this in the
   bash config file in /etc, but this is quite system depended
   (because package managers have to add/remove things).  If you don't
   know where to add the lines above, I'm sure that Zdenek can help.

Regards,
  Reinhard

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reinhard Kotucha			              Phone: +49-511-3373112
Marschnerstr. 25
D-30167 Hannover	                      mailto:reinhard.kotucha at web.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------