[tex-live] Problem in updating texlive-2009

[George N. White III]

On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 11:44 AM, Norbert Preining <preining at logic.at> wrote:

> On Mi, 28 Jul 2010, George N. White III wrote:
>> Not completely sure what OP is attempting, but there is a common
>> "use case" where user with limited internet access has to replace
>> a virused, broken, or stolen system that was using TL2009, starting
>> from a DVD, but knows they need updates released during the lifetime
>> of TL2009.
>>
>> Someone in this position may have spent considerable time on the
>> upgrade treadmill (what with waiting for slow downloads) getting a TeX
>> installation that works for their multi-year project (think book).
>> Bad enough that the previous linux version won't run on the new
>> hardware -- all the apps have new versions with potentially new
>> bugs so they are faced with repeating a process they know will be
>> painful.   Note that a small minority of such users have backups,
>> but many of those find the backups aren't usable with the newer
>> hardware/OS.
>>
>> CTAN TL has the advantage that one can just backup the texlive
>> tree (e.g., copy to DVD) and have a reasonably good chance that
>> it can be restored on a newer hardware/OS version, (or even a
>> different OS if they can find the appropriate binaries).
>
> Honestly, I completely lost all my English, I didn't understand anything
> you wanted to say here ... sorry.

To rephrase:

1)  the OP's problem (wanting a TL2009 with updates on a newly installed OS)
is not unique

2)  as you note, TL2010 is the only viable option going forward (I assume
TL2009 will soon disappear from the CTAN mirrors).

3)  for those who wish to avoid the OP's predicament, it is worth noting that
the design of CTAN TL does facilitate disaster recovery.   Those who
want to use a particular configuration would do well to make copies of the
TL tree (perhaps including binaries for several OS's if their disaster
recovery may involve a change in platform).   In particular, there may still
be some options for the OP if a colleague can provide a copy of a TL2009
tree (perhaps after adding the required architecture).

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