[tex-live] installing parallel (by year) versions

Barbara Beeton bnb at ams.org
Mon May 13 17:35:29 CEST 2013


thanks to robin and zdenek for information.

re different practice of ctan and tex live,
i said,
    >> [...] said file is included
    >> in tex live, but is not posted independently
    >> on ctan, only in a .zip file or via .dtx/.ins.

and robin answered,
    > this is the normal way.  .dtx (usually but not exclusively with a .ins)
    > was designed for distributing packages.  ctan will reject derived files
    > (when we notice them), since the .dtx (or whatever) holds all that's
    > needed.

yes, i know; to avoid having to explain to
(often new) users how to "unbundle" a .dtx
file, ams also distributes a tds-packaged
.zip file with instructions on how to install
it.  and sometimes we still get questions
about those details and have to supply the
.cls file separately with the recommendation
to just put it in the directory where the
current job is being run.

tex live is so much easier!

regarding the present question, here's what
the user provided as documentation on the
version he was using:

  ' /usr/share/texmf-texlive/tex/latex/amscls/amsart.cls
  Document Class: amsart 2004/08/06 v2.20 '

very informative!  (i wish all users were as
helpful!)  clearly unix of some flavor, of
a vintage no more recent than 2009.

but really, some users do say they've been
working on a book for n (>=5) years, and it's
clear that updating the whole of tex live
could throw a monkey wrench into those efforts.
just replacing graphicx or xypic or hyperref
would wreak havoc.  so keeping the "original"
set of required files makes sense, as does
using newer versions for new documents.  so
multiple parallel versions also makes sense
(sorry, robin).  unfortunately, the reported
location of the texlive directory for this
case doesn't include a year, so introducing
a parallel setup requires more than just
renaming the main texmf-texlive tree and
installing a new one beside it.

i've recommended to this user to get the
amscls.zip file from the ams server, and
following the instructions that will serve
to install it in place of the existing amscls
material in an old tex live tree; oops -- i
forgot to suggest that he save the old files
somewhere else, but in this case, since there
have been no "significant" updates since 2004
(other than the specific thing he asked about),
that should be safe.  (i still don't like to
do that though.  could give someone bad ideas
w.r.t other packages that wouldn't be so safe.)

robin, again:
    > i have long assumed that 2 tex setups on the same machine were the
    > sign of an eccentric geek.  and of people like me (a pretty small
    > class, and not geeky at all ... oh no).

okay, so i'm an eccentric geek.  similarly
ams, though production sites are by definition
operating under different contstraints.  i
still thing that
    >> adding a few sentences about setting up
    >> multiple, parallel, year-specific structures
    >> would be useful, [...]

from zdenek,

    It is very easy. Each version is installed in its own directory, as
    default in /usr/local/texlive/YYYY where YYYY is the year. In order to
    switch to another version it is sufficient to modify PATH.
    /usr/local/texlive/YYYY/bin/ARCH must be at the beginning of PATH. I
    have a script written in bash + tcl/tk that offers installed versions
    and can change PATH in the current xterm. I can send you the script.

ams has such scripts as well, but we're not in
a position to support them if someone we might
send them to has problems.  (thanks anyway.)

    In addition, my PATH contains /usr/local/texlive/current/bin/ARCH
    where /usr/local/texlive/current is a symlink to a version that I want
    to use (cuttently 2012). When I decide that 2013 is stable enough, I
    will just change the symlink and all xterms will use it immediatelly.

    I have all versions since 2007 although I do not use them but
    sometimes it is useful to see how things worked in previous versions.

and sometimes it's not only useful, but necessary,
to use previous versions of not only the packages,
but the binaries, as in the case where an article
published 15 or more years ago is being resuscitated
for republication in a "collected works" volume.

    > fwiw, i would *never* recommend a second installation on a machine.  i
    > do it myself, but there are rather few of my behaviours that i would
    > recommend to anyone else.

why, robin!  i've always thought of you as a
reliable (if sometimes eccentric) model.

thanks to all.  i still hope some additions to
the documentation are worth consideration.
(and offer to read them to make sure they make
sense.)
						-- bb


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