[tex-live] texhash not updating ls-R-TEXLIVEDIST

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 2017-12-08 at 08:58:52 -0500, gml at garymlewis.com wrote:

 > This problem started with a "ebgaramond.sty not found" error when 
 > running a tex file in TexMaker.
 > 
 > Summary:
 > ebgaramond.sty does not appear in ls-R-TEXLIVEDIST. Running sudo texhash 
 > does not add the sty file.

Hi Gary,
TeX Live neither provides, maintains, nor evaluates a file called
"ls-R-TEXLIVEDIST".

TeX Live provides and maintains ".../texlive/2017/texmf-dist/ls-R".
This one of the ls-R files updated by texhash.

I don't know where "ls-R-TEXLIVEDIST" comes from.  It's definitely not
maintained by TeX Live (texhash/mktexlsr).  Thus you can safely remove
this file.

I recommend that you check the configuration of TeXMaker.  There is
absolutely no reason to configure anything as far as the directory
containing the binaries is in $PATH
(/usr/local/texlive/2017/bin/x86_64-linux in your case).

If TeXMaker needs to locate any files by itself, it should simply use
kpathsea/kpsewhich:

  $ kpsewhich ebgaramond.sty
  /usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/tex/latex/ebgaramond/ebgaramond.sty

George White recommeded to change ownership of the /usr/local/texlive
directory tree.  This is definitely a good idea and I'm glad that
he mentioned it.  Let me elaborate on it.

It's a common misconception to believe that everything is secure only
because it's installed with root permissions.  The exact opposite is
the case.

Use sudo only in order to maintain your operating system, never
install software by yourself as a privileged user.

Instead, run

  sudo chown -R gary:users /usr/local

and /usr/local is yours.

Whenever you invoke a command with sudo, a small typo can break the
whole system.  Use sudo with care and avoid it whenever possible.
Always maintain your own stuff as a non-privileged user.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha                            Phone: +49-511-3373112
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