Custom File Location

[Joseph Wright]

On 16/07/2020 00:58, Reinhard Kotucha wrote:
> On 2020-07-15 at 18:06:38 +0000, Cousin, Christian wrote:
> 
>   > Good afternoon,
>   >
>   > Is there any way to store local .bib files anywhere other than in
>   > the C:\Users\<username>\texmf directory? IÕd like to sync a .bib
>   > with other people using the BoxSync software which paths to
>   > C:\Users\<username>\Box Sync\
>   >
>   > I can subsequently add the path C:\Users\<username>\Box Sync\texmf\
>   > but will need to point TexLive to the Box Sync directory first.
> 
> Hi Christian,
> the standard configuration file
> 
>    texlive/2020/texmf-dist/web2c/texmf.cnf
> 
> contains the line
> 
>    BIBINPUTS = $TEXMFDOTDIR;$TEXMF/bibtex/bib//
> 
> Copy this line and only this line to the file
> 
>    texlive/2020/texmf.cnf
> 
> and modify it as appropriate:
> 
>    BIBINPUTS = $TEXMFDOTDIR;C:/Users/.....;$TEXMF/bibtex/bib//
> 
> Never change anything in web2c/texmf.cnf because all changes might get
> lost after the next TeX Live update.
> 
> BTW, whenever your local directory must precede the standard
> directories in the search path there is something wrong.  It's better
> to prefix all your local files with "ua-" (for University of Alabama)
> in order to avoid name clashes.  The search order only matters if
> filenames are not unique.
> 
> The recommended way is to _append_ local stuff to the search path.

The same approach can be used in your environment (Environmental 
Variables on Windows, .profile or similar on Unix): I do that to add a 
local database available to all of my files.

Joseph