Incremental TeX-Live ?

[Norbert Preining]

Hi Philip,

> case, it seems to me that there is zero benefit in re-installing for TeX
> Live nnnn+1 any file that appeared identically in TeX Live nnnn.  So, a

You can convert NNNN to NNNN+1 (most years, but not on Windows).

> 1. Do the resident experts agree that if my TeX search path(s)
>    contained the root directory of each installation of TeX Live from
>    (in my case) 2008 to 2021 (pre-test), then any TeX binary in TeX
>    Live 2021 (pre-test) would find the necessary support files no
>    matter where (in that set of directory hierarchies) the last
>    installed version of that support file was to be found ?

Yes (if you mean with "root" the "texmf-dist" directory, and not the
"texlive/yyyy" directory. You need to have a TDS compliant entry.

>         2. Would there be any benefit in enhancing the installer to look for
> previous versions of TeX Live, and if such exist, not duplicating (i.e.,
> re-installing) any file that existed unchanged in an earlier release ?

No. Explanations are too long, and too many, just one reason: Tracking
of files and packages would be nearly impossible.
(Imagine
	NNNN: contains pkg version aaa
	NNNN+1 gets installed, re-used pkg (aaa)
	NNNN tlmgr is called with "uninstall" or "remove pkg"
	NNNN+1 gets lost
)
So all of these things can be dealt with in principle, but I don't see
any benefit in it.

Best

Norbert

--
PREINING Norbert                              https://www.preining.info
Fujitsu Research Labs  +  IFMGA Guide + TU Wien + TeX Live + Debian Dev
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