[tldistro] texlive.infra.r72854.tar.xz (and doc) missing from the mirrors

[Norbert Preining]

Hi Florian,

On Fri, 22 Nov 2024, Florian Schmaus wrote:
> Gentoo *always* uses the released source tarball for texlive-core

Very good!!! Thanks!

> We use a fixed and stable version of the tlpdb to generate the list of CTAN
> packages along with their revision, which is sourced from the tlpdb.

Good idea.

> If I understand you correctly, then you refer to
> https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb as "latest
> tldpb". However, if I am not mistaken, this version is not, or at least not
> always, equal to the latest version in texlive's source repository.
> 
> The *only* reason we are using a tldpb from git is that it provides a stable
> reference. Please correct me if I am wrong, but
> https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb would be
> different next years from this year. This would make it unsuitable for our
> use case.

Yes, those are different. In particular, the tlpdb in git contains the
most current version, that is what goes into tlcritical.

That explains why you suddently were searching for a version from
tlcritial.

> Maybe you could provide a URL to a tlpdb that is fixed to particular tl
> release? For example
> https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/20240311/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb

Yes! I can ;-) You already use my services by using git:
> Basically we take a commit from git.texlive.info/texlive to have a stable,

So why not select
	https://texlive.info/tlnet-archive/YYYY/MM/DD/
as the source? It is the exact copy of what was on tlnet CTAN on that
day. The packages are there, the tlpdb is in sync.


> In general, for downstream packagers it would be great to provide versioned
> resources. Unfortunately, the tlpdb does not seem to be one of them (besides
> via the detour over git).

Yes, we are aware of that. Packagers like Debian distribute their own
version of the sources, so they can make a checkout at "their time" and
thus freeze the result.

Some others do NOT provide their own frozen sources, but require
download locations. CTAN does **not** provide for that. Thus I have set
up the tlnet mirror ;-)

> Which URL to a stable version of the tlpdb should I use for TexLive 2024 in
> Gentoo?

Depending on your preferred day, but the most recent is always a good
thing, so
	https://texlive.info/tlnet-archive/2024/11/22/tlnet/
would be a good starting point.

(No I only hope that my server is not killed by all the users trying to
download packages from it ;-)

Best regards

Norbert

--
PREINING Norbert                              https://www.preining.info
arXiv / Cornell University   +   IFMGA Guide   +   TU Wien  +  TeX Live
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