TeX Live and MacTeX ⇒ Making TeX known to the system

[Keta]

Hi all,

I've been playing with Ubuntu lately, reinstalling it many times, having to format the hard drive each time. I learned that I had to make a partition for the /home directory, so as to not have to backup its contents every time. Installing the 2GB of TeXLive 2008 each time is a pain too, so I decided I would make another partition for the /usr/local directory, where the TeXLive installation is due to stay for as long as possible.

The next time I reinstall the operating system, I will have to make the TeX system known to the former. How should this be done?

Keta

[phi]

AFAIK TL08 by default only writes to /usr/local/texlive. The only thing that the system has to know about are the binaries (in .../bin/$platform). For example, on my single-user system, I've created symlinks to tlmgr and kpsewhich in /usr/local/bin to be able to run tlmgr with sudo, and I've also added several paths to my environment in my .profile file:

Code: Select all

## TeX Live 2008
TEXLIVE_BASE='/usr/local/texlive/2008'
TEXLIVE_BIN="$TEXLIVE_BASE/bin/i386-linux"
TEXLIVE_DOC="$TEXLIVE_BASE/texmf/doc"
export PATH="$TEXLIVE_BIN:$PATH"
export MANPATH="$TEXLIVE_DOC/man:$MANPATH"
export INFOPATH="$TEXLIVE_DOC/info:$INFOPATH"
export OSFONTDIR='/usr/share/fonts'
export XINDY_LIBDIR="$TEXLIVE_BIN"

[Keta]

Thanks for the hints Phi. I don't still quite understand what should I do. How can I create symlinks? I found several .profile files in my system, which one is it?

From the TeX Live instalation guide:

Multiple TeX distributions: only one TeX distribution can be active at a time, because all the TeX distributions use the search path to find their programs. This means that to switch from one TeX to another, e.g., between the native TeX Live and a TeX provided by your operating system, you must (at least) change the search path.

How do I define the path for the programs?

Thanks again for the help,

Keta

EDIT: From there too:

Then (except on Windows), you must add the TeX Live binary directory to your PATH:
PATH=/usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux:$PATH
(Use the syntax for your shell, your own chosen directory, and your own system name instead of i386-linux.)

What is the PATH all about?

[Keta]

It was easier than I thought... in fact, I did nothing and after reinstalling Ubuntu everything worked fine.

I still don't understand how it works, but as long as it works I don't care that much