TeX Live and MacTeX ⇒ Proper with to install texlive in Debian

[ken18]

Is there a best/proper way to install texlive on Debian? From the research I've done, there seem to be 2 main options:

(1) Install using Debian package manager (synaptic). Result appears to be medium size (unless you choose texlive-full). TLMGR is not installed, so adding packages may not be so straightforward. If you are lucky, installing texlive-generic-extra may pick up what you need. I've read about manually installing latex packages but haven't dug into it enough to figure it out.

(2) Bypass Debian package manager. Download and unpack install-tl-unx.tar.gz and execute install-tl. TLMGR is installed and can be used to add packages as needed.

I'm leaning toward (2) but I'm enough of a beginner that I'm worried about getting into touble with package manager conflicts down the road.

What is the conventional wisdom?

[Johannes_B]

Norbert Preinig is part of the TeX Live team and also on the debian team. He takes care that everything goes as smooth as possible.

I think package updates will be available for a vanilla TeX Live (obtained from TUG) a bis faster than with debian packages.

So i would say, choose the way you prefer.

[ken18]

Thanks for your reply. I like the idea of a minimal texlive installation and using tlmgr to add only what you need, but I don't understand step 4 of the instructions on the TUG site about 'Integrating vanilla TeX Live with Debian':

http://www.tug.org/texlive/debian.html#vanilla

4. Tell APT about your TeX Live installation by building a dummy package using equivs

What is this all about and why do I need it?

[Johannes_B]

If you want to install a TeX-editor like texworks or texmaker (or even the WYSIWYM-editor LyX) you need to have texlive-base installed as a requirement/dependency. Using equivs you can make a package yourselve telling your system »everything is ok, the TeX-stuff is installed on this system.« Otherwise the required packages would be installed once more.

[ken18]

Thanks, you've been very helpful. I've followed the instructions: 'Integrating vanilla TeX Live with Debian' but am stuck at the step to edit texlive-local:

At the step "edit texlive-local", edit the Maintainer field and the list of the packages provided by your local TeX Live installation as appropriate

If I read this literally I'm supposed to edit the list of packages provided by my local Tex Live installation, but (1) I see no list of packages in the file and (2) I don't know what edit changes to make. Or, maybe it is suppose to read:

At the step "edit texlive-local", edit the Maintainer field and ADD the list of the packages provided by your local TeX Live installation as appropriate

If this is the case, how does one obtain the list of packages provided by my local Tex Live installation?

Some guidance please?

[Johannes_B]

Hi, there is a ready to use one, you just have to know where to find it
debian equivs TL list
This list includes all the packages provided by TeX Live, so it is valid when having installed scheme-full.

[ken18]

Hi, there is a ready to use one, you just have to know where to find it
debian equivs TL list
This list includes all the packages provided by TeX Live, so it is valid when having installed scheme-full.

Actually, I did see the example, but I used a custom scheme when I installed TexLive so figured the example file wasn't appropriate. Should I use it anyway? Not sure what to do.

[Johannes_B]

If you want to add additional stuff at a later point you will do it using tlmgr. So go ahead, use the file. But keep a mental note (or a real-life postIt) just in case

[ken18]

If I just use the example file provided on the website, it won't match what I've actually installed. What are the consequences/implications, if any? Also, if I do add packages later with tlmgr, what actions do I need to take?

Just for fun, I used tlmgr to list the packages I have and the list doesn't come very close to the one on the website. For example, if I just look at texlive-xxxx packages, I get:

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user@ThinkPad-T61:~/Documents/Latex$ tlmgr list | grep 'texlive-'
i texlive-common: TeX Live documentation (common elements)
  texlive-cz: TeX Live manual (Czech/Slovak)
  texlive-de: TeX Live manual (German)
i texlive-docindex: top-level TeX Live doc.html, etc.
i texlive-en: TeX Live manual (English)
  texlive-fr: TeX Live manual (French)
  texlive-it: TeX Live manual (Italian)
i texlive-msg-translations: translations of the TeX Live installer and TeX Live Manager
  texlive-pl: TeX Live manual (Polish)
  texlive-ru: TeX Live manual (Russian)
i texlive-scripts: TeX Live infrastructure programs
  texlive-scripts.alpha-linux: alpha-linux files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.amd64-freebsd: amd64-freebsd files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.amd64-kfreebsd: amd64-kfreebsd files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.amd64-netbsd: amd64-netbsd files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.armel-linux: armel-linux files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.armhf-linux: armhf-linux files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.i386-cygwin: i386-cygwin files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.i386-freebsd: i386-freebsd files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.i386-kfreebsd: i386-kfreebsd files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.i386-linux: i386-linux files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.i386-netbsd: i386-netbsd files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.i386-solaris: i386-solaris files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.mipsel-linux: mipsel-linux files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.powerpc-linux: powerpc-linux files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.sparc-solaris: sparc-solaris files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.universal-darwin: universal-darwin files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.win32: win32 files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.x86_64-cygwin: x86_64-cygwin files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.x86_64-darwin: x86_64-darwin files of texlive-scripts
i texlive-scripts.x86_64-linux: x86_64-linux files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-scripts.x86_64-solaris: x86_64-solaris files of texlive-scripts
  texlive-sr: TeX Live manual (Serbian)
  texlive-zh-cn: TeX Live manual (Chinese)
 
 
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From this I see that I've installed 6 of the packages that start with texlive. This list isn't very close to what is in the file on the website. My list doesn't have texlive-binaries, texlive-fonts-extra, etc. My assumption was that I could compile an accurate list for the file using tlmgr. Either my assumption is wrong or my installation is goofed up.

Also, just for fun, I tried to install texlive-science:

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root@ThinkPad-T61:/usr/local/texlive/2014/bin/x86_64-linux# ./tlmgr install texlive-science
tlmgr: package repository http://ctan.math.washington.edu/tex-archive/systems/texlive/tlnet
package texlive-science not present in package repository.
 
 
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What have I done wrong?

[Johannes_B]

I am not sure and haven't checked, but i am pretty sure texlive-science contains packages like siunitx, chemmacros etc. So a collection of different packages. Whereas tlmgr will show you those packages independantly.

The file lists (for equivs) contains all packages (meta packages containing a bundle of files) available for TeX Live. You installed a subset and will instal any more packages using tlmgr. The equivs packages is only needed to install stuff like editors and other stuff related to TeX. Equivs won't in any way interact with yur installation.