[OS X TeX] Installing packages

[Adam Maxwell]

On 5 Jun, 2004, at 17:23, Gerben Wierda wrote:

>> Right, there are enough chances now to screw up a working system 
>> without mixing them up like that :).  I'd rather see an installer 
>> implemented using the CTAN than depend on MiKTeX/cab files, and then 
>> file dates shouldn't be a problem, as CTAN is necessarily up-to-date 
>> (AFAIU).
>
> Sadly, this is *not* the case.

Well, then we're hosed anyway, I guess.  Why is this?

>> Perhaps it's easier just to tell people to read the manual, though...
>
> The current CTAN situation IMO is not fit for automated install. This 
> is exactly the reason why MiKTeX has its repository athe way it has. 
> And it is also not feasible to ask the users to read anything. Even if 
> they are willing to read, they are not always able to understand 
> because of a lack of experience with things like these.

My interpretation of this:  CTAN sucks for all platforms, so everyone 
is working around it.  All of this repackaging seems backward, when it 
could be eliminated at the source and thus save time and frustration.  
How long would it take to organize 77847 files (`wc -l FILES.byname`)?

-- 
Adam

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