[OS X TeX] New TeX i-Package release in *EXPERIMENTAL* i-Directory

[Gerben Wierda]

>> The question is where to keep the configuration stuff (and the compiled
>> fmt files) for each user. I find the HOME directory a bad idea. So I am
>> thinking about keeping it in
>> /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf.localuser.username with a symlink in your
>> home directory (this is a different tree than ~/Library/texmf)
>
> I'm a total newcomer to the whole TeX thing (and boy do I wish I had
> begun using it 15 years ago after having read through the
> "not-so-small" LaTeX tutorial), but I would like to add a few cents
> about this:
>
> Please put user-specific stuff in ~/Library. If it's not appropriate
> for ~/Library/texmf (which I've only used to install TeXShop as per
> it's installation instruction), please put it in another
> ~/Library/somethingElse instead. I would strongly prefer to keep
> user-specific data out of the whole /usr/local directory structure.
> Why?
>
> 1) Backing up my data should be (theoretically) as easy as backing up
> /Users/dfields
> 	a) Only I should be the one making symlinks from any part of that
> directory structure to elsewhere, in my opinion

I think it will be HOME after all. The problem is that it is a nasty mix:
25MB of easy to regenerate stuff (compiled formats) and a very small
amount of your configuration files (which do need to be in HOME).

I won't do anything hasty. I am meeting Thomas Esser soon and I'll discuss
this with him.


> May I ask a non-sequiturial question? (To modify a Latin term...) I
> read about 10 or so sites about different TeX packages for the Mac, and
> settled on your i-Installer rather than the fink package. However, it
> was not clear what the pros and cons were, and the fact that your
> i-Installer was mirrored at my alma-mater was my arbitrary way of
> making my choice. It might be helpful if you could put up a brief
> comparison between your TeX and the other MacOS TeX packages on your
> site for the newcomer to TeX, and perhaps one for just the TeX familiar
> but newcomer to TeX on MacOS.

I won't be making that comparison for the obvious reason that a) I might
not be considered a neutral reporter and b) it is time I do not have and
c) I would be happy even if no one woul duse it (and I could go back to
using TeX instead of maintaining a redistribution ;-)

> Also, what's the difference between the Experimental and the
> non-Experimental "2005 Devel." install? I'm pretty sure that people for
> whom it's relevant know the answer, but as a newcomer I don't.

2005 devel is based on a conpile of very recent work in progress, so it is
experimental in its own right. The *EXPERIMENTAL* i-Directory is just the
place where I publish a new package first before it goes to all the
standard repositories.

So it is a difference between experimental TeX and experimental i-Package
(with possibly even more recent experimental TeX)

> I personally installed your i-Installer like this, and I think a
> step-by-step install doc definitely helped. I found one which was
> almost step-by-step, and it was excellent.
>
> *) Install TeX with the i-Installer, using II2.dmg
> 	a) Install i-Installer 2.69.0 in Applications/Utilities
> 		1) Keeps notes in the Documents/i-Packages directory - do not delete
> 	b) Using it, install from the i-Directory at Yale:
> 	c) FreeType 2 (release notes last changed 2004/01/14)
> 	d) libwmf (last changed 2004/01/31)
> 	e) GhostScript 8 (2004/12/20)
> 		1) Add /usr/local/bin to environment? yes
> 	f) ImageMagick (2004/02/07)
> 	g) FontForge (2004/05/19)
> 	h) TeX - the big one (2005/02/13)
> 		1) Expert Install
> 		2) 2005 Devel. (can change mind later, it says)
> 		3) Select all packages (parts)
> 		4) Configure what? Select the default
> 		5) Select languages: american and nohyphenation
> 		6) Paper size: Letter
> 		7) (It didn't ask me to put it into the path?)

It is one of the configure choices (step 4)

It did put it into the
> path
> 	i) CM Super (for PostScript type 1 fonts) (2004/11/06)
> NOTES:
> 	a) Personal files should be stored in ~/Library/texmf
> 	b) folder structure inside ~/Library/texmf should mimic that inside
> /Library/teTeX/share/texmf
>
> Thanks,
>
> Doug
>
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>


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