[OS X TeX] OS X TeX newbie needs help installing TeX on non-boot volume

[Rowland McDonnell]

> On Sep 10, 2005, at 16:00, Peter Dyballa wrote:
[snip]
> > I think there is nowhere a place to change the location where 
> > i-Installer installs teTeX ...
> 
> Except for setting the "Install location". 

Can anyone tell me what happens when you change that setting?  That is,
what exactly does i-installer do differently when it installs software
in a different place?

I get the idea that i-installer configures software as well as putting
the files on disc.  Can I find out about the details of exactly what
configuration steps it peforms?

>To make it even better, if 
> that Install Location does not require administrator rights you can 
> install TeX without admin rights. So TeX is relocatable. Even if you 
> install in /usr/local/teTeX and then move //usr/local/teTeX elsewhere 
> it will work.

Aha!

(Gerben, why didn't you just tell me this months ago when I asked you?)

> But many other i-Packages are not relocatable. Sometimes the software 
> has hard coded dependencies and needs to be in a location which is 
> defined at compile time.

Is it possible to find out what's relocatable and what's not?  And is it
practical to get a bastardised setup working (I don't care how many
config files I have to hand edit just so long as I can find out which
files need working on) with teTeX and hopefully the other `big stuff'
installed somewhere other than the boot volume and those bits which
haven't any choice installed where they're compiled to work?

> > I can think of two things that might do the job -- and they might be 
> > combined.
> >
> > 1. Set an environment variable TEXMF in ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist 
> > that points to a teTeX 'root' directory on the other volume. Log off 
> > and log in again, maybe as the owner of the TeX software, so that
the 
> > setting becomes valid. If i-Installer follows the usual guide lines
it 
> > will read $TEXMF's value and install TeX there. If not: next try.
> 
> 
> This is a dangerous and non-functional suggestion. As a generic 
> software installer i-Installer knows nothing of TEXMF settings and 
> won't follow them.

I thought so.

> Using environment.plist is a trick I would generally 
> advise against.

What on Earth is it for in any case?

Rowland.
--------------------- Info ---------------------
Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/
           & FAQ: http://latex.yauh.de/faq/
TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
List Post: <mailto:MacOSX-TeX at email.esm.psu.edu>