[OS X TeX] i-Installer installation question

[Stephen Moye]

On Aug 28, 2006, at 2:53 AM, Gerben Wierda wrote:

>> I have to install TeX and friends on a number of computers today.
>>
>> To save  time, I wondered if it would be possible to:
>>
>> 1. use i-Installer to install all the packages on one computer
>> 2. copy the i-Packages directory  (and other bits and pieces)  to  
>> a CD
>> 3. copy the i-Packages directory (and i-installer and TeXShop etc) to
>> another computer from the CD
>> 4. Run i-Installer on the computer with the copied files.
>>
>> It would save time in downloading which can be pretty painful here.
>>
>> Thanks for any pointers.
>
> i-Installer Help contains:
> - Information on the relation to it downloading content and using  
> content
> in Help -> Basic Operations
> - Information on what happens when you update in the Help  
> description of
> the Pkg Properties tab of the Package window
> - Information on fattening in Help->The Menu
> - Information on working without remote repositories, e.g. either
> fattening or setting up your local repository mirror in Help ->
> Performance Issues
>
> In short: i-Installer is an installer which installs the content  
> of .ii2
> bundles (i-Packages) on your system. It has a lazy download  
> mechanism that
> makes it download stuff from a remote repository into your local i- 
> Package
> only when it is needed. If you make sure everything has been  
> downloaded
> already into your local copy of the i-Package (.ii2 bundle), you can
> fatten it. Any fattened i-Package (.ii2 bundle) can be copied in a  
> normal
> way and used independently of network access. Locking the package even
> prevents i-Installer from *trying* to update. A fattened and then  
> locked
> i-Package is a complete and independent thing.
>
> You can do it the way above, but i-Packages may react to  
> differences on
> the various systems and depending on those differences need different
> (internal) parts. That it needs internal parts 1-4 on system 1 may not
> guarantee you do not need also internal part 6 on system 2. Hence,
> fattening an i-Package is your friend. A word of warning: fattening
> downloads *everything*, hence in the TeX i-Package it downloads  
> binaries
> for 3 versions (2003, 2004 and 2005) and two basic texmf trees  
> (teTeX 2
> and teTeX 3). You will download more than twice the amount you  
> actually
> need.
>
> G

Thank you for the information. Luckily, I have always had fat  
packages in
the i-Packages directory. Everything went very smoothly and  
successfully.

Thank you.

Stephen Moye

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