[OS X TeX] Re: Installing a package on Mac-TeX -- chess

[Gerben Wierda]

On 23 May 2006, at 02:36, Herbert Schulz wrote:

>
> On May 22, 2006, at 7:10 PM, Oleg Kobchenko wrote:
>
>> Herbert,
>>
>> So you solved the installation problem for one set of
>> packages. But you see, it's monolythic, when any
>> of the packages changes, you need to rebuild your
>> whole bundle, otherwise it gets outdated.
>> I was looking for something that would be outside
>> thus independent of packages and their versions.
>>
>
> Howdy,
>
> I agree. But I just wanted to point out that this particular case  
> is solved.

Here is a real weak point of TeX. There is little control over the  
tree and layout and names over time. Try to imagine what happens when  
a package changes directory structure or file/directory names. You  
need to remove the old before you can install the new or you would  
end up with two location having (partial) contents (old and new).  
Installing once is not a problem. Updating is a nightmare.

This is why currently monolithic texmf trees that are split in chunks  
like doc, tex, fonts is what is not only attainable but also  
maintainable over the long run with limited effort. Limited effort is  
important because if effort is not limited the maintainer will at  
some time have to give up. Everyone is human.

G
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