[OS X TeX] Re: Remarks on the /usr/bin/texprograms symlink

[Aldo Manfroi]

On Nov 26, 2006, at 6:10, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Le 26 nov. 06 à 11:53, Claus Gerhardt a écrit :
>
>> Now to the path setting part. Gerben used a path setting script  
>> that installed a system wide path for his distribution(s),  
>> originally it was just one distribution, teTeX, which defined the  
>> tex path on the command line system wide for any user. I assume  
>> that the underlying idea was,
>>
>> (1) there is only one TeX distribution installed on the Macintosh
>>
>> (2) there is only one user who is then also administrator.
>>
>> The latter assumption might still be valid nowadays, however, the  
>> first is now definitely wrong. I have already two different TeX  
>> distributions installed (teTeX and TeXLive (TUG) using TeXLive's  
>> installer script) and some users may have even three  
>> (teTeX,TexLive (Gerben), and TeXLive (MacTeX)). In the future  
>> there will be yearly updates of TeXLive (TUG), i.e., a typical  
>> user will have installed at least two, but even three or more  
>> TeXLive (TUG) versions from different years.
>
> I totally disagree. Assumptions (1) and (2) are, IMO, the only Mac  
> way of using TeX: something that just works, and under whose hood  
> you don't have to look at.
>
> I fully agree with the opinion just expressed in another thread by  
> Richard Seguin and George Gratzer:
>
>> Le 26 nov. 06 à 05:29, George Gratzer a écrit :
>>
>>> On Nov 25, 2006, at 9:40 PM, Richard Seguin wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Nov 25, 2006, at 6:36 PM, Joachim Kock wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> We are now in a situation where multiple tex installations on  
>>>>> the same
>>>>> machine is becoming normal (the MacTeX distribution even  
>>>>> encourages it).
>>>>
>>>> It is? I think the typical user just wants their paper to  
>>>> typeset, and is neither interested nor has time for this level  
>>>> of complication.
>>>
>>> Hear, hear!
>
> Perhaps some TeX addicts or nerds will want to install more than  
> one TeX distro on their Macs. I'm probably one of them, having  
> already the teTeX-based and TeXLive-based i-Packages installed, and  
> at some point in December I'll experiment with direct TeXLive  
> install. But those users are a minority, and TeX on the Mac should  
> not be made more complex, more difficult to deal with, just for  
> that minority.
>
> All these threads from the past few days must be leaving normal  
> users with the impression that TeX on the Mac has become a beast,  
> practically impossible to deal with without the help of this list  
> or without a nearby Mac and TeX guru. That is not the case, and  
> that should never be the case.

Let me add my support to this point of view.

I just need a simple way to install TeX and for TeX to work on my  
machine. I don't need to have more than one distribution. (Besides,  
one distribution takes already quite a bit of space and installs so  
many files on my HD...)

I believe, but I could be wrong, that many other users are in the  
same situation.

AJM


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