[OS X TeX] MacTeX 2007 setup query

[Rowland McDonnell]

> Rowland,
> 
> On Feb 8, 2008, at 7:44 PM, Rowland McDonnell wrote:
> 
> > Hello,
> >
> > I'm in the throes of installing MacTeX 2007.
> >
> > I've got a working MacTeX installation (from 2006, no version
> > number), which uses a system-wide local texmf tree for local
> > additions - this is on a different machine to the one I'm
> > installing MacTeX 2007 on.
> 
> In 2006, MacTeX installed teTeX. Indeed, it installed Gerben Wierda's  
> teTeX distribution.

Yes.

> But in 2007, MacTeX switched completely to TeX Live. It installs the  
> full TeX Live 2007 distribution, exactly as if this distribution were  
> installed directly from the TeX User Group's DVD, using default  
> answers to every question asked by the installation script,

Righto.

> with these  
> exceptions:
> 
>   a) The default is to install only binaries for one architecture, but  
> MacTeX installed binaries for both PowerPC and Intel
> 
>   b) The default is to configure the user's local additions for ~/ 
> texmf, but on Mac OS X we use instead ~/Library/texmf.

Yes.

> See
> 
>   www.tug.org/mactex/whatgetsinstalledwhere.html
> 
> for more details on this.

Already read that.

> There is one big difference in the teTeX and TeX Live distributions  
> (well, probably there are several). TeX Live installs in
> 
>   /usr/local/texlive/2007
> 
> The idea is that in 2008, the new version will install in
> 
>   /usr/local/texlive/2008
> 
> and not overwrite the old version, so users can easily go back a  
> version if they have trouble with the new version.

Yes.

> TeX Live has provisions for a local texmf tree which can be accessed  
> by all users on a machine. This tree is placed in
> 
>   /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local
> 
> This tree is NOT overwritten when the 2008 version is installed.  

We don't know that because the 2008 installer has not been released.  In
any case, that directory tree might be overwritten some other way.

Am I being paranoid and excessively mis-trustful?  Could be - but then
again, I've had a lot of bad experiences with installers.

I'd like to have my local texmf tree in a position that the MacTeX
installer and so on don't even think about to avoid the risk of having
my data messed about with.

On the other hand, is there /good/ reason to think that it's a safe
place to put local additions for all users?

> MacTeX works this way: if it finds this directory already present,  
> then it doesn't touch it, but otherwise it installs a default  
> directory tree, which is however empty with no files.

That might be what's supposed to happen now.  I'm not sure I trust the
installer to behave like that reliably, and I am sure I don't trust that
future installers will behave like that.

That's because I know nothing at all about how the installer works, or
who's preparing the installers, and I've met trouble with TeX related
stuff on Macs wiping out data before now.

(I've been bitten by far too many installers in the past to trust 'em
much at all any more; not just TeX installers)

> In your question below, you ask lots of questions about texmf.cnf,  

Only two, actually: `Is this the right file?' and `Are these mods
suitable?'.

I'm pretty sure it's the right file, so we can chop the list of
questions in half to leave one only if you like. ;-)

> etc. I don't know the answers to any of this because MacTeX by  
> deliberate choice installs exactly what TeX Live installs.

Yes, but I'm not sure that's at all relevent to my query.

> Thus  
> answers to these questions are best found by going first to the tug  
> and texlive sites.

Righto - there's useful information on the texlive site (rather hard to
follow if you're not a Unix hacker, mind - I'm always hoping for
documentation as nice as that which came with OzTeX), but the texlive
manual states that texmf.cnf is explained by its internal documentation.

I've dived into the file and read the comments, and I suspect I've come
up with appropriate modifications.  But it's hard to be sure from the
supplied comments.

I was hoping that someone with real expertise in this could cast an eye
over my ideas and tell me if I've made an obvious bad mistake due to
having missed an important point.

Either that, or could someone convince me that it's safe to use the
standard mechanism for a local system-wide texmf tree?  At the moment,
I'm unconvinced.

Cheers,
Rowland.

> Dick Koch
> koch at math.uoregon.edu
> 
> >
> >
> > The modification was implemented by modifying part of the file:
> >
> > /usr/local/teTeX/texmf.cnf
> >
> > from:
> >
> > ========================== [snip start] ======================
> > % User texmf trees can be catered for like this...
> > HOMETEXMF = $HOME/Library/texmf
> >
> > % Our complete search path, the last three are searched through
> > % ls-R exclusively, which means that you have to run texhash
> > % after you have added, moved or deleted files in the tree
> > TEXMF={$HOMETEXMF,!!$TEXMFLOCAL,!!$TEXMFGW,!!$TEXMFTE,!!$TEXMFMAIN}
> >
> > % If you want to disable the HOME trees, use this:
> > % TEXMF=!!{$TEXMFLOCAL,$TEXMFGW,$TEXMFTE,$TEXMFMAIN}
> >
> > % The system trees.  These are the trees that are shared by all the
> > users.
> > SYSTEXMF = $TEXMFLOCAL;$TEXMFGW;$TEXMFTE;$TEXMFMAIN
> > ========================== [snip end] =====================
> >
> > to:
> >
> > ========================== [snip start] ======================
> > % User texmf trees can be catered for like this...
> > HOMETEXMF = $HOME/Library/texmf
> >
> > % Rowland's system-wide tree (precedes everything except personal  
> > trees)
> > TEXMFRM = /Users/Shared/texmf.rjmm
> >
> > % Our complete search path, the last four are searched through
> > % ls-R exclusively, which means that you have to run texhash
> > % after you have added, moved or deleted files in the tree
> > TEXMF={$HOMETEXMF,$TEXMFRM,!!$TEXMFLOCAL,!!$TEXMFGW,!!$TEXMFTE,!! 
> > $TEXMFM
> > AIN}
> >
> > % If you want to disable the HOME trees, use this:
> > % TEXMF=!!{$TEXMFLOCAL,$TEXMFGW,$TEXMFTE,$TEXMFMAIN}
> >
> > % The system trees.  These are the trees that are shared by all the
> > users.
> > SYSTEXMF = $TEXMFLOCAL;$TEXMFRM;$TEXMFGW;$TEXMFTE;$TEXMFMAIN
> > ========================== [snip end] =====================
> >
> > Which works as you'd expect with MacTeX 2006.
> >
> > What I can't work out is `how to do that with MacTeX 2007'.
> >
> > I'm aware that both MacTeX 2007 and the previous version permit
> > user-specific local texmf trees, but I need a single system-wide
> > additional texmf tree for all users to access - to give the
directory
> > I've chosen a specific name:
> >
> > /Users/Shared/texmf.rjmm
> >
> > I can see that the new arrangements for directory trees are very
> > different to the old ones, but I've not been able to understand the  
> > new
> > arrangements - the documentation refers to a new data structure, but
I
> > can't work out what's going on, quite.
> >
> > But: by analogy from the Gerben's original suggestion, and given  
> > that I
> > can find only one file texmf.cnf:
> >
> > rowland$ find  /Volumes/Angus/usr/local/ -name "texmf.cnf"
> > /Volumes/Angus/usr/local//texlive/2007/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf
> >
> > I suspect that the modifications I need to make should me made to  
> > file:
> >
> > /usr/local/texlive/2007/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf
> >
> > and should look something like this (note that line wrapping means
the
> > text is not identically laid out here when compared to the original
> > file).  The text below is `original file contents interspersed with
my
> > modifications, the modifications marked as such'.
> >
> > = 
> >
======================================================================
> >
> > % User texmf trees are allowed as follows.
> > % This used to be HOMETEXMF.
> > TEXMFHOME=$HOME/Library/texmf
> >
> > % Rowland's system-wide tree (precedes everything except personal  
> > trees)
> > TEXMFRM = /Users/Shared/texmf.rjmm
> >
> > % For texconfig to work properly, TEXMFCONFIG and TEXMFVAR should be
> > % named explicitly and before all other trees.
> > % original:
> > %TEXMF =
> > {$TEXMFCONFIG,$TEXMFVAR,$TEXMFHOME,!!$TEXMFSYSCONFIG,!! 
> > $TEXMFSYSVAR,!!$
> > TEXMFMAIN,!!$TEXMFLOCAL,!!$TEXMFDIST}
> > % mod to:
> > TEXMF =
> > {$TEXMFCONFIG,$TEXMFVAR,$TEXMFHOME,$TEXMFRM!!$TEXMFSYSCONFIG,!!$
> > TEXMFSYSVAR,!!$TEXMFMAIN,!!$TEXMFLOCAL,!!$TEXMFDIST}
> >
> > % The system trees.  These are the trees that are shared by all the
> > % users.
> > % If a tree appears in this list, the mktex* scripts will use
> > % VARTEXFONTS for generated files, if the original tree isn't  
> > writable;
> > % otherwise the current working directory is used.
> > % Original:
> > % SYSTEXMF = $TEXMFLOCAL;$TEXMFMAIN;$TEXMFDIST
> > % mod to:
> > SYSTEXMF = $TEXMFLOCAL;$TEXMFRM;$TEXMFMAIN;$TEXMFDIST
> >
> > = 
> >
======================================================================
> >
> > Is that right?
> >
> > If I'm wrong, can anyone suggest where I need to look for the
relevant
> > documentation so that I can work out what I need to work out, or (if  
> > I'm
> > very lucky) suggest what modifications I need to make to which  
> > file(s?)
> > to achieve what I want?
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Rowland.
> >
> >
> > [1]  TeXDist-description.rtf is all I've come across, and it begins  
> > with
> > this:
> >
> > "Warning: this document is for Unix-savvy people only and has as its
> > main goal the documentation of a technical solution, not the use of  
> > this
> > solution (which is quite simple). As an ordinary end user, you will
> > hardly have to know or understand any of this, except maybe for the  
> > part
> > about the texdist program below, which you may want to use as an end
> > user if you have multiple TeX distributions on your system. This
will
> > however better be explained elsewhere without the confusing
technical
> > stuff here."
> >
> > It turns out I'm not sufficiently clued-up to be able to make much  
> > sense
> > out of it, but I'm damned if I can find the required clues anywhere.
> >
> > -------------------------- Helpful Info --------------------------
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> >
>