[OS X TeX] Re-installing MacTex 2007

[David Watson]

On Jul 7, 2008, at 5:42 PM, Owen Densmore wrote:

> I've got an existing install of TeX that I'd like to simplify/ 
> upgrade.  My /usr/local/texlive dir is dated July 20 2007.
>
> Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure how I made my initial install!   
> I *think* I used Gerben Wierda's TeX distribution.
>
> Things look like:
>  - I have a system preference for TeX allowing me to switch
>    between gwTeX and TeXLive-2007.
>  - I have a TeX folder in /Applications with a single app,
>    "TeX Distribution Helper", which is the sys pane for
>    switching between TeX distros.
>  - I have an older MacTeX.dmg dated 7/20/07 722.1MB, but the
>    current MacTeX.dmg is dated 11/30/07, 744.4 MB.
>  - There's a version of i-package in my utilities dir, dated
>    July 20, 07
>  - /usr/local contains both gwTeX and texlive.  The difference
>    in size is a bit surprising:
>      342M  gwTeX
>      1.3G  texlive
>    .. but this could be caused by different strategies in
>    use of Mac Frameworks and simlinks.
>
> Things work in that I can use textmate to magically create pdf's  
> from a test document.  I get errors with LaTeXiT, however, and  
> cannot get it to show any formula. I've checked LaTeXiT's install  
> directories and they appear to be correct.
>
> So: I'd like to move to a simpler install.  I'm certainly not a TeX  
> expert, I mainly use it for math typesetting.  So I doubt I need  
> anything fancy.
>
> I *think* I simply need to remove the gwTeX distro, probably toss i- 
> package, remove the TeX Distribution Sys Prefs panel, and install  
> the latest MacTeX via the latest .dmg.  Is this right?  I ask  
> because I've been through some fairly difficult installs and would  
> like this to all work right!
>
>   -- Owen

There is no requirement to delete your gwTeX distro, just select the  
TeXLive 2007 distribution from the System Preferences pane.

As for your problems with LaTeXiT,:
a) you should probably update to the latest available version: http://ktd.club.fr/programmation/latexit_en.php
b) if you have any functions defined in ~/.bash_profile then you  
should try to replace your .bash_profile with one that doesn't include  
them, for the time being.
c) if you don't have any idea what .bash_profile is, don't worry about  
this step because you probably don't have any custom functions defined.

There is no reason to delete the entire TeXLive distribution just  
because LaTeXiT doesn't function correctly.