[OS X TeX] biber error

[Herbert Schulz]

On Jan 3, 2011, at 9:56 AM, Alan Munn wrote:

> On Jan 3, 2011, at 9:18 AM, Herbert Schulz wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On Jan 2, 2011, at 11:52 PM, Alan Munn wrote:
>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Oh well.  I guess I'll update to Snow Leopard then. (Although it would be nice if there was a correctly compiled binary around that would work on any OS.)
>>> 
>>> 
>>> One more question.  Having upgraded to Snow Leopard, biber works, but it seems to be in a directory that isn't findable from the command line, since it's in /usr/local/texlive/2010/bin/x86_64-darwin/ .  What's the best way to fix this?
>>> 
>> 
>> If you installed MacTeX there is a symbolic link, /usr/texbin, that indirectly points to the binaries. Which set of binaries it point to is controlled by the TeX Distribution Preference Pane found in system Preferences.
>> 
>> Hope that helps.
>> 
>> PS: after installing TeX Live 2010 via MacTeX please run TeX Live Utility (should be in /Applications/TeX), a really nice GUI interface to tlmgr, and get the numerous updates that have come out since TL2010 was released.
> 
> I was running TL 2010 fully updated before I upgraded to Snow Leopard.  So the distribution panel shows only one distribution, but /usr/texbin doesn't point to the /usr/local/texlive/2010/bin/x86_64-darwin/ it points to /usr/local/texlive/2010/bin/universal-darwin/, which doesn't contain the biber binary, hence my question. (I'm assuming that the universal-darwin directory contains the 32 bit binaries.)
> 
> Pete's solution of putting the x86_64-darwin in the path would work, but seems a bit of a hack.  But the links are a bit complicated:
> 
> /usr/texbin -> ../Library/TeX/Distributions/.DefaultTeX/Contents/Programs/i386
> 
> i386 -> ../../../../../../../usr/local/texlive/2010/bin/universal-darwin
> 
> Is there some way to rerun the script that sets the links correctly and tell it to use the 64bit binaries?
> 
> Alan
> 

Howdy,

I expect you/we will hear from Dick Koch about fixing this.

I'm not sure if deleting /usr/texbin and then running the TeX Distribution Preference Pane will generate a message about rebuilding the /usr/texbin symbolic link so I hesitate suggesting that procedure. I'm not sure what it takes to make the Preference Pane re-check the availability of the 64bit binaries.

The complicated doubly indirect symbolic link method used makes it easier to add new distributions to the list as you update in the future. I'm sure there is a manual method that can be used but am not familiar enough with the structure to get this fixed.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)