[OS X TeX] Removing old TeX distribution(s)

[Herbert Schulz]

> On Feb 4, 2015, at 6:35 PM, Markus Klyver <markusklyver at hotmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Today, I installed MacTeX-2014. I already had MacTeX-2013 installed, and now I really want to free the space on my disk it occupies. Will a removal of an old TeX distribution – in this case MacTex-2013 – result in a loss of installed packages and/or modifications I've made? I have a highly customized setup and before I do anything I want to make sure nothing is lost.
> 
> Thanks,
> Markus

Howdy,

Others have pointed you in the right direction

When you say ``highly customized'' what do you mean? I hope you haven't placed anything inside the /usr/local/texlive/2013 branches but only in /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local or your personal tree, starting at ~/Library/texmf.

Also, do you have custom fonts that have been placed in /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local or ~/Library/texmf you'll have to let TeX Live 2014 ``know'' about them. If you haven't set things up the best way for doing that download TeXLive2012+Changes.pdf.zip from <https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10932738/index.html> and follow the directions there for setting up fonts. The main advantage of setting up fonts using the method mentioned there is that you need only issue a single, simple command when installing a newer version of TeX Live does the job.

Finally, I'd update TeX Live 2014 using TeX Live Utility (or tlmgr if you wish) since there have been quite a few updates to the distribution since it was initially distributed.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)