[OS X TeX] Can't find required tool

[Richard J Benish]

>  > On Aug 31, 2016, at 11:14 AM, Richard J Benish 
><rjbenish at comcast.net> wrote:
>>
>>>>  On Aug 30, 2016, at 9:57 PM, Richard J Benish 
>>>><rjbenish at comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>  Greetings,
>>>>
>>>>  On a G5 with Mac OS 10.4.11, I've been using TeXShop v 2.33 for
>>>>  years. Without consciously having changed anything to affect the
>>>>  program, suddenly, when I hit the typeset button I get the error
>>>>  message:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  "Can't find required tool.
>>>>
>>>>  "/usr/texbin/pdflatex does not exist. Perhaps TeXLive was not
>>>>  installed or was removed during a system upgrade. If so, go to the
>>>>  TeXShop web site and follow the instructions to (re)install
>>>>  TeXLive. Another possibility is that a tool path is incorrectly
>>>>  configured in TeXShop preferences. This can happen if you are using
>>>>  the fink teTeX distribution."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  I've tried restarting, correcting permissions, and reinstalling.
>>>>  After failing to find an old install version on the web, I tried
>>>>  installing from a locally saved copy of:
>>>>
>>>>  MacTeX-2011.mpkg
>>>>
>>>>  This resulted in a grayed out list of components which, when I
>>>>  clicked on INSTALL, resulted in an error saying "There is nothing
>>>>  to Install." Could that be because the non-functioning version
>>>>  needs to be uninstalled first? If so I hesitate to do so before
>>>>  getting confirmation.
>>>>
>>>>  I've haven't found anything on the web to get me back to a
>>>>  properly functioning application.
>>>>
>>>>  Any ideas?
>>>>
>>>>  Thanks.
>>>>
>>>>  Richard Benish
>>>
>>>  Howdy,
>>>
>>>  First... are you sure your not having Hard Disk problems?
>>>
>>>  In Terminal please run the five commands
>>>
>>>  which pdflatex
>>>
>>>  ls -alF /
>>>
>>>  ls -alF /usr
>>>
>>>  ls -alF /usr/local
>>>
>>>  ls -alF /usr/local/texlive
>>>
>>>  and let us know the results.
>>>
>>>  Good Luck,
>>>
>>>  Herb Schulz
>>>  (herbs at wideopenwest dot com)
>>
>>
>>  Thanks Herb,
>>
>>  I've attached the Terminal session with the five questions and
>>  answers in the order that you gave them.
>>
>>  The last one says
>>
>>  "ls: /usr/local/texlive: No such file or directory"
>>
>>  If the file is supposed to be findable, I have no idea how it got lost.
>>
>>  I ran a MacOS hard drive diagnostic and passed. I've not had any
>>  problems with the drive. It is less than a year old.
>>
>>  It's been a few weeks since I used LaTeX, but at that time,
>>  everything worked fine--as it has for years. It would be nice to have
>>  all new(er) stuff. My motorized transport just turned 50. It's got a
>>  Slant-6. :) I really like my G5 and OS 10.4.11. And I'm broke.
>>
>>  Thank you very much for your help and your patience.
>>
>>  Rick Benish<LaTeX Five Questions Aug 31 2016.term>
>
>Howdy,
>
>The file you sent contains only configuration information about your 
>Terminal session, not the results of the commands. The easiest thing 
>would be to run the commands, then click in the Terminal Window and 
>Select All (Cmd-A) and Copy all the information. Then open TextEdit, 
>open a new document and Paste the information there. Save it and 
>send that file.
>
>However, given that there is no /usr/local/texlive I think you have 
>a problem of some sort. You should be able to download MacTeX from 
>2011 at <ftp://ftp.tug.org/historic/systems/mactex>. If asked, go in 
>as Guest with no password. You should find a 2011 folder and then 
>can open it and download the MacTeX from 2011.
>
>Good Luck,
>
>Herb Schulz
>(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)


Herb,

The first time I clicked on the link in your message I found a bunch 
of dated folders. When I tried copying either the 2011 folder or 
individual items inside it to my desktop, I got an error message:

"The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data 
in...could not be read or written. (Error code -36)."

Then I tried backing out and trying again. This time I got the FTP 
user name and password dialog. I entered "Guest" for user name and no 
password. But I got the error:

"The user name or password you entered is not valid. Please try again."

I got the same results from a Windows machine.

Thanks for your help.

Rick Benish