[OS X TeX] Latest Test Versions of MacTeX and BasicTeX [was: Re: MacOSX-TeX Digest, Vol 103, Issue 6]

[Richard Koch]

Juergen,


> On May 22, 2016, at 12:33 PM, Juergen Fenn <jfenn at gmx.net> wrote:
> 
> Hello Dick,
> 
> thanks for your hints. I've installed mactex-20160520.pkg on a MacBook Pro mid 2012 running 10.9.5. There were no problems installing the package. Also, I can still compile some documents I wrote with TL2015/pdflatex without any problems. This looks good.

Thanks very much for testing. Thanks also to Justin C. Walker for testing,
since I didn’t acknowledge his useful work earlier.

> 
> Am 21.05.2016 um 21:00 schrieb Richard Koch <koch at uoregon.edu>:
> 
>> Recall that installation of the 2016 version leaves your previous version intact. You
>> can retreat to it using the latest TeX Live Utility. We no longer install the TeX Dist
>> control panel, but we don?t remove it either, so that can also be used to
>> change back.
> 
> I think this is somewhat irritating. It seems that the new TLU does not include another switch side-by-side the old preference pane? I still only have the preference pane, as before, haven't I? I would prefer to switch to TLU altogether and delete the preference pane in existing installations in order to have /one/ place for switching between distributions and binaries.

I don’t completely understand this paragraph. I’ll answer several possible questions
below, trying to catch the question you intend.

The TeXDist Pref Pane and TLU make the same change when switching distributions.
So they can be used interchangeably.

Unless you install on Leopard, you will get the latest TLU. This program has an item
in the “Configure” menu titled “Reconfigure Distributions.” This item brings up a list
of installed distributions and allows you to select the active one.

Recent versions of TLU require at least Snow Leopard. The older version installed
on Leopard doesn’t have this feature. On the other hand, users who installed an
earlier MacTeX on Leopard still have the TeXDist Pref Pane, which still works. 

They and everyone else can also switch with the command line. A document 
titled “Choosing a TeX Distribution” in /Library/TeX explains how to do this.

It is easy to uninstall the Preference Pane if you no longer want it. Go to
/Library/PreferencePanes and move TeXDistPrefPane.prefPane to the trash.

When MacTeX-2016 is released, all these things and others will be explained
in a (yet to be written) web page on the MacTeX site.

Please note that all references to /Library in this email refer to the system Library,
and not to the (hidden) Library folder in your home directory.

Dick Koch