[OS X TeX] [MacTeX] TEXMFHOME uneasy to reach

[Richard Koch]

Denis,

Apple hides the ~/Library directory in Finder. However, it is where all cofiguration data for a user is stored and thus is the correct spot for TEXMFHOME.

If you press the Option key while accessing the Finder's Go menu, a new item is added to the menu taking you to ~/Library. It is also possible to add ~/Library to the location list in the first column of the Finder's window. I don't know what front end your students use, but TeXShop also has a menu item to take you to ~/Library/TeXShop and thus to ~/Library.

Dick Koch



> On Jun 3, 2022, at 10:29 AM, Denis Bitouzé <denis.bitouze at univ-littoral.fr> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I just finished a LaTeX course given to some PhD students.
> 
> After MacTeX was installed on some of their Mac computers, we tried to
> get to their TEXMFHOME to put their bib files in the subdirectories:
> 
>  ┌────
>  │ $TEXMFHOME/bibtex/bib
>  └────
> 
> I asked them to check what MacTeX considered their TEXMFHOME with the
> following command run in a terminal:
> 
>  ┌────
>  │ kpsewhich --var-value TEXMFHOME
>  └────
> 
> and, as expected, it was:
> 
>  ┌────
>  │ /Users/⟨User name⟩/Library/texmf
>  └────
> 
> The problem is, when they wanted to reach `/Users/⟨User name⟩/Library/`
> with the Finder in order to create the ((sub)sub)directories
> `texmf/bibtex/bib`, they first went to `/Users/⟨User name⟩` but, once
> there, the `Library` subdirectory was not displayed, even though it does
> exist as can be easily verified with the command :
> 
>  ┌────
>  │ ls /Users/⟨User name⟩/Library
>  └────
> 
> Well, it is still possible to create the necessary subdirectories with the
> command:
> 
>  ┌────
>  │ mkdir -p /Users/⟨User name⟩/Library/texmf/bibtex/bib
>  └────
> 
> but this is well beyond the scope of average users, especially LaTeX
> beginners.
> 
> Finally, in order for them to be able to visit their TEXMFHOME with the
> Finder, I resorted to the trick:
> 
>  ┌────
>  │ tlmgr conf texmf TEXMFHOME "~/Library/texmf:~/texmf"
>  └────
> 
> and used `~/texmf`, but this is a too complicated solution, even for
> average users.
> 
> Maybe MacTeX (or TeX Live?) should consider another location for the
> TEXMFHOME directory, e.g. `~/texmf` as it is the case for GNU/Linux and
> for Windows.
> 
> Thanks for your attention.
> -- 
> Denis
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