[tex-live] TL 0206 notes

[Sebastian Rahtz]

Staszek Wawrykiewicz writes:
 > Short notes on TL6 20010206:
 > 1. jadetex and xmltex formats warnings:
 >   WARNING: Elsevier font setup not found
 > 
 >   WARNING: mmasym package not loaded. some symbols will fail
 > 

its true. if you don't have them, jadetex gives a warning.

 > 2. /Master directory on CD? Why?
a mistake

 > 3. It is good time to change strings TeX Live 5 to TeX Live 6 (also
 >    in texsetup.exe)

yes, I try to do this when I see a reference.

 > 4. Win32
 >    we have now 2 versions: TeXSetup and TeXSetup1.0.7, however
 >    autorun.inf points to TeXSetup --net-download
 >    At the start we have:
 >        I was given --net-download option so I will try 
 >        to establish the Internet connection
 >    The user has only *one* choice: `OK' (somehow frustrating, when 
 >    installing from the TL CD). Fabrice, would you please consider 
 >    adding another button(s):  `Install only from CD/HD'. 
 >    It will be OK for both TL CD and fptex downloaded from CTAN. Or, better, 
 >    do not start with --net-download by default, and let this option 
 >    in the dialog box.
agreed. i think Fabrice agrees too

 > 5. As I've already asked, what to do when installing first the basic stuff
 >    and then adding, e.g., pdftex, etex or omega? As we have in .tpm files,
 >    only macros and supplementary files are installed, without binaries
 >    and pools... On Windows, the user perhaps has to select also win32
 >    package, so we can add such hint to the docs. On Unix systems it is 
 >    more complicated. Well, this should be left for future thoughts...

I agree. this is a mess. it needs a new engineering of the install

 > 6. I received some questions concerning Linux and TL
yes I get those too :-}

 > Some conclusions for now: 
 > - install-cd.sh can provide simple check and message like: 
 >     You have already TeX installed in /usr/bin/ (binaries) and 
 >     /usr/share/texmf/ (TeX concerned macros, fonts, etc.)
 >     ... [some more info?]

good idea. who wants to add some code in for that?

 > - <O> options -> 
 >      <L>  create symlinks in standard directories 
 >    should point (by default) to the most common /usr/bin 
 >    (rather then to /usr/local/bin which is hardly usable for the admin 
 >    during setup)
ah, agreed. thats a mistake. it should follow the result of

  case $system in
    hppa1.[01]-hpux*)  usrprefix=/opt ;varprefix=/usr/local ;Sys=hppa20_hpux1020;;
    mips-irix6.*)	usrprefix=/usr ;varprefix=/var ;Sys=mips_irix65;;
    rs6000-aix4.[12]*) usrprefix=/usr ;varprefix=/var ;Sys=rs6000_aix41;;

    sparc-solaris2.[5678]*)  usrprefix=/opt ;varprefix=/usr/local ;Sys=sparc_solaris27;;
    alphaev5*-osf4*)	usrprefix=/usr ;varprefix=/var ;Sys=alphaev5_osf40d;;
    *86-linux*)		usrprefix=/usr ;varprefix=/var ;Sys=i386_linux;;
    *86-freebsd*)	usrprefix=/usr ;varprefix=/var ;Sys=i386_freebsd;;
  esac

and say $usrprefix/bin



 > - changing PATH variable after installation should be stressed in 
 >   the documentation and during install script run.
tell me where to change it..

 > 7. The most important information what it is really installed should be
 >    reconsidered. At the moment I think about the idea of providing 
 >    simple .html file which lists packages by levels, categories, etc.
 >    (with short, available descriptions; many of them are unfortuntly
 >    missing...)
that would be fairly easy to generate, I think?

 > 8. As we talk about .tpm descriptions, many of them are inapropriate
 >    for TL (fpTeX) when just borrowed from Catalogue: see texlive.tpm, 
 >    tetex.tpm, etc.

I agree. but the whole TL system is based on low maintenance, ie re-using
other people's work.

sebastian