[tex-live] tl layout on ctan

[Staszek Wawrykiewicz]

I found that ctan nodes have the following layout in tlnet/2008/
 archive/
 install-tl/ *)
 tlpkg/
 install-tl.zip
 install-tl-unx.tar.gz
 README

I think that *) (unpacked install-tl.zip) can be only missleading
and I'd suggest to remove it. The main reason is that *) contains also
tlpkg/ directory and if someone downloads (or makes mirror) the whole
structure, then tries to run install-tl/install-tl[.bat] for installation
from the local disk, it doesn't work. Sorry for my poor wording of the 
problem, anyway my recommendation is:
1. to remove install-tl/ directory from CTAN

2. for installation from the net just get install-tl.zip or 
   install-tl-unx.tar.gz, unpack it and follow the instructions as already 
   described in the TeX Live Guide

3. for installation/update from mirrored archive/*.tar.lzma files
   to make things work we need the following layout on the local disk:
   install-tl/ (from unpacked .zip or .tar.gz)
   install-tl/archive/ (mirrored, containing the updated stuff) 
   install-tl/tlpkg/   (mirrored, containing the current database)

OK, seems somehow complicated, but I'd suggest to make mirrors in
already made install-tl/ directory somewhere on the local disk, then move 
.zip (.tar.gz) to the parrent directory, unpack it, etc.
All in all, install-tl[.bat] script works as follows:
./tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb  finds here database
./archive/*.tar.lzma   finds here compressed packages (otherwise uses
                       unpacked files from DVD)
That was the only way to have the same installer for DVD and compressed 
packages stored on the hard disk. Uff!

All the best,

-- 
Staszek Wawrykiewicz
StaW at gust.org.pl