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** Pref Pane Bug and other Bugs in MacTeX-2011, and Fixes **

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Preference Pane (build 151) Bug

Unfortunately, there is a significant bug in the Preference Pane, build 151, which is installed by MacTeX-2011 and BasicTeX-2011. This version of MacTeX will be on the DVD, so we will be living with this bug for some time.

Because of the bug, users who install TeXLive-2011 will not be able to switch back to an earlier distribution like TeXLive-2010 or TeXLive-2010-64. The Preference Pane will see the distribution and appear to select it, but the user's front end will complain that there are no TeX binaries in that location.

Similarly, the Pref Pane cannot switch between 32 bit binaries and 64 bit binaries. It will appear to do so, but the user's front end cannot find the binaries. Once this problem occurs, the Pane cannot switch back.

Fix

FixMacTeX2011 is a small install package which fixes this bug in MacTeX-2011 and BasicTeX-2011.
Download it below.

FixMacTeX2011.pkg.zip

This package fixes three problems:

  1. It replaces version 151 of the Pref Pane with version 150, which works fine. It also fixes links which were broken by version 151 of the Pref Pane.

  2. Users who installed MacTeX and later upgraded to Lion reported that they could typeset from GUI front ends, but not from the command line. This bug is caused because upgrading removes a small file named TeX from /etc/paths.d and etc/manpaths.d. The FixMacTeX2011 package replaces these files and fixes the problem.

  3. Users who install MacTeX-2011, and then later install an earlier version like MacTeX-2010, will discover that they have an older version of the Pref Pane. This version essentially works, but it cannot switch to the 64 bit binaries in TeXLive-2011. FixMacTeX2011 fixes this problem by updating to Version 150 of the Pref Pane and changing the link /usr/texbin to its 2011 value.

MacTeX-2011 and BasicTeX-2011 have been upgraded to install Build 150 of the Pref Pane, so you may not be affected by this bug. To see if you need to install the fix, open Apple's System Preferences, run the TeX Dist Pref Pane at the bottom of the window, and look for the Build version in the bottom left corner of the resulting window. If the pane says "(Build 150)", you are fine.