[tex-live] -var and -local [was:] install for compr...

[Karl Berry]

    it is now obligatory having not only VARTEXMF but also
    TEXMFLOCAL 

That was not how I read Thomas's note:

TE> Yes, texmf-var now contains the automatically generaled stuff. 
TE> TEXMFLOCAL contains the local additions and customization. That 
TE> sounds logical to me...

I read this as saying texmf-local is for, well, local stuff.  You don't
have any local stuff that you did yourself, you don't need texmf-local.


Oh, I see (I think), Thomas was considering the texconfig run to be a
local customization, hence in texmf-local.  That's true, in a way, but
in practice, Thomas, I don't see how it helps.  It splits up changes
made by "the system" into both texmf-var and texmf-local.  People run
texconfig as part of the system installation.  Why not keep texmf-local
for the stuff the user installs personally?  That makes it a clean and
understandable separation.

We've been using texmf-var for all such automatically updated stuff for
years.  Why change now?  Who benefits?