[tex-live] TL-2009 : Installation flexibility and configurability

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 23 March 2010 Philip TAYLOR wrote:

 > Whilst TL-2009 seems to allow me to specify
 > many things at installation time, such as
 > the location of TEXDIR, TEXMFLOCAL, TEXMFSYSVAR,
 > TEXMFSYSCONFIG and TEXMFHOME, the one thing
 > it doesn't seem willing to allow me to specify
 > is the location for whatever name is actually
 > instantiated to $TEXDIR/texmf-dist.  Obviously
 > I can relocate this after installation, but then
 > things will almost certainly break : what else
 > must I change if I would like those files currently
 > under $TEXDIR/texmf-dist to actually be under
 > $TEXDIR/texmf/dist, by analogy with all the other
 > locations which I have specified as
 > 	
 > 	$TEXDIR/texmf/local
 > 	$TEXDIR/texmf/var
 > 	$TEXDIR/texmf/config
 > 	$TEXDIR/texmf/home

You have to adapt paths in texmf.cnf .

But I strongly recommend not to do so.  The paths set by TeX Live are
very reasonable.

   ..../texlive/2007 
   ..../texlive/2008 
   ..../texlive/2009
   ..../texlive/texmf-local 

texmf-local is located outside the main TeX Live trees deliberately
because otherwise it would be more difficult to remove a distribution
_and_ preserve your personal files.

And TEXMFHOME should be in %USERPROFILE% unless you are the only
user.

I don't know what you want to achive.  I suppose that you have
consistency in mind.  But there are many reasons why the TeX Live
directory structure is as it is.  

Are there any technical reasons for your changes or do you change the
directory structure only because it looks more consistent then?
I fear that you invest a lot of time but there is no real benefit.
You just make your system harder to maintain.

I strongly recommend to leave the directory structure proposed by TeX
Live as it is unless you want to achieve something special.

BTW, *never* change texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf because when you update your
system it can happen that your changes get lost.  Instead, add your
local changes to texmf/../texmf.cnf if they are really necessary.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha			              Phone: +49-511-3373112
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