[tex-live] FInding locally installed packages in different environments

[Zdenek Wagner]

Hi,

it depends on your configuration whether you need mktexlsr or not. The
paths are configured in texmf.cnf. If the path begins with two exclamation
marks, only the ls-R file is used for locating the file. This means that
mktexlsr is needed. If the path does not have exclamation marks which is
the case of $TEXMFHOME, ls-R files are not used. It is described in detail
in the documentation of kpathsea, I do not remember the exact details. The
location of $TEXMFHOME can be found by kpsewhich. So if you wish to provide
the files for non-experts, it would be better to provide a script which
will first locate itself, then locate $TEXMFHOME, create the directories
(if they do not exist) and create the symlink. The command you need is:

kpsewhich -var-value TEXMFHOME

Variables TEXMF and TEXMFDBS contain the paths with exclamation marks. If
the path is here with the exlamation marks, you must call mktexlsr after
creation of the symlink.


Zdeněk Wagner
http://ttsm.icpf.cas.cz/team/wagner.shtml
http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz

2018-04-13 8:58 GMT+02:00 Urs Liska <lists at openlilylib.org>:

> Hi all,
>
> there's an issue I've come across occasionally, and I'd like to clarify
> this once and for all ...
>
> I have installed texlive-full on Debian, actually I've dragged this along
> through a number of installations while keeping my home partition, so maybe
> there's something I have done in the past to make things "work for me".
>
> My $TEXMFHOME is ~/texmf, and I have a number of custom packages I use and
> make available through this $TEXMFHOME.
>
> However, since I maintain my stuff with Git I prefer having the actual
> code sitting below ~/git/latex/<packages>, and I have
> ~/texmf/tex/latex/latex-git as a symlink to ~/git/latex.
>
> Through this LaTeX finds any resources in and below ~/git/latex, which is
> what I want - so it "works for me". It also has always worked when I
> started using a fresh distribution (but always Debian-based distros if that
> matters).
>
> The problem is that collaborators don't always seem to be able to follow
> instructions like:
>
>    - look for or create and cd into ~/texmf/tex/latex
>    - create a symlink with
>    ln -s /path/to/our/project/latex-resources
>    - try compiling the document
>
> I read about having to use texhash and/or mktexlsr - once or after every
> changes to ~/texmf - but I don't seem to have to do that on my computer. Is
> the behaviour of finding packages in the "home" tree depending on the LInux
> distro or the way how TeXLive is installed (manual/package)? Do the
> differen LaTeX engines behave differently in this regard?
>
> Currently I have a contributor using Gentoo Linux with texlive-full
> installed from the distro's repositories. He has added the symlink to our
> project's latex directory but when compiling (with lualatex filename) it
> chokes upon not finding the document class (in that directory).
>
> I would really like to know what steps have to be taken and if they differ
> in any way depending on the environment. It's not only that I need to get
> this contributor up and running, but I need to write a CG that will free me
> from unnecessary hassles with future contributors.
>
> Thanks for any clarification
> Urs
>
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