Fwd: Unable to install TeXLive

Siep Kroonenberg siepo at bitmuis.nl
Fri Aug 21 21:00:53 CEST 2020


On Fri, Aug 21, 2020 at 09:06:32AM -0500, Matthew Elmer wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------
> From: Matthew Elmer <matthewelmer at tamu.edu>
> Date: Fri, Aug 21, 2020 at 9:05 AM
> Subject: Re: Unable to install TeXLive
> To: Philip Taylor <P.Taylor at hellenic-institute.uk>
> Cc: Julius Dittmar <Julius.Dittmar at gmx.de>, <texhax at tug.org>
> 
> 
> Thank you everyone for your help. Would it be possible for me to change my
> username for installation and change it back afterwards? Would it break
> anything for currently installed programs? It seems as though it would be a
> simple fix to allow for usernames with spaces as you just put the quotes in
> and it works fine. Also very strange that Philip Taylor had no issues. Now
> that I look back at the error, it seems as though the batch file attempted
> to put quotes in to accommodate usernames with spaces but somehow inserted
> two at the beginning and none at the end. In any case, I'll just use
> Microsoft Word for now instead. I won't be able to use the templates for my
> computer science course but at least there's no hacky fixes involved.
> 
> Forwarding to texlive list.
> 
> On Fri, Aug 21, 2020 at 3:47 AM Philip Taylor <
> P.Taylor at hellenic-institute.uk> wrote:
> 
> > Julius Dittmar wrote:
> >
> > the best fix would be to rename your account name.

Although quoting rules for cmd.exe are horrible, and I am not sure
whether all quoting problems with cmd.exe can be solved, a space in
the installation path should not cause problems, as Philip Taylor
writes.

What exact error message do you get, and what exact path do you try
to install to? I mean the real path, as listed by cmd.exe or
powershell, which may differ from the path shown in file explorer.

> > This may sound like a fix in the wrong place to you, but there's good
> > reason: The texlive installer will not be the only program choking on the
> > space in your account name.
> >
> > Spaces have special meaning in commands: They separate command arguments.
> > Thus any path containing your account name (which is any path to any of
> > your files) will be read as at least three different arguments instead of
> > one argument combined. Any work-around making that space-containing path
> > work will only be a local work-around. There will always be places where
> > such work-arounds have been forgotten.
> >
> > In the long run, you save yourself from a lot of trouble if you change
> > your login name to something without spaces (perhaps use underscores
> > instead or just omit the space) and if you refrain from using spaces in
> > file or directory names.
> >
> >
> > From the perspective of a Windows 7 user :
> >
> > My account name, "Philip Taylor", which clearly contains an embedded
> > space, causes me no problems whatsoever, either with TeX Live or with
> > anything else.
> >
> > *Philip Taylor*

-- 
Siep Kroonenberg


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