[MacPorts] #12913: tetex is dead

[MacPorts]

#12913: tetex is dead
-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------
  Reporter:  zach at tu-clausthal.de  |       Owner:  gwright at macports.org
      Type:  enhancement           |      Status:  new                 
  Priority:  Normal                |   Milestone:  Port Enhancements   
 Component:  ports                 |     Version:  1.5.0               
Resolution:                        |    Keywords:                      
-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------
Comment (by shreevatsa.public at gmail.com):

 Replying to [comment:9 milosh at macports.org]:
 > Replying to [comment:7 shreevatsa.public at gmail.com]:
 > > I'm interested in getting ports working with an externally installed
 MacTeX.
 >
 > It would be possible provided you have the right links in ${prefix}/bin
 (bibtex, latex and maybe a few other). In fact, macports dependency engine
 allows for depending on a file being present instead of a full port, and
 '''it was agreed that ports depending on tex should use that dependency
 scheme.'''


 That is great news! I wonder how I missed this. If there is consensus, I
 propose the following solution:

 > You could try a 'ln -s mactex/s/location/latex /opt/local/bin/latex' and
 'ln -s mactex/s/location/bibtex /opt/local/bin/bibtex' and see if things
 depending on tex install well. Then you could contribute a port that just
 puts the good links in /opt/local/bin (a little like what the 'texlive'
 port does)...

 That would not be necessary, if the following solution were adopted, which
 is a tool for exactly this sort of thing:

 The MacTeX distribution (which is what most LaTeX sites recommend
 installing) comes with a preference pane which shows up in System
 Preferences as "TeX Distribution". This is a smart tool that detects
 existing TeX distributions (such as its own TeXLive 2007, or gwTeX, or
 Fink's teTeX, or MacPorts's teTeX), and provides radio buttons for the
 user to choose which distribution he/she wants to use, and places
 corresponding links in /usr/texbin. This means that one can try out new
 distributions on the fly without disturbing existing distributions.

 So all MacPorts has to do is include "/usr/texbin" at the front of its
 binpath; then *any* distribution would automatically be available for
 ports that depend on "bin:tex". I have successfully installed auctex this
 way by putting /usr/texbin in macports.conf, and I can confirm it works.

 jmr: Awesome, thanks! It would be great to phase out teTeX.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://trac.macosforge.org/projects/macports/ticket/12913#comment:12>
MacPorts </projects/macports>
Ports system for Mac OS