Installing MacTeX

[Peter Flynn]

On my iMac I have no DVD drive, so I installed MacTeX by downloading the MacTeX.pkg file from tug.org and installing it in the normal way for a Mac.

I just tried installing from the TUG DVD on a student's MacBook, and it asks me to use a 2-stage process, running the TeX Live installer from a Terminal window, and then installing the package file.

Does anyone know why the two processes are different? What should be a 5-10 minutes process takes 45 minutes using the Terminal.

P

[Herb Schulz]

Post by Peter Flynn
On my iMac I have no DVD drive, so I installed MacTeX by downloading the
MacTeX.pkg file from tug.org and installing it in the normal way for a Mac.
I just tried installing from the TUG DVD on a student's MacBook, and it asks
me to use a 2-stage process, running the TeX Live installer from a Terminal
window, and then installing the package file.
Does anyone know why the two processes are different? What should be a 5-10
minutes process takes 45 minutes using the Terminal.
P

Howdy,

Yes, the DVD requires a two stage process. This is done to save space on the
DVD. The first stage installs the TeX Live from the DVD with the parameters
used by the version built into the MacTeX.pkg. The second part installs the
GUI apps, Ghostscript and, I believe, the standard MacTeX data structures and
links. There is a document included on the DVD that explains this.

Good Luck.
Herb Schulz

[Peter Flynn]

Post by Herb Schulz

Post by Peter Flynn
On my iMac I have no DVD drive, so I installed MacTeX by downloading the
MacTeX.pkg file from tug.org and installing it in the normal way for a Mac.
I just tried installing from the TUG DVD on a student's MacBook, and it asks
me to use a 2-stage process, running the TeX Live installer from a Terminal
window, and then installing the package file.
Does anyone know why the two processes are different? What should be a 5-10
minutes process takes 45 minutes using the Terminal.
P

Howdy,
Yes, the DVD requires a two stage process. This is done to save space on the
DVD.

OK, understood. Thank you.

Post by Herb Schulz
The first stage installs the TeX Live from the DVD with the parameters
used by the version built into the MacTeX.pkg. The second part installs the
GUI apps, Ghostscript and, I believe, the standard MacTeX data structures and
links. There is a document included on the DVD that explains this.

Right. But it doesn't install TeXShop; or at least, I couldn't find it
anywhere, and Spotlight had never heard of it. It seems a little odd to
install TeX and no editor on an end-user-oriented distribution...

///Peter

[Herb Schulz]

Post by Peter Flynn
...
Right. But it doesn't install TeXShop; or at least, I couldn't find it
anywhere, and Spotlight had never heard of it. It seems a little odd to
install TeX and no editor on an end-user-oriented distribution...
///Peter

Inside the mactex folder on the DVD there is a MacTeX-Install folder. The
MacTeX-Install folder gives the complete instructions for running Stage 1 and
the Stage 2. To run Stage 2 just double click the MacTeX install Part 2.pkg
and follow the directions. It will install the rest, including a TeX folder
in /Applications. The TeX folder contains all the GUI applications, including
TeXShop.

By the way, the first things to do after the install is to run TeX Live
Utility to update TeX Live 2017 to the latest versions of packages, etc. Then
open TeXShop and update it (there have been several updates since the release
of MacTeX-2017) using the TeXShop->Check for Updates… menu item. After that
you can update BibDesk, etc., at your leisure.

Good Luck,
Herb Schulz

[Peter Flynn]

Post by Herb Schulz

Post by Peter Flynn
...
Right. But it doesn't install TeXShop; or at least, I couldn't find it
anywhere, and Spotlight had never heard of it. It seems a little odd to
install TeX and no editor on an end-user-oriented distribution...
///Peter

Inside the mactex folder on the DVD there is a MacTeX-Install folder. The
MacTeX-Install folder gives the complete instructions for running Stage 1 and
the Stage 2. To run Stage 2 just double click the MacTeX install Part 2.pkg
and follow the directions. It will install the rest, including a TeX folder
in /Applications. The TeX folder contains all the GUI applications, including
TeXShop.

Did all that but failed to find it. The user has gone home now, I'll
have to email her.

Post by Herb Schulz
By the way, the first things to do after the install is to run TeX Live
Utility to update TeX Live 2017 to the latest versions of packages, etc. Then
open TeXShop and update it (there have been several updates since the release
of MacTeX-2017) using the TeXShop->Check for Updates… menu item. After that
you can update BibDesk, etc., at your leisure.

Yes, I was expecting to need updates. TeXShop does its own checking when
you start it, but I have never needed to update the core of TL on my
only Mac because I'm not the main user; it just gets reinstalled each year.

P