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Almost out of sheer frustration, I'm on the verge of writing a Python script that will automate the install of both local TDS packages and those retrieved automatically from CTAN, without regard to the differing repositories compiled by TeXLive/MikTeX, and regardless of the TeX distribution used (among the popular choices).

Has this already been done? I'd rather not reinvent the wheel.

Sean Allred
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  • Related: http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/107182/17423 – Sean Allred Feb 19 '14 at 17:04
  • The issue you may face is that only a subset of packages on CTAN have a 'simple' layout, so at best you can cover some packages reliably. (There is a reason TeX Live/MiKTeX take a while to pick up 'new' packages.) – Joseph Wright Feb 19 '14 at 17:30
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    @JosephWright I think that it is unnecessary to have something which can install every package but that it would be very useful to have something to install "well behaving" (local) packages - where "well behaving" can mean a tds.zip or a package with an accompaigning xml-file describing the installation. In miktex the first works fine by attaching the package as root. For TeXlive I just wrote a feature request on the mailing list -- but I'm not sure that I was convincing enough to get such an interface ;-(. – Ulrike Fischer Feb 19 '14 at 17:37
  • @UlrikeFischer In TeXLive you can also have more than just one localtexmf! It's just not in the GUI, but you have to configure TEXMFHOME in texmf.cnf. I for example do have several development trees in git repositories in my Dropbox folder. This might reduce performance a little bit, but works like a charm. – Josef Feb 19 '14 at 18:58
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    A Python installation script I've written for one of my packages is here. It would need some modification for your purposes, but might provide some ideas if you do write something. – G. Poore Feb 19 '14 at 20:15
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    @Josef: I know. I added trees in texmf.cnf too. But this is not something you can explain easily to users. Try to write down easy to understand installation instructions which works in all OS and you will see the problem. – Ulrike Fischer Feb 19 '14 at 20:29
  • Are there any news here? – Johannes_B May 12 '15 at 20:43
  • @Johannes_B *sigh* none. – Sean Allred May 12 '15 at 20:44
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    You want tlmgr. Sorry, but the amount of possible variations is huge: simple LaTeX packages are one thing, font packages a completely different one, because they require editing updmap.cfg (and if you want compatibility with all distributions it's a nightmare) and run updmap-sys (or equivalent for MiKTeX); format packages (think Lollipop) need to update fmtutil.cfg and run fmtutil-sys. Note that some font packages on CTAN provide more than one .map file. – egreg May 12 '15 at 22:38
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    @egreg I would love to use tlmgr personally, but my use case at the time distributing a package to a variety of complete TeX newbies one all major platforms. (I even had to turn one guy on an android tablet down...) They didn't know how to use their respective package managers -- some didn't even know what it was they downloaded. A answer might take the form of script checking for relevant programs (tlmgr, mpm, etc.) and running the appropriate stuff. – Sean Allred May 12 '15 at 22:50
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    @egreg Note the impetus behind this question was the very same as Should packages on CTAN be widely applicable?. I was (and am) hesitant to put a locale-specific package on CTAN to be included by TeXLive/MiKTeX. – Sean Allred May 12 '15 at 22:52
  • Are there any news here? – TeXnician Aug 08 '18 at 12:44
  • I suggest to close the question, mainly because of Ulrikes argument: Too complicated for all plattforms and all distries. You'd have to make allowences not only for Linux, Windows, Android, MacOS, but for Debian, Ubuntu, openSuse, whatever. – Keks Dose Aug 28 '18 at 16:43
  • @KeksDose I would disagree -- cross-platform applications are very much a reality and, to echo Ulrike's first comment, it's not required to be able to install 'weird' packages. To boot, most linux distributions are (on a superficial level) the same. I no longer have a present need for this tool, but I do still think it would be useful and reasonable to develop. That said, there's nothing stopping the question from being answered as essentially 'no, not yet'. – Sean Allred Aug 28 '18 at 16:54

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