How to properly install two parallel version of the same package in TeX Live?

Question

How does one properly install two (parallel) versions of the SAME LaTeX package inside TeX Live ? Take for example, biblatex 2.8 and 2.9. I currently have one installed inside TL 2013 and another in TL 2014, and can go back and forth to compared produced files, etc. ... but that is not optimal, and I now need both inside TL 2014!

Answer 1

TeX searches the current/working folder first for files/packages to include before it searches elsewhere (your local/texmf or the root TeX folder).

So, the only way to do this "efficiently" is to use your working folder to store the two versions. Place one in a folder called X and another in a folder called Y. Then, with every run of LaTeX, you can execute a script to copy the required version (X or Y) to your working folder (either before compilation, or mid-compilation using --shell-escape).

Otherwise you're left up to TeX to pick the first package name that matches your requirement based on the way it sets up its package/file hash table, which may not be the version you're after.

Answer 2

I have quite a lot testing/development/experimental/local versions of packages that I want to use temporarly with my TeXsystems.

I always put such packages in their own texmf tree and than attach this texmf trees to the texsystem(s) when needed.

Side remark:

biblatex is a special case: When switching the biblatex version you must also use a different biber.exe. To avoid to have to fight with the PATH variable I renamed the additional biber executables to biberexp.exe and biberdev.exe and call this executables when I switch to another biblatex version.

With miktex attaching a texmf tree is rather straightforward: I run on the command line or through some script/shortkey initexmf --register-root=path/to/texmf to register the root and initexmf --unregister-root=path/to/texmf to remove it.

With a current texlive (2017, 2018) one can use

 tlmgr conf auxtrees add /quick/test/tree
 tlmgr conf auxtrees remove /quick/test/tree

to the same effect.

With older texlive it is not so easy. There I'm using currently a mixed strategy: For the biblatex packages I change TEXMFCNF so that it points to a different texmf.cnf, in other cases I manually change a texmf.cnf that I have in my main local tree, or I change TEXMFHOME with tlmgr conf texmf TEXMFHOME=. That's all not very satisfying and I think that when I find some time I will write a script that can add and remove roots from my local main texmf.cnf and can be used like the miktex tool. (Edit 2018: I wrote such a script but due to the changes in texlive it is no longer needed.)

Answer 3

Fundamentals

The basic idea of this approach relies on calling executables using their full paths. That is, running

/usr/local/texlive/2014/bin/x86_64-linux/pdflatex

and

/usr/local/texlive/2014/bin/x86_64-linux/biber

or

/usr/local/texlive/2013/bin/x86_64-linux/pdflatex

and

/usr/local/texlive/2013/bin/x86_64-linux/biber

If you don't need to do this often, that might be the simplest way - just specify the full paths. Or create bash aliases as shortcuts.

[Of course, one of 2013 or 2014 is presumably your default so you'd only actually need to do this for the non-default case.]

Calling the relevant executables automatically ensures that packages from the appropriate version are used. That is, when you call the 2013 executables, you get 2013 packages even if 2014 is your default.

A more sophisticated strategy

If you need to do this a lot, though, I'd suggest using an approach which allows you to switch between 2013 and 2014 from within your .tex file.

Here I explain how to use arara to switch between TeX Live 2013 and TeX Live 2014 by switching directives within the .tex file. Obviously you could do something similar for other executables. Just copy and adapt the scripts from /usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/scripts/arara/rules/ as I've done for pdflatex and biber.

Step 1: Add directives to the file

Here I'm just using the standard directives which arara provides by default.

% arara: pdflatex
% arara: biber
% arara: pdflatex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
  @article{some-article,
    author  =   {Dude, Some},
    title   =   {Some Title},
    year    =   1066,
    journal =   {Some Journal},
    pages   =   {1000456--1005027}}
\end{filecontents}
\bibliography{\jobname}

\begin{document}

  \autocite{some-article}
  \printbibliography

\end{document}

From the log:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.15 (TeX Live 2014) (preloaded format=pdflatex 2014.6.28)  1 JUL 2014 22:31
entering extended mode
...
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/biblatex.sty
Package: biblatex 2014/06/25 v2.9a programmable bibliographies (PK/JW/AB)

From the .bbl:

% $ biblatex bbl format version 2.4 $

Step 2: Create variant arara rules

Start by creating a configuration file in your home directory, araraconfig.yaml, with the following content:

!config
paths:
- <arara> @{userhome}/.arara/rules
# vim: set nospell: 

Obviously omit the last line if you don't use vim. Also, change the path for the rules if you'd prefer something different. For example:

!config
paths:
- <arara> @{userhome}/rules

Then create the following four files in your rules directory. For example, mine are in ~/.arara/rules because that's what I put in my configuration file.

File 1

Name: biber2013.yaml
Content:

!config
# Based on Biber rule for arara
# Biber rule author: Marco Daniel
# requires arara 3.0+
identifier: biber2013
name: Biber 2013
command: <arara> /usr/local/texlive/2013/bin/x86_64-linux/biber @{options} "@{getBasename(file)}"
arguments: 
- identifier: options
  flag: <arara> @{parameters.options}
# vim: set nospell: 

File 2

Name: biber2014.yaml
Content:

!config
# Based on Biber rule for arara
# Biber rule author: Marco Daniel
# requires arara 3.0+
identifier: biber2014
name: Biber 2014
command: <arara> /usr/local/texlive/2014/bin/x86_64-linux/biber @{options} "@{getBasename(file)}"
arguments: 
- identifier: options
  flag: <arara> @{parameters.options}
# vim: set nospell: 

File 3

Name: pdflatex2013.yaml
Content:

!config
# Based on PDFLaTeX rule for arara
# PDFLaTeX rule author: Marco Daniel
# PDFLaTeX rule last edited by: Paulo Cereda
# requires arara 3.0+
identifier: pdflatex2013
name: PDFLaTeX 2013
command: <arara> /usr/local/texlive/2013/bin/x86_64-linux/pdflatex @{action} @{draft} @{shell} @{synctex} @{options} "@{file}"
arguments:
- identifier: action
  flag: <arara> --interaction=@{parameters.action}
- identifier: shell
  flag: <arara> @{isTrue(parameters.shell,"--shell-escape","--no-shell-escape")}
- identifier: synctex
  flag: <arara> @{isTrue(parameters.synctex,"--synctex=1","--synctex=0")}
- identifier: draft
  flag: <arara> @{isTrue(parameters.draft,"--draftmode")}
- identifier: options
  flag: <arara> @{parameters.options}
# vim: set nospell:

File 4

Name: pdflatex2014.yaml Content:

!config
# Based on PDFLaTeX rule for arara
# PDFLaTeX rule author: Marco Daniel
# PDFLaTeX rule last edited by: Paulo Cereda
# requires arara 3.0+
identifier: pdflatex2014
name: PDFLaTeX 2014
command: <arara> /usr/local/texlive/2014/bin/x86_64-linux/pdflatex @{action} @{draft} @{shell} @{synctex} @{options} "@{file}"
arguments:
- identifier: action
  flag: <arara> --interaction=@{parameters.action}
- identifier: shell
  flag: <arara> @{isTrue(parameters.shell,"--shell-escape","--no-shell-escape")}
- identifier: synctex
  flag: <arara> @{isTrue(parameters.synctex,"--synctex=1","--synctex=0")}
- identifier: draft
  flag: <arara> @{isTrue(parameters.draft,"--draftmode")}
- identifier: options
  flag: <arara> @{parameters.options}
# vim: set nospell:

Step 3: Use the new directives

First, let's change the defaults to the 2014 directives. These should be essentially identical except for name and identifier:

% arara: pdflatex2014
% arara: biber2014
% arara: pdflatex2014

From the log:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.15 (TeX Live 2014) (preloaded format=pdflatex 2014.6.28)  1 JUL 2014 22:39
...
(/usr/local/texlive/2014/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/biblatex.sty
Package: biblatex 2014/06/25 v2.9a programmable bibliographies (PK/JW/AB)

From the .bbl:

% $ biblatex bbl format version 2.4 $

Now let's test the 2013 directives:

% arara: pdflatex2013
% arara: biber2013
% arara: pdflatex2013

From the log:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-2.5-1.40.14 (TeX Live 2013) (format=pdflatex 2014.4.9)  1 JUL 2014 22:42
entering extended mode
...
(/usr/local/texlive/2013/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/biblatex.sty
Package: biblatex 2013/11/25 v2.8a programmable bibliographies (PK/JW/AB)

From the .bbl:

% $ biblatex bbl format version 2.3 $