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First of all, I need to say I am new to both LaTeX and to Linux. I am using ubuntu 14.04. And I have to update my version of biblatex.

I know it has been described before, e.g. in this question. But I have a few questions about the answers given and also I am not sure if that process is still the same.

So as far as I understand I have to download the latest version of biblatexfirst. This can be done on SourceForge. Is this an official LaTeX site ? Anyways, how would I have to replace the version, I mean, I don't know what version is the latest.

Then, in the answer provided in the link I have given, there is the line: /usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf-dist

I have checked, my texlive version can be found under /usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist

So am I right to assume I just need to replace the /localby /shareand leave out the year ?

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    Welcome, if you are new to it all, why don't you start with up to date software instead of using an old setup and start to patch bits by hand. Ubuntu 16.04 give you long-term support and has a recent TeX Live 2016 packed (at least i think so). – Johannes_B Jan 22 '17 at 12:06
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    If you install Vanilla TeX Live directly from TUG, you are independent from your operating system and its repositories and get the most recent updates by default. – Johannes_B Jan 22 '17 at 12:07
  • ubuntu 14.04 is already installed. So, do you suggest to remove my version of TeX Live and then reinstall a new one? I found this link. Would it be sufficient to simply type sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/texlivein the command window? - Sorry, i need sth simple in the beginning, like the exact commands. .. I don't even know how to completely delete the old version of TeX Live. Is it just rmdir texlivewhen I am in /usr/share? –  Jan 22 '17 at 12:53
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    You don't even have to remove the old TeX Live (assuming you have enough disk space). Just follow the link in my earlier comment. – Johannes_B Jan 22 '17 at 12:59
  • ok. I followed your link. I have done the following: - How to acquire TeX Live: other methods; - Installing TeX Live over the Internet; - install-tl-unx.tar.gz; - I have moved the downloaded "install-tl-20170121" to my desktop; - I have opened the command window and typed cd install-tl-20170121 and then sudo apt-get install iprint; ... I still don't know if it has worked. I think I still need to " add the directory of TeX Live to my path" using PATH=/usr/local/texlive/2016/bin/i386-linux:$PATH. But I don't know what to replace i386-linuxby. It's all a little confusing for me. –  Jan 22 '17 at 14:20
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    You don't need to substitute anything. – Johannes_B Jan 22 '17 at 14:37
  • @Johannes_B Do you think this is a duplicate or do you want to write a specific answer explaining that updating certain packages alone is not a good idea and hint at the Vanilla install? – moewe Jan 25 '17 at 14:20
  • @moewe You are the biblatex expert. You are more able to write a good answer than me. – Johannes_B Apr 09 '17 at 11:56
  • @Johannes_B OK, I wrote an answer. – moewe Apr 11 '17 at 13:44

1 Answers1

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It is not the greatest idea to manually update biblatex and Biber.

And it is truly a terrible idea to update only one of the two manually, as that will almost inevitably lead to version conflicts between the two.

Updating biblatex and Biber manually can lead to version conflicts with packages that require biblatex (mostly custom styles - last year biblatex received an update that broke many styles to a point that they couldn't be used any more) or with packages that biblatex requires (most of these are stable, so this is less likely to happen, but not impossible).

Ideally you would only update your packages via your TeX distribution (tlmgr or the MikTeX Update wizard). Some TeX live distributions that are packaged on Linux don't allow for updating with tlmgr and rely instead on (often rather old) versions of packages in their official repository.

You can install a vanilla TeX live that lets you use tlmgr and gets updates from CTAN directly instead of the outdated repositories of your Linux distro. See How to install “vanilla” TeXLive on Debian or Ubuntu?

If you really, really must update your packages manually, the general procedure from the answer you linked to should still be valid.

There are a few points though

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