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Installation through the internet is so harsh...

For example, is there a torrent for TeX Live?

Alan Munn
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Akbar
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2 Answers2

14

If you want to have a "resume/pause"- like feature when downloading TeXLive then mirroring it on your hard drive is a good approach.

Advantages of mirroring TeXLive:

  1. We can pause or resume the download.
  2. We can share the raw TeX distribution for other users in our local network. As a result, we save internet bandwidth.
  3. We can update or sync our single raw TeX mirror with a public nearest mirror on the internet. The installed TeX systems on the local network then update from our local mirror. It saves internet bandwidth. Updating or syncing our local mirror with a public mirror runs fast because a smart algorithm has been adopted in a sync tool that will be used and explained below.

How to mirror:

I assume that your OS is Windows. Otherwise, you need to search for similar procedures.

  1. First download cwrsync version 5.5 from itefix.net (the download link is in the "free" tab). Unpack it to C:\Program Files (x86)\ and add C:\Program Files (x86)\cwrsync_5.5.0_x86_free\bin to your system variable PATH.

  2. Fix the file permission issue by doing the procedures explained in this link.

  3. Locate the nearest TeXLive mirror, and execute the following from cmd.

    rsync -a --delete -v --progress rsync://<your nearest mirror>/CTAN/systems/texlive/tlnet/ "/cygdrive/<your drive name>/<your destination folder>"

For example,

rsync -a --delete -v --progress rsync://ftp.fau.de/ctan/systems/texlive/tlnet/ "/cygdrive/d/Installers/TeXLive2020"

For more detailed, please visit Downloading/mirroring the TeX Live repository

Tips and Trick:

Typing

rsync -a --delete -v --progress rsync://<your nearest mirror>/CTAN/systems/texlive/tlnet/ "/cygdrive/<your drive name>/<your destination folder>"

seems to be cumbersome for us. Therefore, I suggest you to create a batch file as follows

rem this filename is UpdateMyTeXLive.bat

rem the file path must not contain spaces
rem trailing / at the destionation is optional


rsync -a --delete -v --progress rsync://<your nearest mirror>/CTAN/systems/texlive/tlnet/ "/cygdrive/<your drive name>/<your destination folder>"

and name it something like

enter image description here

Whenever you want to update your local TeX mirror, just right click the icon and choose "Run as administrator".

Updating the installed TeX system:

Updating your local TeXLive mirror has nothing to do with updating your installed TeXLive.

If you have installed TeXLive on your machine and you have just updated your local TeX mirror, then the installed TeXLive on your machine must be updated or synced with your local TeX mirror. To update your installed TeXLive see this answer.

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kiss my armpit
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  • Higgs thanks for support. Cwrsync has to be bought, right? Or there are other alternative ways... – Akbar Jul 14 '12 at 07:39
  • cwrsync download – Akbar Jul 14 '12 at 07:51
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    Interesting approach. Cwrsync does appear to be a paid product, but you could always install Cygwin plus rsync (from the cygwin package manager) for a free solution. – Brent.Longborough Jul 14 '12 at 10:02
  • The SET CYGWIN=nontsec was the key to get around those permission hassles I had. For what it's worth, I used DeltaCopy which comes with a bundled rsync.exe for free which works without a complete cygwin environment which can be intimidating. – Arsenal Dec 12 '19 at 13:15
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I suggest to download one ISO file from a mirror of your choice or via Torrent. You can find some links here.

I think, now more than ever, that this is the most advantagious way to acquire TeXLive because the 2012 version has been released few days ago, so the DVD is really up-to-date at the moment and, with torrent or with a good mirror, you'll have it in two or three hours (with a good internet connection). 2.2 GiB is not a big deal nowadays

Spike
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  • thanks. That was really helpful. I was wondering if the file I'm downloading was the right one. (It was 2.15 GiB similarly.)

    Spike, is it the right one? http://mirror-cybernet.lums.edu.pk/pub/ctan/systems/texlive/Images/texlive2012-20120701.iso

     – Akbar Jul 14 '12 at 07:43
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    Looking at the date and at the weight, yes it should – Spike Jul 14 '12 at 08:09