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Due to the old version of Tex Live available in Ubuntu 11.04, I tried to install Tex-Live 2011 using the instructions given on the TUG website.

However, when I run the install-tl script I get the following message. 

    Installing TeX Live 2011 from: http://archive.cs.uu.nl/mirror/CTAN/systems/texlive/tlnet....       
    <D> directories:
           TEXDIR (the main TeX directory):
             !! default location: /usr/local/texlive/2011
             !! is not writable, please select a different one!

Can anybody help me how to fix this ? When I try to run the script it just shuts down.

lockstep
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Trap
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  • Do you run the script as root? You can also create the folder with sudo mkdir and than change the owner with chown. – Marco Daniel Aug 31 '11 at 18:28
  • Okay, I created the folded with sudo mkdir.However, still trying to figure out the chown command – Trap Aug 31 '11 at 19:00
  • I figured however to become root using (http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-can-i-log-in-as-root/) and tex live is installing as we speak. However I hope some developer gets in and creates a Tex Live 2011 package for ubuntu. – Trap Aug 31 '11 at 19:09
  • sudo chown -R $USER:$USER /usr/local/texlive/ should work. You can also install TL as root. In my opinion it is no problem. – Marco Daniel Aug 31 '11 at 19:10
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    One should execute the install-tl script with superuser privileges: sudo ./install-tl; the script will create the relevant directories. – egreg Aug 31 '11 at 19:28
  • This question is about ubuntu's technical details, not tex or texlive. Wouldn't it be more appropriate in ubuntuforums.org ? – Mateus Araújo Sep 01 '11 at 00:35
  • @egreg: that is a personal choice. I've installed TL2011 in a user directory with user rights, and it works perfectly fine. That said, stuff in /usr/local should belong to root. – raphink Sep 01 '11 at 08:10
  • @Raphink: in this case one has to specify the main TeX directory. – egreg Sep 01 '11 at 08:13
  • @egreg: ... which can be done within the installation process. – Andrew Stacey Sep 01 '11 at 10:52
  • @Andrew: that's what I meant; it's sufficient to choose the path using the D command and then the 1 command. The installer will create the relevant directory. – egreg Sep 01 '11 at 10:57
  • @Mateus I admit that this is question more related to ubuntu, however this forum always gives me so good feedback that I just couldn't refuse. – Trap Sep 01 '11 at 11:02

1 Answers1

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If you wish to install TeXLive in /usr/local/texlive/2011 (which is the default location), then you need to do so as root. Either use sudo in front of your ./install-tl command, or switch to root account (sudo -i) and install it:

sudo ./install-tl

If you want to install TeXLive as a simple user (and not as root), you can do so by specifying another location for the installation:

TEXLIVE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/path/to/install/dir ./install-tl
raphink
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    sudo warning: if installing via sudo ./install-tl then make sure that your umask is 022 at the time that you run the command. – Andrew Stacey Sep 01 '11 at 10:52
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    +1. You have to change that environment variable if installing to a different location than the system default (or if you do not have sudo privileges, etc). – enderland Jan 18 '13 at 16:47