Where does LaTeX check for installed packages?

Question

When I use \usepackage{<package_name>}, what directories does LaTeX check for the .sty file for <package_name>? I'm asking this because I have a set of "configurations" that I always place in the preamble of my files and it would just be a lot easier to load all of that from a .sty file.

In my experience, it checks the directory of the .tex file and the regular install directory (in my case ~/.local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex), but I was wondering if there are any other options.

Not sure if it matters but I'm using Ubuntu 18.04 with a user (rather than root) install of TeXLive.

You can use kpsewhich --progname=pdflatex --show-path=tex which should give a lot of pathes. But normally texmf-local/tex/latex or texmfhome/tex/latex should be fine (texmfhome is normally somewhere in your home directory, kpsewhich --expand-path=$texmfhome) — Ulrike Fischer, May 06 '20 at 13:40
It depends on the installation. The real question is "Where does TeXlive check for packages?" — John Kormylo, May 06 '20 at 14:52
Differently-phrased question, but basically the same: packages - Where do I place my own .sty or .cls files, to make them available to all my .tex files? - TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange — user202729, Sep 24 '22 at 01:29

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 06 '20 at 13:28

0

You can write the relative path for the package.

\usepackage{Folder/Bruh.sty}

answered May 06 '20 at 13:28

Someone

539

Hi, please do you can explain better your solution? – Sebastiano May 06 '20 at 19:21
The Folder is a folder, athough it could also be a file path. Bruh.sty is the package (it doesn't have to be bruh) – Someone May 06 '20 at 20:10
Could the relative path also be an absolute path? (e.g.: ~/Documents/package-name.sty) – MithicSpirit May 06 '20 at 20:51
I run LaTeX with Overleaf, so I don't know. – Someone May 06 '20 at 22:34
4

The \usepackage command expects a name not a path. See How can I properly resolve relative paths in `\usepackage`? – Alan Munn Oct 03 '20 at 15:46
Even if a path works, using a relative path requires that all of your main tex files are at the same depth from the root /. – Teepeemm May 22 '23 at 02:09

Where does LaTeX check for installed packages?

1 Answers1