I want to install MacTex2021 on an unsupported MacOS version, 10.13.6 (High Sierra), because I don't want to give up only old MacBook 2009 …
Any help is appreciated.
I follow the instructions on https://www.tug.org/mactex/mactex-unix-download.html for installing 2021 on unsupported OSX versions, among which High Sierra.
When I run install-tl I see the gui but nothing happens.
It can also be run in text mode but this also fails.
Changing the repository had no effect.
sudo ./install-tl –gui=text
Loading https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb
./install-tl: TLPDB::from_file could not initialize from: https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb
./install-tl: Maybe the repository setting should be changed.
./install-tl: More info: https://tug.org/texlive/acquire.html
Edit.
I was able to install. TexDist2021 ran successfully.
I asked a new question since the Tex Live utility does not run.
See: TexLive fails with version mismatch message quoting version nr to be 2^64 – 1. Known bug?
Best Answer
Since I can't edit my comment, I may as well turn this into an answer. I suspect
tlmgris probably trying to connect to a server that has a Let's Encrypt certificate. Instead of using the CTAN multiplexor, which picks a nearby repository, you'll need to manually specify a repository that uses a different root certificate, or has been reconfigured to deal with their breakage. For background on the certificate issue, see https://tug.org/pipermail/tex-live/2021-October/047470.html.For a repository near you, see https://ctan.org/mirrors?lang=en. You can test a mirror using curl in Terminal, e.g.
If you don't see a certificate error, you should be good to go. Note that using a web browser is not sufficient to debug this problem on High Sierra or Mojave, as it's related to the way the command-line tools look for certs. For extra fun, the curl supplied by MacPorts doesn't have this problem, so make sure you're using the Apple-supplied one.