Is there an automated script which places files in the relevant directory tree in ~/texmf/ and is that all that is required to install a package (in addition to calling texhash on ~/texmf/)?
[Tex/LaTex] How to install LaTeX .zip package (from CTAN) using texhash on a ‘nix system
installingpackages
Best Answer
Only some packages on CTAN come also in so called TDS ZIP files which already hold the required directory structure so that you only need to unzip them over your
$TEXMF
tree (e.g.~/texmf
). If the package author didn't uploaded a TDS ZIP file it most likely isn't on CTAN.To my knowledge there is no direct script available which turns a CTAN package into the required TDS structure and installs it directly. (The TeXLive developers should have something like that to build the TeXLive package files.) I was thinking writing such a script recently. So far I wrote a Makefile which does it for most LaTeX packages, but currently it is
ydoc
specific, i.e. for my packages only.However, you could download the whole CTAN directory for a package as a flat ZIP file, unpack it and then use the
ctanify
script on the directory. It is intended to create an upload ZIP file for CTAN which also includes a TDS ZIP file. You then can use this TDS ZIP file and unpack it over your TEXMF tree.I just tested this using
colortbl
as a random example. The steps are as follows and could be turned into a script easily. Simple add#!/bin/sh
as first line and replacecolortbl
with$1
and call it usingyourscriptname <name of package>
. However, most but not all LaTeX package are located in/macro/latex/contrib
, so for the others you would need to provide the download link somehow.Note that you only need to run
texhash
for the per-user TEXMF directory if thels-R
file already exists. Modern TeXLive installation search it automatically every run if thels-R
file doesn't exists.