[Tex/LaTex] How to install pgf/tikz by hand in Zenwalk

installinglinuxtikz-pgf

I am trying to get latex (tetex) working in a recent installation of Zenwalk. The main problem is that tikZ needs to be installed "by hand" because the Zenwalk package manager netpkg can't do it by itself.

As I'm new to linux, advice on how to do this would be much appreciated.

Some information that might be helpful: when I try to build a latex file using Geany, the error message I get refers to the fact that the tikz.sty file can't be found. The file does exist (in the directory /usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/pgf/frontendlayer), but either it's in the wrong place or the compiler doesn't know where to find it. Compilation fails. If I try to compile a latex file that has no tikZ in it, then the file builds just fine, so the rest of latex is running fine.

Best Answer

I would seriously recommend not to use the teTeX packages of Zenwalk. While I have never heard of the Zenwalk distribution before, teTeX is unmaintained since 2006. Its successor is TeX Live. Manually installing TeX Live is easy (just run the installer script and the set $PATH). TeX Live contains the newest TikZ version and all dependencies (maybe you need to run tlmgr update --all after installing to get the newest package versions). Before you install TeX Live you should remove teTeX to avoid any potential problems.

According to the Zenwalk Wiki, this is how you set the path:

After the installation is completed open a text editor such as Geany and create a file called texlive.sh and put the following two lines in it:

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/texlive/2010/bin/i386-linux
export MANPATH=$MANPATH:/opt/texlive/2010/texmf/doc/man

Save texlive.sh file. Make this file executable. Move this file to /etc/profile.d

(as root, afterwards you need to log out and then log in again).

By default TeX Live installs itself to /usr/local/texlive/2010 so you might need to change the paths.

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