[Tex/LaTex] Installing TeXLive 2013 side by side on an existing TeXLive 2012

installingtexliveUbuntu

tlmgr stopped working complaining that it is version 2012 while the repository is 2013. Fine, I need to install TL 2013. So I try and do just that, by following the first link at http://www.tug.org/texlive/acquire.html and downloading, extracting and running: http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz

I now get the following error:

./install-tl
Loading http://mirror.isoc.org.il/pub/ctan/systems/texlive/tlnet/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb
=============================================================================
./install-tl: The TeX Live versions of the local installation
and the repository being accessed are not compatible:
      local: 2012
 repository: 2013
Perhaps you need to use a different CTAN mirror?
(For more, see the output of install-tl --help, especially the
 -repository option.  Online via http://tug.org/texlive/doc.)
=============================================================================

But this is precisely what I'm trying to solve.. help?

I'm using Ubuntu. install-tl is located at /tmp/install-tl-20130208

Best Answer

This error appears when you are using an installer for TL2012, while trying to install TL2013. It may happen if some mirrors haven't synced their files yet.

To avoid that, ensure that the file you download is recent enough. Here, your texlive is named *-20130208, so it was built on 8th feb 2013.

The how-to-acquire page tells you that

[TL2013] was released on 18 June 2013

So you should try to get your hands on an installer timestamped after this date. For me, the generic download link gives a recent-enough file, but it can be mirror-dependent. Try redownloading the file, and if it doesn't work, pick another mirror.