[Tex/LaTex] Updating biblatex

Question

First of all, I need to say I am new to both LaTeX and to Linux. I am using ubuntu 14.04. And I have to update my version of biblatex.

I know it has been described before, e.g. in this question. But I have a few questions about the answers given and also I am not sure if that process is still the same.

So as far as I understand I have to download the latest version of biblatexfirst. This can be done on SourceForge. Is this an official LaTeX site ?
Anyways, how would I have to replace the version, I mean, I don't know what version is the latest.

Then, in the answer provided in the link I have given, there is the line: /usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf-dist

I have checked, my texlive version can be found under /usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist

So am I right to assume I just need to replace the /localby /shareand leave out the year ?

Answer 1

It is not the greatest idea to manually update biblatex and Biber.

And it is truly a terrible idea to update only one of the two manually, as that will almost inevitably lead to version conflicts between the two.

Updating biblatex and Biber manually can lead to version conflicts with packages that require biblatex (mostly custom styles - last year biblatex received an update that broke many styles to a point that they couldn't be used any more) or with packages that biblatex requires (most of these are stable, so this is less likely to happen, but not impossible).

Ideally you would only update your packages via your TeX distribution (tlmgr or the MikTeX Update wizard). Some TeX live distributions that are packaged on Linux don't allow for updating with tlmgr and rely instead on (often rather old) versions of packages in their official repository.

You can install a vanilla TeX live that lets you use tlmgr and gets updates from CTAN directly instead of the outdated repositories of your Linux distro. See How to install “vanilla” TeXLive on Debian or Ubuntu?

If you really, really must update your packages manually, the general procedure from the answer you linked to should still be valid.

There are a few points though

• Make sure to actually download the current version of biblatex and Biber. Check in the documentation that the versions you downloaded are actually compatible. (At the time of writing this biblatex is at 3.7, Biber at version 2.7.)

• The correct place for biblatex is your local tree Where do I place my own .sty or .cls files, to make them available to all my .tex files? You had better not overwrite /usr/share content.

• SourceForge is not an 'official' LaTeX site. But the biblatex/Biber maintainer updates it with the newest release and development versions when they come available, so the release versions you find there are in a way official. You can get 'really official' package versions on CTAN. biblatex is at https://www.ctan.org/pkg/biblatex and Biber can be found at https://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/biblio/biber