Re: TeXlive? Or any recent alternative?

["Pouya D. Tafti" <pouya%san-serriffe.org@localhost>]

On 12 September 2010 02:27, Min Sik Kim <minskim%bawi.org@localhost> wrote:
> On Sep 11, 2010, at 9:44 AM, Pouya D. Tafti wrote:
>>
>> 1. I was missing too many packages:
>>
>> laptop$ cd /usr/pkgsrc/print
>> laptop$ echo * | wc -w
>> Â Â 535
>> laptop$ tlmgr list --only-installed | wc -l
>> Â Â2088
>
> I hope this will improve over time. :) ÂBTW, (old versions of) many missing 
> packages are included in print/teTeX3-texmf, and can be used with TeX Live 
> packages (tex-*).

I am wondering if it would be possible to have pkgsrc packages
generated automatically at each annual release of TeXLive using a
script based on TeXLive's tlmgr; or, better yet, to have something
like tlmgr that automagically queries CTAND and creates pkgsrc
packages from package names or updates them to the latest version from
CTAN.  I personally use TeX on different OSs/collaborate with other
people/etc., and therefore really need to have a consistent
environment everywhere.  Not everyone uses/can be convinced to use
pkgsrc, but almost everybody I work with uses TeXLive on some
platform.  So, unless we can find a way to keep pkgsrc more or less in
sync with TeXLive "with minimal effort", I'm afraid it would not be a
practical solution for heavy-duty applications.

>
>>
>> So I tried to create new packages for those that I was missing. ÂBUT:
>>
>> 2. I could never quite figure out how to install and configure a tex
>> system properly through pkgsrc, and always faced rather non-obvious
>> dependency and configuration puzzles to solve (mostly related to font
>> dependencies that made latex packages fail with criptic error
>> messages). ÂI concede that my confusion and problems were, in all
>> likelihood, more related to (the overly complicated structure and
>> configuration of) texlive rather than pkgsrc. ÂBut, on the other hand:
>
> Please file a PR for such an error. ÂIt will help improving TeX support in 
> pkgsrc.

I'm referring to mysterious, sometimes not obviously reproducible,
situations such as this:

<http://mail-index.netbsd.org/pkgsrc-users/2010/05/20/msg012230.html>

Once again, thanks a lot for your excellent work on TeX support in
pkgsrc.  I am sure it is of very high quality.  What I'm not so sure
about, however, is whether the pkgsrc+tex community is large enough to
maintain 2000+ TeXLive packages and update them at least on a yearly
basis without some sort of automation.

Pouya