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Obtaining TeXShop

If you just want to upgrade to the latest TeXShop, get

Below is a list of changes made in the latest version of TeXShop.

Older versions of TeXShop for earlier systems are available at the bottom of the page.

TeXShop is just a front end to TeX. You also need a TeX distribution. All new users and everyone else who wants to upgrade everything should read the following sections.

Shortcut for New Users Who Want To Test Drive TeX

TeXShop is a front end to TeX and LaTeX, but when TeXShop typesets, it calls command line programs in an underlying TeX distribution. This distribution must be obtained separately. The TeX distribution contains the actual typesetting programs by Knuth and others, various fonts used by TeX, and a vast array of support style files and other auxiliary files.

A small distribution adequate for beginners is available by going to http://www.tug.org/mactex/morepackages.html. Click on the link titled "BasicTeX.pkg.zip" to download. The result will be an Apple install package which will install BasicTeX when double clicked. Obtain TeXShop separately. No further configuration is needed, so run TeXShop and try some simple examples from the internet or the TeXShop Help Menu.

Obtaining TeXShop and TeX Live

The standard TeX distribution on the Macintosh is called TeX Live. BasicTeX is a small subset of TeX Live, but anyone serious about TeX should obtain the full distribution. The MacTeX Working Group from the Tex User Group (TUG) constructed an install package which installs TeX Live and everything else needed to run TeX on Mac OS X in one step. This package is free, and uses Apple's standard installer; installation takes four to eight minutes and is automatic. The package installs TeX Live, the complete reference edition of TeX produced in cooperation by TeX User Groups across the world. It also installs Ghostscript and several GUI utilities for TeX including TeXShop, so it is not necessary to get the front end separately. One of the GUI programs it installs is "TeX Live Utility," which can keep TeX Live up to date. Everything is completely configured and ready to use once the installer finishes its job.

MacTeX is a large download, over a gigabyte. To obtain it, click on the following link: MacTeX.pkg.

About MacTeX and TeX Live

For more details about MacTeX, go to the MacTeX web page, www.tug.org/mactex.

TeX Live runs on almost all modern operating systems, including Mac OS X, Windows, GNU/Linux, and various forms of BSD Unix. The distribution is the same on all of these systems; nothing has been added, subtracted, or modified to make it work on OS X. The distribution contains essentially every TeX tool in common use today: Plain TeX, LaTeX, AMS-TeX, ConTeXt, XeTeX, and others, as well as a complete array of packages, style files, and fonts.

Another way to get MacTeX is to join TUG; the package is on the DVD sent immediately to new members and once a year to continuing members. This DVD contains extra front-ends for Mac OS X and many other useful TeX utilities. It also contains complete TeX distributions for Windows, GNU/Linux, and other Unix systems.

TUG membership benefits include three issues of TUGBoat, the journal of the organization, and additional CD's containing the CTAN TeX archive of style files, packages, fonts, documentation, etc. For details on joining, see http://www.tug.org.

Summary

Let's summarize. To use TeX on Mac OS X, it suffices to install TeXShop and BasicTeX. For a more complete installation, install MacTeX.

Max Horn Git Repository

With great effort, Max Horn created a git repository based on an almost complete set of TeXShop sources. See https://github.com/TeXShop/TeXShop.

Other Versions of TeXShop

Here is an older version of TeXShop:

From time to time, users have asked for other particular versions of TeXShop. Below, in no particular order, are some of these requested versions.