[ Direct Download: US server | EU server | Source ] [ Contact ]

About TeX Live

The installer will install TeX Live 2007 in /usr/local/texlive/2007, ghostscript binaries is /usr/local/bin, and ghostscript auxiliary files in /usr/local/share/ghostscript.

TeX Live is the "engine" underlying TeXShop, but users may choose to ignore it completely, because it can do its hard work silently. If you want to know more, continue.

TeX Live is installed in the directory /usr/local/texlive/2007, which is not visible from the Finder. But the installer creates a symbolic link to this directory in /Library/TeX/root. (Actually, this points to the root of the active TeX distribution, so it will point to TeX Live when TeX Live is active.) Therefore, go to /Library/TeX/root to inspect files in TeX Live.

The documentation for TeX Live is in /Library/TeX/Documentation. (Actually, this points to the documentation of the active TeX distribution, so it will point to the documentation of TeX Live when TeX Live is active.) There is very extensive documentation for the various programs and packages that make up TeX.

It is possible to store additional style files, fonts, etc., in TeX Live itself. But TeX Live is owned by root and lives in /usr/local/texlive/2007, which isn't visible in the Finder. Moreover, it is a good idea to keep this directory pure so it can be upgraded easily when later versions are released. So it is better to construct a mirror image of the TeX Live directory structure inside your Library folder and store personal files there.

Here is how this works. TeX Live uses a directory structure invented by the tex working group. Suppose you want to add a extra style file named new.sty to the style files used by Latex. Look inside TeX Live and notice that a natural spot for this file would be

So inside your home directory's Library folder, make a series of subdirectories as follows:

and store "new.sty" inside this misc directory.