Re: [AUCTeX-devel] Re: Anything missing for 0.9.2?

[David Kastrup]

Ralf Angeli <address@hidden> writes:

> Maybe some feedback on installing with teTeX 3.  (I wanted to have a
> peek at it and set it up on my FreeBSD installation.)  As installation
> directory for preview.sty it found
>
> # kpsewhich preview.sty
> /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/latex/preview/preview.sty
>
> The output variables in config.log look like this:
>
> auctexdir='/usr/local/share/emacs/site-lisp'
> bindir='${exec_prefix}/bin'
> build_alias=''
> datadir='${prefix}/share'
> exec_prefix='${prefix}'
> host_alias=''
> icondir='${lispdir}/preview/images'
> includedir='${prefix}/include'
> infodir='${prefix}/info'
> libdir='${exec_prefix}/lib'
> libexecdir='${exec_prefix}/libexec'
> lispGS=''
> lispdir='${datadir}/emacs/site-lisp'
> lispicondir='(expand-file-name "preview/images" load-file-name)'
> lisppackagelispdir='(expand-file-name "preview" load-file-name)'
> localstatedir='${prefix}/var'
> mandir='${prefix}/man'
> oldincludedir='/usr/include'
> packagedir='no'
> packagelispdir='${lispdir}/preview'
> prefix='/usr/local'
> previewdocdir='${texmfdir}/doc/latex/styles'
> previewstartfile='${lispdir}/preview-latex.el'
> previewtexmfdir='${texmfdir}/tex/latex/preview'
> program_transform_name='s,x,x,'
> sbindir='${exec_prefix}/sbin'
> sharedstatedir='${prefix}/com'
> sysconfdir='${prefix}/etc'
> target_alias=''
> texmfdir='${datadir}/texmf'
>
> I saw that ${datadir}/texmf comes first in the list of directories to
> be checked for texmfdir, so it seems to be intended.  But wouldn't be
> /usr/local/share/texmf-local?

We basically have the situations
a) system TeX installation.  The TeX will be installed in something
like /usr/share/texmf, installation should go to either
/usr/local/share/texmf or /usr/share/texmf-local, depending on which
exists.  Since the former location is more likely to be searched for
multiple TeX installations, it is tried first.

b) a user TeX installation.  The TeX will be somewhere like
/home/freja/share/texmf, the installation should probably go into
/home/freja/share/texmf directly.

c) a site-wide TeX installation.  Whatever.

Except in the case of a system installation, I think it reasonable to
overwrite the site-specific version.  Multiple versions per site
sounds like a recipe for inconsistency.  The only alternative I could
imagine is support for an "uninstalled" state:
a) place the style files in the Emacs tree.
b) manipulate TEXINPUTS to include them in the TeX search path when
preview gets loaded.
c) provide a command "preview-install-style-files" that will offer to
install them permanently at a user-specified place (completion via
kpathsea might get offered), in which case the TEXINPUTS manipulation
is switched off.

Something like that would probably be our best bet for XEmacs package
support, anyway.

> It's probably hard to achieve for BSDs where all third-party
> software goes into /usr/local.

Even the stuff that is in the Ports system?

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum