Difference between revisions of "TeX Distributions"

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<tr><td>TeX Live</td><td>a lot</td><td>[http://www.tug.org/texlive/ tug.org/texlive]</td><td>web2c, based on teTeX; has installer and a package manger.</td></tr>
 
<tr><td>TeX Live</td><td>a lot</td><td>[http://www.tug.org/texlive/ tug.org/texlive]</td><td>web2c, based on teTeX; has installer and a package manger.</td></tr>
 
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><td>teTeX</td><td>Linux, Unix</td><td>[http://www.tug.org/tetex/ tug.org/tetex]</td><td>web2c; not supported any more, TeX Live is recommended instead.</td></tr>
 
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><td>teTeX</td><td>Linux, Unix</td><td>[http://www.tug.org/tetex/ tug.org/tetex]</td><td>web2c; not supported any more, TeX Live is recommended instead.</td></tr>
<tr><td>fpTeX</td><td>Win32</td><td>[https://xemtex.groups.foundry.supelec.fr/xemtex-web-gb-2-5.html xemtex]</td><td>not maintained any more, see XEmTeX</td></tr>
 
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><td>XEmTeX</td><td>Win</td><td>[https://xemtex.groups.foundry.supelec.fr/xemtex-web-gb-2-1.html xemtex]</td><td></td></tr>
 
 
<tr><td>MikTeX</td><td>Win</td><td>[http://www.miktex.org/ miktex.org]</td><td>with GUI</td></tr>
 
<tr><td>MikTeX</td><td>Win</td><td>[http://www.miktex.org/ miktex.org]</td><td>with GUI</td></tr>
 
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><td>proTeXt</td><td>Win</td><td>[http://www.tug.org/protext/ tug.org/protext]</td><td>based on MikTeX, bundled with TeX Live</td></tr>
 
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><td>proTeXt</td><td>Win</td><td>[http://www.tug.org/protext/ tug.org/protext]</td><td>based on MikTeX, bundled with TeX Live</td></tr>
 
<tr><td>W32TeX</td><td>Win</td><td>[http://www.fsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jp/kakuto/win32-ptex/web2c75-e.html fsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jp]</td><td>with XeTeX and the latest ConTeXt</td></tr>
 
<tr><td>W32TeX</td><td>Win</td><td>[http://www.fsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jp/kakuto/win32-ptex/web2c75-e.html fsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jp]</td><td>with XeTeX and the latest ConTeXt</td></tr>
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><td>gwTeX</td><td>MacOS X</td><td>[http://www.rna.nl/tex.html rna.nl]</td><td>web2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install and update GUI ("i-Installer"). Now unsupported</td></tr>
 
 
<tr><td>MacTeX</td><td>MacOS X</td><td>[http://www.tug.org/mactex/ tug.org/mactex]</td><td>web2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install. Actually the simplest MacOSX install.</td></tr>
 
<tr><td>MacTeX</td><td>MacOS X</td><td>[http://www.tug.org/mactex/ tug.org/mactex]</td><td>web2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install. Actually the simplest MacOSX install.</td></tr>
 
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><td>minimal ConTeXt</td><td>Win, Lin, Mac</td><td>[http://www.pragma-ade.com/context/install/ pragma-ade.com]</td><td>web2c</td></tr>
 
<tr style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><td>minimal ConTeXt</td><td>Win, Lin, Mac</td><td>[http://www.pragma-ade.com/context/install/ pragma-ade.com]</td><td>web2c</td></tr>

Revision as of 11:38, 2 July 2020

< Installation hints | Update Hints | Installation >

Historically there were a lot of different TeX distributions. Nowadays there are only a few wide spread. We mention only those that are free and support ConTeXt:

NameOSHomepageRemarks
TeX Livea lottug.org/texliveweb2c, based on teTeX; has installer and a package manger.
teTeXLinux, Unixtug.org/tetexweb2c; not supported any more, TeX Live is recommended instead.
MikTeXWinmiktex.orgwith GUI
proTeXtWintug.org/protextbased on MikTeX, bundled with TeX Live
W32TeXWinfsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jpwith XeTeX and the latest ConTeXt
MacTeXMacOS Xtug.org/mactexweb2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install. Actually the simplest MacOSX install.
minimal ConTeXtWin, Lin, Macpragma-ade.comweb2c
  • web2c is a common base for TeX distributions, see tug.org/web2c. It uses the kpathsea tool and its ls-R database for file searches.

web2c hints

  • use mktexlsr (same as texhash) to rebuild the file database after every install or change!
  • Beware, older web2c distributions keep ConTeXt’s (Perl/Ruby) scripts at .../context/perltk, newer at .../scripts/Perl/context! Make sure to delete the older ones! See also Update Hints

MikTeX hints

  • MikTeX has a "rebuild database" menu entry; use it after every install or change!
  • You should enable write18 in miktex.ini (MikTeX's counterpart to texmf.cnf) to get MetaPost support working.

TeX engines

TeX the program writes only DVI output; with ConTeXt we normally use pdfTeX, LuaTeX or XeTeX and generate PDF.

NameOSConTeXtHomepageRemarks
pdfTeX"all"Yespdftex.orglatest version at freshmeat or sarovar; development frozen, see LuaTeX
LuaTeX"all"Yesluatex.orgextended version of pdfTeX using Lua
XeTeX"all"Yessil.orgsupports OpenType and all other fonts installed on OS, Unicode, bidirectional typesetting, Mac special features; Windows version not officially released yet - see W32TeX above
NTSJavaNoCTANOO re-implementation of TeX in Java as a base for further enhancements; discontinued, see ExTeX
ExTeXJavaNoextex.orgmerger of NTS with eTeX, pdfTeX and Omega (pre-alpha state)
Aleph"all"?YesCTANOmega/eTeX merge (former eOmega) by Giuseppe Bilotta (beta state)