Difference between revisions of "TeX Distributions"

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m (→‎alternative TeX processors: plain text changed into links for Aleph and pdfTeX))
m (some notes about fpTeX (from what I've read on the web page; never used it))
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<table style="border:1px solid #DDDDDD">
 
<tr style="background-color:#DDDDDD"><th>Name</th><th>OS</th><th>Homepage</th><th>Remarks</th></tr>
 
<tr style="background-color:#DDDDDD"><th>Name</th><th>OS</th><th>Homepage</th><th>Remarks</th></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 and fpTeX; no installer on Windows</td></tr>
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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; experimental installer on Windows</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</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</td></tr>
<tr><td>fpTeX</td><td>Win32</td><td>[http://www.fptex.org fptex.org]</td><td>web2c, based on teTeX</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><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 style="background-color:#EEEEEE"><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>MikTeX</td><td>Win</td><td>[http://www.miktex.org/ miktex.org]</td><td>with GUI</td></tr>
 
<tr><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>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>

Revision as of 16:04, 1 January 2006

< Installation hints | Update Hints | Linux 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; experimental installer on Windows
teTeXLinux, Unixtug.org/tetexweb2c
fpTeXWin32xemtexnot maintained any more, see XEmTeX
XEmTeXWinxemtex
MikTeXWinmiktex.orgwith GUI
proTeXtWintug.org/protextbased on MikTeX, bundled with TeX Live
gwTeXMacOS Xrna.nlweb2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install and update GUI ("i-Installer")
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.
  • See MikTeX Problems for more.

alternative TeX processors

TeX the program writes only DVI output; with ConTeXt we normally use pdfeTeX, a merger of eTeX and pdfTeX &#150; it's nowadays probably the most used TeX processor and part of all(?) distributions. But there are more...

NameOSHomepageRemarks
pdf(e)TeX"all"pdftex.orglatest version at freshmeat or sarovar
MetaTeXPOSIXmetatex.orgtries to provide a fast pdfTeX, MetaPost etc. and kpathsea replacement as C libraries (pre-alpha state)
NTSJavaCTANOO re-implementation of TeX in Java as a base for further enhancements
ExTeXJavaextex.orgmerger of NTS with eTeX, pdfTeX and Omega (pre-alpha state)
Aleph"all"?CTANOmega/eTeX merge (former eOmega) by Giuseppe Bilotta (beta state)
XeTeXMacOS Xsil.orguses Mac special features; bidirectional typesetting; supported by ConTeXt since Context 2004.10.07