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diff --git a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-tempinst.html b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-tempinst.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..486616de040 --- /dev/null +++ b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-tempinst.html @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ +<head> +<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label tempinst</title> +</head><body> +<h3>“Temporary” installation of (La)TeX files</h3> +<p/>Operating systems and applications need to know where to find files: +many files that they need are “just named” — the user doesn’t +necessarily know <em>where</em> they are, but knows to ask for them. +The commonest case, of course, is the commands whose names you type to +a shell (yes, even Windows’ “MSDOS prompt”) are using a shell to read what +you type: many of the commands simply involve loading and executing a +file, and the <code>PATH</code> variable tells the shell where to find those files. +<p/>Modern TeX implementations come with a bunch of search paths +built in to them. In most circumstances these paths are adequate, but +one sometimes needs to extend them to pick up files in strange +places: for example, we may wish to try a new bundle of packages +before <a href="FAQ-installthings.html">installing them ‘properly’</a>. To do +this, we need to change the relevant path as TeX perceives it. +However, we don’t want to throw away TeX’s built-in path (all of a +sudden, TeX won’t know how to deal with all sorts of things). +<p/>To <em>extend</em> a TeX path, we define an operating system +environment variable in ‘path format’, but leaving a gap which TeX +will fill with its built-in value for the path. The commonest case is +that we want to place our extension in front of the path, so that our +new things will be chosen in preference, so we leave our ‘gap to be +filled’ at the end of the environment variable. The syntax is simple +(though it depends which shell you’re actually using): so on a +Unix-like system, using the <i>bash</i> shell, the job might be +done like: +<pre> + export TEXINPUTS=/tmp: +</pre> +while in a Windows system, within a MSDOS window, it would be: +<pre> + set TEXINPUTS=C:/temp; +</pre> +In either case, we’re asking TeX to load files from the root disc +temporary files directory; in the Unix case, the “empty slot” is +designated by putting the path separator ‘<code>:</code>’ on its own at the end +of the line, while in the Windows case, the technique is the same, but +the path separator is ‘<code>;</code>’. +<p/>Note that in either sort of system, the change will only affect +instances of TeX that are started from the shell where the +environment variable was set. If you run TeX from another window, +it will use the original input path. To make a change of input path +that will “stick” for all windows, set the environment variable in +your login script or profile (or whatever) in a Unix system and log +out and in again, or in <i>autoexec.bat</i> in a Windows system, and +reboot the system. +<p/>While all of the above has talked about where TeX finds its macro +files, it’s applicable to pretty much any sort of file any +TeX-related program reads — there are lots of these paths, and of +their corresponding environment variables. In a +<i>web2c</i>-based system, the copious annotations in the +<i>texmf.cnf</i> system configuration file help you to learn which +path names correspond to which type of file. +<p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=tempinst">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=tempinst</a> +</body> |