TeXLive 2007 for OpenBSD

Dependency Testing :: Patch Tracker :: MfSplit :: Old Ports :: 3rd Party 4.2 Packages :: Distfiles :: Porting Guide

Whats all this then?

I have been working on creating a port of TeXLive for OpenBSD in order to create some packages that can be added using the standard 'pkg_add' command, rather than via the install script found on the TeXLive DVD.

TeXLive is a LaTeX distribution. LaTeX is a typesetter which allows the user to make proffesional and beautiful documents.

Example Output

The Porting Guide was built using this port.
Here is a screenshot of me messing about with the XeLaTeX font renderer (TTF/OpenType).
Here is the output of me trying out ConTeXt one evening. ConTeXt makes laying out pages far easier!

Why bother?

It's annoying to have to download the TeXLive DVD, burn it and install it. Also native packages have the added advantage of being automatically upgraded with 'pkg_add -u'.

Whats up with the TeTeX package that OpenBSD has?

TeTeX is now unsupported and has been since May 2006. TeXLive is maintained. Maintained software is better!
You also get with TeXLive:

The new XeTeX compiler, which supports Opentype and TrueType fonts directly and natively.
The modernised ConTeXt compiler, which has emphasis on making layout simpler and correctness of logical markup.

Who did this?

I did. I am Edd Barrett. I am a computing student at Bournemouth University in the UK. More of me here.

Status of the Port

The port was committed into the ports tree on the 17th of July 2007 by jasper@openbsd.org.
The build is linked and we can expect to see TeXLive in OpenBSD-4.3. Until then I have made 3rd party packages for OpenBSD 4.2 by backporting a recent -current version.

Getting TeXLive for OpenBSD

TeXLive is ready for prime time usage in OpenBSD-current and has completely replaced the old teTeX package as of 2007/08/03.

The source code for the port is available in the OpenBSD CVS.

Binary packages are available in the usual places on the OpenBSD FTP servers.

Thanks

Thanks goes to the following people for help/support:

The ports@openbsd.org mailing list for answering my dumb questions.
The tex-live@tug.org mailing list for answering more dumb questions.
Jasper Lievisse Adriaanse for assisting the initial port commit.
Steven Mestdagh (My "mentor")
Karl Berry (of TeXLive) for his continued support during porting.
Norbert Preinig (of Debian/TeXLive) for helping me understand TeX Package Manager.
Hartmut Henkel and Frank Kuster for patience in helping me with updmap-sys.
Jonathan Kew of XeTeX for patching away buggy nastiness on big endian systems.
Dr. Peter Knaggs for helping me understand the build system.
Shaun Bendall - The UNIX guy at Uni, for hosting my massive files and loaning hardware.
My friends - Mainly Didi for putting up with my anti-social hackage.
YellowShift - For hardware donations.
Laurie Tratt - For helping with dep testing.

If I forgot anyone I am really sorry. Drop me mail and I'll credit you!

Comments and Suggestions

Comments and suggestions to vext01 at gmail dot com. Thanks.

Happy TeXing!