TeX Live and MacTeX ⇒ Installing a Latex package offline on macOS with Tex Live 2016 basic

[thinkpadder]

I have installed Tex Live 2016 basic into /usr/local/texlive on macOS and added /usr/local/texlive/bin/x86_64-darwin into PATH and so I can use xelatex without any problems.

The basic Latex packages are under the /usr/local/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex The contents are:

Code: Select all

ae         
amscls     
amsfonts   
amsmath    
anysize    
babelbib   
base       
beamer     
booktabs   
breqn      
caption    
carlisle   
cite       
cmap       
colortbl   
crop       
ctable     
dvipdfmx-de
dvisvgm-def
emp        
eso-pic    
etex-pkg   
etoolbox   
euenc      
euler      
eurosym    
extsizes   
fancybox   
fancyhdr   
fancyref   
fancyvrb   
feynmf     
feynmp-auto
fix2col    
float      
fontspec   
fp         
geometry   
gmp        
graphics   
graphics-cf
hyperref   
index      
jknapltx   
koma-script
l3experimen
l3kernel   
l3packages 
latexconfig
lineno     
listings   
lm         
ltxmisc    
makecmds   
mathtools  
mdwtools   
memoir     
metalogo   
mflogo     
mfnfss     
mfpic4ode  
microtype  
mpgraphics 
ms         
natbib     
ntgclass   
oberdiek   
parskip    
pdfpages   
pdftex-def 
pgf        
polyglossia
powerdot   
psfrag     
pslatex    
psnfss     
pspicture  
rcs        
realscripts
revtex     
rotating   
sansmath   
section    
seminar    
sepnum     
setspace   
subfig     
textcase   
textpath   
times      
tipa       
tools      
typehtml   
underscore 
upquote    
url        
xcolor     
xebaposter 
xkeyval    
xltxtra    
zapfding  

Using this installation I can compile a basic .tex file into .pdf for instance I've written a .tex file which begins like:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[left=1.5cm,right=2cm,top=2cm]{geometry}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{TeX Gyre Termes}[]
\begin{document}

this file get compiled perfectly. Now I'm trying to compile a file which contains a package that's not present in the /usr/local/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex, such as:

\usepackage{lipsum}

I'm trying to install the lipsum package offline, without using the tlmgr
To do that I've followed the answer at https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions ... os-texlive I've downloaded the lipsum.zip at https://www.ctan.org/pkg/lipsum extracted its content into an arbitrary folder such as ~/Downloads/tex-packages/lipsum The contents are:

Code: Select all

CHANGELOG.md     
lipsum.ins       
README.txt       
lipsum-cicero.txt
lipsum-la.txt    
lipsum.dtx       
DEPENDS.txt      
lipsum-cs.txt    
lipsum.pdf       

In the answer it says to cd into this directory and run latex and run texhash so I've did it, it but it gave an error:

Code: Select all

>latex
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.17 (TeX Live 2016) (preloaded format=latex)
 restricted \write18 enabled.
**texhash
entering extended mode
! I can't find file `texhash'.
<*> texhash

(Press Enter to retry, or Control-D to exit)
Please type another input file name:

That answer is obviously wrong. What is the correct way to install this sample package (lipsum) offline?

[Ijon Tichy]

See section "2 Installation" in the README.txt of the downloaded lipsum folder.

BTW: I would recommend to install an up-to-date TeX Live either from DVD or ISO.

TeX Live 2016 is very, very old. You should not expect any support for it anymore.

BTW: For Mac users usually MacTeX is recommended. But I'm not a Mac user.

[thinkpadder]

See section "2 Installation" in the README.txt of the downloaded lipsum folder.

BTW: I would recommend to install an up-to-date TeX Live either from DVD or ISO.

TeX Live 2016 is very, very old. You should not expect any support for it anymore.

BTW: For Mac users usually MacTeX is recommended. But I'm not a Mac user.

I've applied the info at the README.txt and after I've tried to compile the sample tex file it stopped with this error:

Code: Select all

(/usr/local/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/lipsum/lipsum.sty
(/usr/local/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/l3packages/l3keys2e/l3keys2e.sty)
! Undefined control sequence.
l.40 \scan_new:N
                 \s_@@

I'd like to use a newer version of TeX Live but because I'm using macOS 10.7.5 which is 2012 make, the newer versions might have compatibility problems. It's likely that TeX Live 2016 is the maximum version for the macOS 10.7.5 but I'll still check with the newer versions of TeX Live. I haven't checked the MacTeX but it's ikely to be incompatible with the macOS 10.7.5 too

[Ijon Tichy]

The current version of lipsum depends on a newer version of l3kernel than available in TeX Live 2016. This is a usual problem, if someone tries to use an up-to-date package with an old TeX distribution. You should either use all package from the old TeX distribution or use a new one.

[thinkpadder]

The current version of lipsum depends on a newer version of l3kernel than available in TeX Live 2016.

Is there a way to download the 2016 version of the lipsum package? I've tried downloading its version from 29.Dec.2016 from the archive.org but it's not archived. Is there a facility or a site where we can download it?

[thinkpadder]

I would recommend to install an up-to-date TeX Live either from DVD or ISO.

BTW: For Mac users usually MacTeX is recommended. But I'm not a Mac user.

I've downloaded the Tex Live 2020 from TeX Live 2020 .iso now available via torrent (texlive2020-20200406.iso) and installed it. It's got installed trouble free.

The reason I stayed away from 2020 version was because I thought it wouldn't work on macOS 10.7.5 because most software no longer support the 10.7.5 anymore. Luckily, Tex Live 2020 supports macOS 10.7.5.

[Ijon Tichy]

TeX Live 2021 is also available via torrent. See → Acquiring TeX Live as an ISO image.

BTW: There are also MacTeX versions for Mac OS 10.3 through 10.13. But I do not know, if they can be combined with new TeX Live or are using old TeX Live versions. I'm not a Mac user.