Re: Thoughtful updates to TexLive

[Nicolas Goaziou via "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." <guix-devel@gnu.org>]

Hello,

Felix Lechner via "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System
distribution." <guix-devel@gnu.org> writes:

> I am talking about 'texlivetexmf-20240312'.
>
> While I'm lucky that there is a substitute, I can hardly use it.

The `texlivetexmf' package has a `#:substitutable #f' flag. Unless I’m
mistaken, you’re probably downloading its source before building it.

> What is the rationale for the monolithic package, please?  I'm not using
> it in any of my own stuff, I don't think.  Thanks!

The monolithic package predates the modular one. Back in the days, it
was the only way to get a proper TeX Live experience within Guix.

It is not the case anymore. However, Andreas Enge (Cc’ed) prefers to
keep it as a no-brainer for anyone who wants to compile TeX documents
and can afford the download cost. I’d love to get feedback about the
comparison between using `texlive' and `texlive-scheme-full', as
I believe the latter can satisfy that user profile.

Admittedly, another advantage is that you can modify `texlive' without
rebuilding world.

As you put it, you, or anyone on this earth I bet, don’t need every
package in there. Some are provided for historical purpose only, for
example. Even if you don’t want to fiddle with TeX Live packages,
installing a couple of `texlive-collection-*' packages, such as the
massive `texlive-collection-latexextra', will be more manageable in the
long run.

Regards,
-- 
Nicolas Goaziou