1 Introduction

This document describes the main features of the TeX Live software distribution — a TeX and LaTeX distribution for Linux and other Unix flavors, Mac OS X, and (32-bit) Windows systems. (Warning: it is not especially useful for older Mac or MS-DOS systems.) It includes precompiled binaries for TeX, LaTeX2e, METAFONT, MetaPost, BIBTeX and many other programs; an extensive collection of macros, fonts and documentation; and support for typesetting in many different scripts from around the world.

For the 2003 release, the last update of packages and programs was made on September 3, 2003. For newer versions, please consult CTAN, http://www.ctan.org.

For a brief summary of the major changes in this edition of TeX Live, see section 10.2 on p. 89.

1.1 Basic usage of TeX Live

You can use TeX Live in three principal ways:

  1. You can run TeX Live directly from the distribution media (except for the inst distribution; see section 2.1 on p. 10). This takes almost no disk space, as you might expect, and gives you immediate access to everything in TeX Live. Of course performance will be worse than running on local disk, but you may well find it acceptable.
  2. You can install all or part of TeX Live to a local disk. This is the most common use of TeX Live. You will need a minimum of 120 megabytes, 360 megabytes for a recommended system, and 800 megabytes for a full system.
  3. You can integrate a particular package or collection into your existing TeX system, either a TeX Live system you installed earlier or a different system.

All of these are described in detail in the OS-specific installation sections.

1.2 Getting help

The TeX community is both active and friendly, and virtually all serious questions end up getting answered. However, the support is informal, done by volunteers and casual readers, so it’s especially important that you do your homework before asking. (If you prefer commercial-style support, you can forego TeX Live completely and purchase a vendor’s system; see http://tug.org/interest.html#vendors for a list.)

Here is a list of resources, approximately in the order we recommend using them:

TeX FAQ
The TeX FAQ is a huge compendium of answers to all sorts of questions, from the most basic to the most arcane. It is included on TeX Live in FAQ/english, and is available on the Internet through http://faq.tug.org. Please check here first.
TeX Catalogue
If you are specifically looking for a package, font, program, etc., the TeX Catalogue is the place to look. It is a huge list of all TeX-related items. See texmf/doc/html/catalogue, or http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/catalogue.html.
TeX Web Resources
This web page has many TeX-related links, in particular for numerous books, manuals, and articles on all aspects of the system: http://tug.org/interest.html.
support archives
The two principal forums for support are the Usenet newsgroup news:comp.text.tex and the mailing list texhax@tug.org. So, their archives have thousands of past questions and answers for your searching pleasure. See http://groups.google.com/groups?group=comp.text.tex and http://tug.org/mail-archives/texhax, respectively. A query on a general web search engine, such as http://google.com, never hurts.
posting questions
If you cannot find an answer, you can post to comp.text.tex through Google or your newsreader, or through email to texhax@tug.org. But before you post, please read this FAQ entry for advice on asking questions in such a way that you’re most likely to get an answer: http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=askquestion.
TeX Live support
If you want to report a bug or have suggestions or comments on the TeX Live distribution, installation, or documentation, the mailing list is tex-live@tug.org. However, if your question is about how to use a particular program included in TeX Live, you are better off writing to that program’s maintainer or mailing list.

The other side of the coin is helping others who have questions. Both comp.text.tex and texhax are open to anyone, so feel free to join, start reading, and help out where you can. Welcome to TeX!