TeX Live

TeX Live is a cross-platform, free software distribution for the TeX typesetting system that includes major TeX-related programs, macro packages, and fonts. It is the replacement of its no-longer supported^[2] counterpart teTeX.^[3] It is now the default TeX distribution for several Linux distributions such as openSUSE,^[4] Fedora,^[5] Debian,^[6][7] Slackware,^[8] Ubuntu,^[9] Termux^[10] and Gentoo.^[11] Other Unix operating systems like OpenBSD,^[12] FreeBSD^[13] and NetBSD^[14] have also converted from teTeX to TeX Live.

TeX Live

Original author(s)	TeX Users Group
Developer(s)	Karl Berry
Initial release	1996
Stable release	2024[1]  / 12 March 2024; 6 months ago (12 March 2024)
Repository	www.tug.org/svn/texlive/
Operating system	FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, NetBSD, Solaris, Windows
Predecessor	teTeX
Available in	English, Czech/Slovak, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Simplified Chinese
Type	TeX distribution
License	LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL), GPL (Version 2)
Website	www.tug.org/texlive/

The project was originally started by Sebastian Rahtz in 1996 in collaboration with the TeX user groups worldwide, including the TeX Users Group. Today, it is maintained by Karl Berry, Akira Kakuto, Luigi Scarso and many other people.^[15]

Up to version 2009, TeX Live could be run directly, or "live", from a CD-ROM, from a DVD-ROM, or from any other mobile device, hence its name. As of TeX Live 2010, it was no longer possible to run the distribution from the TeX Collection DVD due to restrictions in storage space. TeX Live follows the TeX Directory Structure.

Since the 2009 release, the editor TeXworks is included for Microsoft Windows, as well as the vector graphics language Asymptote.^[16]

For macOS there is MacTeX,^[17] which comprises the full TeX Live distribution as well as some additional tools for using TeX on the Mac, most notably the editor TeXShop and the bibliography manager BibDesk. Similar to Basic MikTeX in MikTeX, a substantially smaller download, BasicTeX, can also be used for Mac as well.^[18] TeX Live can also be compiled and installed through MacPorts or Homebrew.

Release history

Legend:	Old version, not maintained	Old version, still maintained	Current stable version	Latest preview version	Future release

Version	Release date	Significant changes
Current stable version: 2024	12 March 2024
Old version, no longer maintained: 2023	19 March 2023	Windows version starts and only provides 64-bit binaries.[19]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2022	4 April 2022
Old version, no longer maintained: 2021	1 April 2021
Old version, no longer maintained: 2020	10 April 2020
Old version, no longer maintained: 2019	19 April 2019	New interface for TeX Live Manager.
Old version, no longer maintained: 2018	28 April 2018	Case-insensitive file name matching on Unix by default. LaTeX default input encoding now UTF-8.
Old version, no longer maintained: 2017	4 June 2017	LuaTeX 1.04.[20]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2016	5 June 2016	LuaTeX 0.90.[20]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2015		LaTeX2e now include fixes previously found in fixltx2e.[21] LuaTeX 0.80.[20]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2014
Old version, no longer maintained: 2013		XeTeX now uses HarfBuzz for font layout.[21] LuaTeX 0.77.[20]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2012		MorphOS port[22]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2011		biber added.[21] LuaTeX 0.70.[20]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2010		Automatic EPS conversion for pdfTeX. PDF 1.5 output by default. XeTeX have margin kerning.[23] LuaTeX 0.60.[20] Can no longer be run live from a DVD.[21]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2009		TeXworks included in Windows and OSX ports. Asymptote included.[21] LuaTeX 0.40.[20]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2008		Incremental updates over the internet. First release with LuaTeX.[21]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2007		First release with XeTeX.[21]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2005
Old version, no longer maintained: 2004		New folder structure.[21]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2003		e-TeX as default. Latin Modern included.[24]
Old version, no longer maintained: 7	2002	Mac OS X support[24]
Old version, no longer maintained: 6	July 2001[24]	Finegrained collections.[24]
Old version, no longer maintained: 5	March 2000[24]	Removed all non-free software.[24]
Old version, no longer maintained: 4	1999[24]	Windows support. Web2C 7.3.[24]
Old version, no longer maintained: 3	1998[24]	Web2C 7.2.[24]
Old version, no longer maintained: 2	1997[24]
Old version, no longer maintained: 1	May 1996[24]

See also

• Free and open-source software portal

• MiKTeX

References

1. . 12 March 2024 https://www.texastim.dev/texlive/2024/03/12/texlive.html. Retrieved 16 March 2024. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. Thomas Esser. "teTeX: no next release". Archived from the original on 21 December 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
3. "TeX Live". Retrieved 19 November 2009.
4. "openSUSE Software Search - TeX Live Packages". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
5. "Fedora Wiki - TeX Live Migration". Retrieved 19 November 2009.
6. "Debian -- Details of package texlive in jessie". Retrieved 24 January 2016.
7. "TeX Live and Debian". Retrieved 19 November 2009.
8. "Index of /slackware/slackware-15.0/slackware/t". mirrors.slackware.com. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
9. "Ubuntu – Details of package texlive in wily". Retrieved 24 January 2016.
10. "TeX Live Package Management". The Termux Wiki.
11. "Gentoo Monthly Newsletter: 30 September 2008". Archived from the original on 12 January 2013. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
12. Edward Barrett (June 2008). Barbara Beeton (ed.). "Porting TeX Live to OpenBSD" (PDF). TUGboat. 29 (2). Portland, Oregon, United States: TeX Users Group: 303–304. ISSN 0896-3207. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
13. "FreeBSD ports for TeX Live". Retrieved 24 January 2016.
14. "The NetBSD Packages Collection: print/texlive-tetex". Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
15. "TeX Live - TeX Users Group". tug.org. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
16. "Release notes for TeX Live 2009". Retrieved 20 November 2009.
17. "MacTeX". Retrieved 20 November 2009.
18. "New Features - MacTeX - TeX Users Group". tug.org. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
19. TeX Users Group. "TeX Live on Windows". Retrieved 20 March 2023.
20. "LuaTeX Roadmap". Retrieved 29 May 2017.
21. "The TEX Live Guide—2016". Retrieved 29 May 2017.
22. "'MorphOS: TeX Live 2012'".
23. Karl Berry. "TEX Live 2010 news" (PDF). TUGboat. 31 (2). Portland, Oregon, United States: TeX Users Group: 173. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
24. Rahtz, Sebastian. "TeX-Collection 2003" (PDF). Retrieved 29 May 2017.

External links

• Official website