TexLive HOWTO

edit TexLive HOWTO

edit TexLive components

There is a "core" texlive component and some additional components:

nixpkgs_sys.texLiveContext
nixpkgs_sys.texLiveBeamer
nixpkgs_sys.texLiveCMSuper
nixpkgs_sys.texLive
nixpkgs_sys.texLiveExtra
nixpkgs_sys.texLiveLatexXColor
nixpkgs_sys.texLivePGF

 nicpkgs_sys.texLive

is the "core" component, other components add fonts/styles and extra functionalities.

edit The problem

Extra tex components install extra functionalities in locations that are unknown to the core component (as the core component obviously does not depend on extra components).
After installing an extra component, a texlive user will notice that the extra functionalities are not found by texlive binaries (i.e. latex)
There is a file called "ls-R" that should contain all the tex-related files, and this file should be updated after an extra component is installed.
Another way is to add the .../texmf-dist// directories of extra components into the TEXINPUTS environment variable, i.e. on my system:

 export TEXINPUTS="./:/nix/store/d6xw1wangjq75dw7grh5d9318687hfhi-texlive-extra-2009/texmf-dist//:"

would just solve the issue without much hassle. However, each time you upgrade/add an optional texlive component, you should update the TEXINPUTS environment variable, and this is bad.

edit The Solution

Instead of explicitly install texLive components via /etc/nixos/configuration.nix (environment.systemPackages) or nix-env -i, one should write a nix-expression using the following function:

 texLiveAggregationFun

cfr. http://www.mail-archive.com/nix-dev@cs.uu.nl/msg00996.html and http://www.mail-archive.com/nix-dev@cs.uu.nl/msg00998.html

nixos-rebuild way

edit /etc/nixos/configuration.nix and add (or edit, if environment.systemPackages is already set):

 environment = {
   systemPackages = [
     ...
     (let myTexLive = 
        pkgs.texLiveAggregationFun {
           paths = [ pkgs.texLive pkgs.texLiveExtra pkgs.texLiveBeamer ];
        };
      in myTexLive)
      ...
   ];
   ...
 };

the "let myTexLive =" will introduce a new nix-expression using texLiveAggregationFun { paths = [ all_your_texLive_components_here ]; }. the (let myTexLive = ... in myTexLive) will actually evaluate the function upon a nixos-rebuild switch command. After a nixos-rebuild switch, all the specified texLive components will be built and their texmf-dist// scanned, resulting in an environment with a full working texlive + optional components setup.

nix-env way

create a file ~/.nix-defexpr/texlive.nix:

 let
   nixpkgs = (import ./nixpkgs_sys) {};
 in
 with nixpkgs; {
   myTexLive = texLiveAggregationFun {
     paths = [
       texLive texLiveExtra texLiveBeamer
     ];
   } // { name = "mytexlive"; };
 }

and install with

 nix-env -i -A texlive

Contents

edit TexLive HOWTO

edit TexLive components

edit The problem

edit The Solution