Re: How can I make a Gentoo Linux package for ConTeXt LMTX? - Alan Braslau via ntg-context

From: Alan Braslau via ntg-context <ntg-context@ntg.nl>
To: "amano.kenji" <amano.kenji@proton.me>,
	mailing list for ConTeXt users <ntg-context@ntg.nl>,
	Bruce Horrocks <ntg@scorecrow.com>
Cc: Alan Braslau <braslau.list@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: How can I make a Gentoo Linux package for ConTeXt LMTX?
Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2022 12:46:10 -0600	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <78a4ac51-cc43-dc42-70a6-492d55c56000@comcast.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <WMoapxeIc1suuWMGwWE0JVqHfgnt0gC9FHP0fur9foASCHo1ihtr_FnCo1E3QI9xKgy43qMa9ZVE2HqMkTDZC1-4HKrv-z7nsiC-kndiJy0=@proton.me>

I believe that you are missing the point of LMTX.

LMTX Context is intended to be a self-contained AND PORTABLE directory 
tree. It does not need system installation paths and such and is 
designed to happily co-exist with system installed TeX (using packages) 
or TeXlive or others, without interference. The LMTX directory tree is 
very light-weight and indeed many production users might keep a separate 
copy with EACH major TeX project, thus ensuring that the project will 
continue to compile without changes as LMTX evolves. This strategy can 
be a successful insurance that very old projects will continue to 
compile yielding the same results many years later.

Not that you need to go that far.

Many users install LMTX for a system-wide use in some commonly 
accessible location. This is totally portable: only the PATH needs to be 
set to find the correct context executable.

LMTX does not go the route of system packages as this relies on package 
maintainers. ConTeXt mkiv with luatex continues to be made available and 
updated with TeXlive, so any system packages that provide TeXlive can 
provide ConTeXt.

Alan

On 15/08/2022 07:54, amano.kenji via ntg-context wrote:
>  From my perspective, a few optimizations for system installation need to happen for ConTeXt.
> 
> contextcnf.lua needs to support system installation paths.
> 
> Arch Linux texlive-core packages has its own patched version of texmfcnf.lua that sets TEXMFSYSVAR=/var/lib/texmf, TEXMFOS=/usr/share, TEXMFDIST=/usr/share/texmf-dist, and TEXMFSYSCONFIG=/etc/texmf.
> 
> TexLive's own version of texmfcnf.lua is not suitable for system-wide installation.
> 
> contexcnf.lua assumes all paths are relative to /path/to/extracted-archive which is definitely not a system-wide installation.
> 
> A system-wide installation is installed to absolute paths.
> 
> On top of that, there needs to be a document called INSTALLATION or BUILD that offers a simplified version of build/installation instructions contained in install.sh, mtx-install.lua, and mtxrun.lua. It seems mtxrun can be used to build and install ConTeXt without internet access as long as all dependencies are already present.
> 
> If ConTeXt is optimized for system-wide installation by modifying contextcnf.lua and adding INSTALL or BUILD, then all POSIX-like operating systems will be able to easily make packages for ConTeXt. Not just Gentoo Linux.
> 
> Can anyone help me with optimizing ConTeXt for system-wide installation?
> 
> ------- Original Message -------
> On Monday, August 15th, 2022 at 12:12 PM, Bruce Horrocks <ntg@scorecrow.com> wrote:
> 
> 
>>> On 15 Aug 2022, at 13:03, amano.kenji via ntg-context ntg-context@ntg.nl wrote:
>>>
>>> TexLive has texmfcnf.lua that doesn't really work with texlive-context installed by linux distributions.
>>>
>>> Arch Linux has its own patched version of texmfcnf.lua.
>>>
>>> It seems I'd be better off with a linux package for ConTeXt LMTX.
>>>
>>> How can I build and install ConTeXt LMTX on Gentoo Linux or any linux distribution?
>>>
>>> I wish it was as simple as ./configure, make, and make install.
>>
>>
>> Install instructions for LMTX on Linux are here:
>> https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Installation
>>
>>
>> It's pre-built so there are no make steps.
>>
>> Try it and ask again if you have problems. :-)
>>
>> —
>> Bruce Horrocks
>> Hampshire, UK
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-- 
--
Alan
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