Ubuntu – Problems installing TeX Live 2012 on 12.04

command lineinstallationlatex

The Tex Live included in Ubuntu 12.04 is very old (2009), and I would like to install the latest version to be able to edit the Ubuntu manual.

How do I do that from the terminal?

Hello, my name is Chris. I am a student pursuing a career in technical writing and I would like to assist the Ubuntu community while gaining experience & building my resume.

I need to install upstream version of TeX Live for 12.04 to edit the manual for Ubuntu. I am having a difficult time installing it per the directions @ http://ubuntu-manual.org/getinvolved/editors#install-texlive.

TeX Live documents are on my computer, but I am not able to run the install. No TeX Live program found on my computer. Any help is greatly appreciated! ~Thanx!~

Below I have listed the prior attempts & links to view the posts of each attempt:

  • Backports

I have tried using the official backports of the latest (2012) TeX-Live via their PPA. Please refer to link below for the particulars.

How do I install the latest TeX Live 2012?

  • Latex

I've also tried running Latex as suggested. Please refer to link below for the particulars.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2019051

  • PPA Causing Issue?? or something else

I came across a post concerning the ability to install programs via the terminal and am wondering if it may be my problem??? Please refer to link below for the particulars.

PPA – TeX Live

Cannot install anything through Terminal – apt-get -f install

Best Answer

The problem with installing texlive 2012 on Ubuntu Precise 12.04 is that if things go wrong there isn't a whole lot of information out there on how to adequately uninstall it. I think it's important to explicitly say uninstall to improve the search results of others. I finally came across a solution which worked for me with the help of LaTeX Users Group on Google Groups.

Link to LaTeX Users Group

sudo apt-get remove texlive*
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get check

sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/texlive*.postrm
sudo rm /var/lib/dpkg/info/texlive*.list

sudo dpkg --purge --force-all texlive*
sudo dpkg --purge --force-all tex-common*

sudo apt-get install texlive-latex-base
sudo apt-get install texlive-latex-extra
sudo apt-get install texlive-full

This all assumes that you've added Backports repositories as described here

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