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LaTeX on DICE

This page is about LaTeX on DICE computers. For more about LaTeX, see the LaTeX page.

TeX Live

The LaTeX distribution on DICE computers is TeX Live 2019. (But see below.)

It has comprehensive help - so comprehensive that it's too big to put on all computers. To get the TeX Live help onto your DICE computer, ask Computing Support.

Which version?

We strongly recommend that you use the latest, default TeX Live wherever possible.
To determine the version you're using, run:

[host]user$ pdflatex --version

and expect to see (TeX Live 2018) amongst the output.

How to install your own TeX Live packages

Modern TeX Live lets you install your own TeX packages. This is done with the tlmgr command.
For details type:

[host]user$ tlmgr --help

Look specifically at the USER MODE section. In short:

[host]user$ tlmgr init-usertree
[host]user$ tlmgr --usermode install pgf
tlmgr: package repository http://mirrors.x.y[...] (verified)
[1/1] install: pgf [10372k]
running mktexlsr ...
done running mktexlsr.
tlmgr: package log updated: ~/texmf/web2c/tlmgr.log

If there's something that you think must be installed centrally, computing support can generally fulfil requests for updates and additional packages - though this is subject to the usual restrictions on new software. Please see our software pages for details.

For more information

To find out more about LaTeX see the LaTeX page.

LaTeX on DICE SL7 machines

As well as TeX Live, DICE SL7 also has part of TeX Live 2012 installed - mainly because it's too deeply embedded into the operating system to be removed. On SL7 you may sometimes find yourself using TeX Live 2012 by mistake - for example if an application has been configured to use the wrong version of LaTeX.

If you want a newer version of LaTeX we'd suggest moving to a DICE Ubuntu machine for document preparation -- LaTeX is no longer supported for end-users on SL7, though it's still used by some services and will be available until the platform is fully removed, and you can access it ni the following ways:

[host]user$ /opt/texlive/2019/bin/x86_64-linux/pdflatex --version

Or make it the default for your current session by adding the above directory: (/opt/texlive/2019/bin/x86_64-linux) to your $PATH.

Or, run this command in a shell before running LaTeX commands:

[host]user$ module add texlive2019

If you want to undo this, type:

[host]user$ module rm texlive2019
Last reviewed: 
08/03/2023

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