TeX Distributions

< Installation hints | Update Hints | Installation >

Historically there were a lot of different TeX distributions. Nowadays there are only a few wide spread. We mention only those that are free and support ConTeXt:

Name	OS	Homepage	Remarks
TeX Live	a lot	tug.org/texlive	web2c, based on teTeX; has installer and a package manger.
teTeX	Linux, Unix	tug.org/tetex	web2c; not supported any more, TeX Live is recommended instead.
MikTeX	Win	miktex.org	with GUI
proTeXt	Win	tug.org/protext	based on MikTeX, bundled with TeX Live
W32TeX	Win	fsci.fuk.kindai.ac.jp	with XeTeX and the latest ConTeXt
MacTeX	MacOS X	tug.org/mactex	web2c, based on TeX Live; comfortable install. Actually the simplest MacOSX install.
minimal ConTeXt	Win, Lin, Mac	pragma-ade.nl	web2c

• web2c is a common base for TeX distributions, see tug.org/web2c. It uses the kpathsea tool and its ls-R database for file searches.

web2c hints

• use mktexlsr (same as texhash) to rebuild the file database after every install or change!
• Beware, older web2c distributions keep ConTeXt’s (Perl/Ruby) scripts at .../context/perltk, newer at .../scripts/Perl/context! Make sure to delete the older ones! See also Update Hints

MikTeX hints

• MikTeX has a "rebuild database" menu entry; use it after every install or change!
• You should enable write18 in miktex.ini (MikTeX's counterpart to texmf.cnf) to get MetaPost support working.

TeX engines

TeX the program writes only DVI output; with ConTeXt we normally use pdfTeX, LuaTeX or XeTeX and generate PDF.

Name	OS	ConTeXt	Homepage	Remarks
pdfTeX	"all"	Yes	pdftex.org	latest version at freshmeat or sarovar; development frozen, see LuaTeX
LuaTeX	"all"	Yes	luatex.org	extended version of pdfTeX using Lua
XeTeX	"all"	Yes	sil.org	supports OpenType and all other fonts installed on OS, Unicode, bidirectional typesetting, Mac special features; Windows version not officially released yet - see W32TeX above
NTS	Java	No	CTAN	OO re-implementation of TeX in Java as a base for further enhancements; discontinued, see ExTeX
ExTeX	Java	No	extex.org	merger of NTS with eTeX, pdfTeX and Omega (pre-alpha state)
Aleph	"all"?	Yes	CTAN	Omega/eTeX merge (former eOmega) by Giuseppe Bilotta (beta state)