Last weekend, TeX Live 2012 has been released. Most Linux distributions are still stuck with TeX Live 2009. If you want to enjoy the latest versions of all TeX packages can download it from here.
Another huge advantage compared to using the package that comes with the Linux distribution is, that you can use tlmgr, the TeX Live package manager.
After unpacking the archive, move to the resulting
install-tl-* subdirectory and start the installation by running install-tl. Leave everything at default values and press “I” to start the installation.
install-tl-* subdirectory and start the installation by running install-tl. Leave everything at default values and press “I” to start the installation.
This will take some time since the installer has to download all packages.
Then add the following to either your .bashrc or .zshrc depending if you’re using bash or zshell.
export PATH=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/bin/x86_64-linux:$PATH”
export MANPATH=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf/doc/man:$MANPATH”
export INFOPATH=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf/doc/info:$INFOPATH”
export TEXMFHOME=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf”
export TEXMFCNF=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf/web2c”
export MANPATH=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf/doc/man:$MANPATH”
export INFOPATH=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf/doc/info:$INFOPATH”
export TEXMFHOME=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf”
export TEXMFCNF=”/usr/local/texlive/2012/texmf/web2c”
I suggest to add these lines also to the .bashrc or .zshrc of root.
If you want to update your Tex Live distribution later you now can simply type:
tlmgr update –all