[needs-packaging] MiKTeX Tools for Unix-alikes

[Timmie]

MPM (MiKTeX Package Manager) was originally intended to be a tool for MiKTeX/Windows users. But the program can be helpful for users of other TeX systems too, because many of the MiKTeX packages are system-independent.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MiktexPackageManager
http://dojo.miktex.org/blogs/christian_schenk/articles/mpmunix.aspx

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

I will take this up as my first contribution to the Debian/Ubuntu world and try to make a package. Don't expect it tomorrow :)

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

Well, already I have come a long way, but MiKTeX-tools is definitely not a clever choice to start as a Debian/Ubuntu package maintainer. Although I am not a programmer, I have the feeling it is well organized and is a real contribution to Debian/Ubuntu. The biggest problem at the moment:

The source creates multiple binaries and multiple libraries.

Especially the later point is marked in several Wiki/Howtodoit papers as "advanced", i.e., not for beginners.

Although I find this a very interesting project, and as far as I see it now the software works well, I have the tendency to postpone this project until I have more experience with packaging.

Just as a reference, I have also found (but not tested) a GUI for the MiKTeX package manager at http://www.geocities.com/fiolj/gmpm.html.

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

Yesterday I was a little bit pessimistic. However, I made good progress. I think I tackled the binary/library part. I must still look into the legal stuff and some documentation (how to convert the authors documents in xml style to Debian/Ubuntu stuff), then it should be ready for some sponsor to have a look at it. I will keep you informed.

[Tobias Wolf (towolf)]

Will you get rid of the duplication of libraries in the tarball and make it uses system libraries?

$ l -1 /usr/local/lib/*MiK*.1
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-app.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-bzip2.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-core.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-expat.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-extractor.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-lzma.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-md5.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-mspack.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-packagemanager.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-popt.so.1@
/usr/local/lib/libMiKTeX207-zlib.so.1@

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

I am trying to contact upstream and I also discussed on the libraries issue on the <email address hidden> mail-list (http://lists.debian.org/debian-mentors/2008/05/msg00508.html). I am at the moment a little bit lost on how to proceed. If I want to make this package work with Debian/Ubuntu native libraries than I most likely must patch the source to link to the right library. As I already mentioned, I am no programmer, so I was hoping on some response from upstream. It looks like he is not interested in a Debian/Ubuntu package.

I am still working on it, but the pace is slow, because I have so much to learn on this one.

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

Apart from the library problem (I have been able to use several system libraries, but not all libraries needed are available or the source has been edited), there are several issues with a LaTeX package manager. Please see the discussion at the Debian bug manager [1]. It was also pointed out that TeX Live will have a package manager in the 2008 release, and if it is possible to integrate that into Debian it will become available. At the moment it seems to me that the effort to get this program into Debian/Ubuntu is just too much to be worth while. Before deciding if I continue with this project I like to hear more opinions on this.

[1] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=481606

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

As already discussed in this bug, implementing MPM in a clean way is not trivial. Also the library issue is not an easy point. Furthermore Tex Live (will) includes a package manager in the upcoming release if possible in Ubuntu/Debian, taking away some of the need for this package. I will upload my (not yet working) efforts somewhere soon as a starting point if other people want to continue.

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

I attached my efforts up to now. Mind you, I was working on Debian at the time.

Up to now I have figured out that quite some libraries were available
already in Debian and don't need to be natively available. When somebody
else wants to pick up the challenge, I guess a good start is what I did
up to now. I attached a debian directory and a script makeLeanDir.sh
(was not finished). The script and the mentioned debian dir were in the
same directory as the miktex source directory. Reading the script you
can follow my intentions. Also included is a file exclude.list which
mentions all the files/directories that can (and should) be removed from
the source before uploading. The last source I worked on was 2.7.3107
(as can be seen in the changelog)

With kind regards,
Paul

[Dominik Stadler (dominik-stadler)]

Isn't Bug 337828 a duplicate of this one? Or is this talking about a different thing?

[Paul Gevers (paul-climbing)]

The bug in Debian was closed, but NOT fixed. It was a mere clean-up of old WNPP RFP bugs.

[Jörg Frings-Fürst (jff-de)]

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