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Ubuntu 12.04 still includes the outdated and obsolete 2009 version of TeX Live. Other than installing manually from the TeX Live website, is there any alternative to install the latest 2012 version on Ubuntu Precise 12.04?

Braiam
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    At first you may have to apt-get install python-software-properties and in step 2 you have to call add-apt-repository instead of apt-add-repository. –  Sep 23 '12 at 20:33
  • @grrbytes, I ran into this thread and had the same problem. That is, my texlive install remained at 2009. The solution for me was to use the apt-get dist-upgrade command after following all other instructions (given in the response above by izx). This is because apt-get upgrade is a bit too cautious and 'held back' the texlive upgrade. Using apt-get dist-upgrade solved the issue. –  Oct 26 '12 at 17:01
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    Note for 12.10 users: No need to install the PPA from the answers below. 12.10 includes the 2012 version of TeXLive just from the main repositories. This may sound superfluous to say, but I've seen two questions about 12.10 and TeXLive pointing to this question already. – gertvdijk Feb 03 '13 at 11:02
  • Here is a fantastic tutorial on installing any vanilla version of the newest TexLive release on Ubuntu. – Glutanimate Sep 21 '13 at 10:53
  • I just want to point out that a manual installation of recent TeX Live versions is actually very convenient thanks to the install-tl script. You can find my brief how-to of the manual install here. – bluenote10 Mar 23 '15 at 12:58

3 Answers3

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TeX Live 2012 is available for 12.04 in an official "backports" PPA

TeX Live 2012 is scheduled for inclusion in the next Ubuntu release (Quantal 12.10). Meanwhile, Ubuntu's TeX Live maintainer, Jeremy Bicha, has created an official "backports" PPA to allow 12.04 users to easily install/upgrade to the new version.

To install/upgrade to TeX Live 2012:

  1. Open a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+T

  2. Add the texlive-backports PPA by typing the below (enter your password when prompted):

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:texlive-backports/ppa

  3. Then type:

    sudo apt-get update

  4. Installation:

    • If you are installing TeX Live for the first time, type:

      sudo apt-get install texlive

    • If you already have TeX Live installed and are upgrading, type:

      sudo apt-get upgrade

      Warning: this will also upgrade all other packages on your Ubuntu system for which upgrades are available. If you do not wish to do this, please use the previous sudo apt-get install texlive instead.

Philipp Wendler
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  • Wow, this is great news! – jon Jul 26 '12 at 19:41
  • I tried to follow these steps, but it kind of seems my texlive instance is not upgraded to 2012. For example, when I type: tex in my commandline, it responds with:

    This is TeX, Version 3.1415926 (TeX Live 2009/Debian).

    Also, when I type the command tlmgr, I get the message:

    No command 'tlmgr' found, did you mean: Command 'vlmgr' from package 'qdbm-util' (universe) Command 'rlmgr' from package 'qdbm-util' (universe) tlmgr: command not found

     – grrrbytes Sep 16 '12 at 22:08
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    @izx Does this PPA installation still allow to use tlmgr to update TeX packages as I described in a related question? – JJD Sep 29 '12 at 12:06
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    I had already had texlive 2009 on Ubuntu 12.04. Using the sudo apt-get upgrade command didn't result in (TeX Live 2012/Debian) after running tex --version. Running sudo apt-get install texlive did the trick though. – Sicco Dec 18 '12 at 14:06
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    This is because the package names are not complete overlaps. If you installed the complete texlive from the Canonical repos as sudo apt-get install texlive-full, then doing an upgrade will not touch it, because that is not how it is called in the texlive backports PPA. – Subhamoy S. Jan 18 '13 at 01:29
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    I also need to run sudo apt-get install texlive-latex-extra to get all the packages I wanted – Heather Turner Apr 16 '13 at 11:26
  • Thanks! This works for 12.10 too. It installed TeX Live 2012/Debian – Sos Jun 25 '13 at 15:54
  • At least for texlive-full I suggest doing a apt-get remove texlive-full; apt-get autoremove before a clean install from the PPA because without that I ran into a dependency problem with the broken package thailatex in the PPA. It seems to have been solved with apt-get -f install, though. – Alex1357 May 29 '15 at 09:21
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The directory listing linked on the page you linked does not show the available backports for 12.04 (precise).

In order to get the "2012 (quantal)" version of texlive, you will need to add the backport PPA.

Before adding a PPA you should be aware of some of the risks involved:

Always remember that PPAs are provided by the community, you should be aware of the possible risks before just adding a PPA.

From Synaptic Package Manager:

  1. Select Settings --> Repositories --> Other Software --> Add and enter: 

    deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/texlive-backports/ppa/ubuntu precise main
  2. Select Add source. Next, select the Reload button on the menu to re-index your package list
  3. Finally, in the Quickfilter field, enter "texlive" and you will see the 2012 versions of the packages available for installation.
  4. Mark the packages that you are interested in, and click the Apply button.

From the command line (Ctrl+Alt+T), enter the following commands:

sudo apt-add-repository http://ppa.launchpad.net/texlive-backports/ppa/ubuntu
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install texlive-base

This will also install the following dependencies:

lmodern luatex texlive-binaries texlive-common texlive-doc-base texlive-luatex
Zanna
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Kevin Bowen
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I don't think I have the reputation points to comment, so I am answering in response to Alexander Schleifer above: On Ubuntu 12.04 in order for the upgrade to work, I had to use:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:texlive-backports/ppa

Not "apt-add" as the answer suggested. It didn't give me an error with "apt-add" but didn't work until I tried "add-apt."

Steve Koch
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    > ls /usr/bin/apt-add-repository -l outputs lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 18 sept. 28 2012 /usr/bin/apt-add-repository -> add-apt-repository – Mmmh mmh Aug 25 '13 at 22:40