TeX Live is by common consensus the single easiest way to get up and running with TeX. It provides a ready-to-run TeX system for most types of Unix, MacOS X, and Windows, and includes all major TeX-related programs. It also includes a complete tree of fonts and macros, with support for many languages.
TeX Live has been developed since 1996 by collaboration between virtually all of the TeX user groups. It is extensively tested before its release, but bugs undoubtedly remain. Please report problems to the tex-live mailing list, but first check the list of known bugs and updates.
For TeX Live 2003, the last update of packages and programs was made on 20 September 2003. For the latest versions, please consult CTAN.
The general documentation for TeX Live, including installation instructions, is included in the distribution. It's also available online:
For a list of the most important changes in this year's release, see the "Release history" section at the end of the documentation.
TeX Live is distributed as a benefit of membership to TUG members each year. So, if you wish to obtain the TeX Live through TUG, please become a TUG member. You'll also receive a year of TUGboat and the CTAN software, among other benefits. Alternatively, you can purchase any of these items separately from the TUG store.
Most other TeX user groups also make TeX Live available to their members; please contact whichever you are interested in for details. TUG encourages you to join whichever user group is right for you.
If you wish to receive multiple copies of the distribution media, please contact TUG (or your particular user group) for more information.
It is possible to download the compressed ISO image file from CTAN for the inst distribution (see next section), and burn your own CD or DVD. We do not encourage this, as it is a BIG download, but if you prefer or if other methods fail, it is available. Please use your nearest CTAN mirror if possible.
If you do download an image, you can make it available as a file system, without burning an actual disc, under capable operating systems. For example, under Linux:
mount -t iso9660 -o ro,loop texlive-live.iso /mnt/texliveto mount the file system contained in the file texlive.iso on the directory /mnt/texlive.
You can also browse the contents of TeX Live.
Images for some older releases are also available.
As of 2003, space limitations of CD-ROM format have forced us to divide TeX Live into three distributions:
See the top-level README and the main documentation for more details on all of this.
The following systems are supported in all of the TeX Live distributions:
Whereas these systems are supported only in the live and inst distributions:
Due to space limitations on CTAN, only the inst distribution is available there. All the ISO images are available from tug.org, but please don't download them unless you really need them and will use them. tug.org's bandwidth is provided by the University of Aarhus, and we don't want to abuse their hospitality. Thanks.
If you're interested in redistributing or modifying TeX Live, please see the copying conditions. In summary, to the best of our knowledge, all the software in TeX Live meets the requirements of the Free Software Foundation's definition of free software, and the Debian Free Software Guidelines.
In essence, this means that all the material in TeX Live may be freely used, copied, modified, and redistributed, subject to the sources remaining freely available. (Note: this is not true of all the software in the CTAN snapshot, which is sometimes distributed alongside TeX Live.)
However, you cannot yourself claim copyright (especially a proprietary copyright) on TeX Live if you redistribute it! Again, please see the copying conditions.
If you have questions, problems, or suggestions for TeX Live, please email tex-live@tug.org. (Mailing list archives are available to mailing list members.) Bug reports are critical, and we always appreciate them. However, if you're reporting problems with a particular program, as opposed to the general TeX Live packaging, then please report it to the maintainers of that program.
If you are willing to help test TeX Live in advance of a release, please email us. We can always use more testers, on any platform. You'll need a good net connection to download the large (about 1gb) ISO images.
If you wish to contribute software to TeX Live, please see this separate page on contributing packages.
If you would like to translate the TeX Live documentation into new languages, or otherwise contribute to the documentation, please email the tldoc@tug.org (archive).
If you wish to contribute to TeX Live development, please email to arrange for access to the source tree. TeX Live is made possible only by the efforts of volunteers worldwide; we welcome all newcomers.
Finally, if you wish to contribute financially :), we ask that
you support your local TeX user group, or perhaps contribute to the TeX Development Fund.
Principal perpetrator: Sebastian Rahtz.