TeX Live 2017 - bugs and updates

Most of TeX Live is a redistribution of packages and programs from elsewhere, primarily CTAN. So, the target for bug reports varies according to the nature of the problem.

• If you have problems with a TeX document, e.g., a package is no longer behaving as it used to, report it to the package maintainer. As a rule, package-specific fixes are not installed directly in TL (new versions of packages should be uploaded to CTAN), or made by TL developers.
• If you have questions about using TeX, or need help with TeX, please use the general help resources.
• To report a bug in TeX Live installation or infrastructure, email the tex-live mailing list.

Highlights of changes in this release (details for pdfTeX, LuaTeX, XeTeX, MetaPost, dvips). If you need to use alternate binaries, the custom binary support in the TL installer may prove useful.

Known issues in TeX Live 2017:

• updmap and fmtutil no longer run without explicitly specifying user or system mode, e.g., running updmap-user and fmtutil-user, or fmtutil-user and fmtutil-sys, respectively. This is an intentional change, even though it is clearly a substantial break with historical usage.

• Notes for FreeBSD users explain some details for that platform.

• On Windows, installation and/or various scripts and programs may fail for a variety of reasons. See the TeX Live on Windows page for some symptoms and remedies.

• dvisvgm is provided in different versions, per platform: on i386-linux, powerpc-linux, *-freebsd, and the three legacy darwins, it is still version 1.15.1 (same as TL16); on all our other platforms (including x86_64-linux, x86_64-darwin, and win32), it is version 2.1.3. The man page in TL is still for 1.15.1; the current dvisvgm man page is available.

  If the dvisvgm version provided in TL does not meet your needs, we suggest checking for a version provided by your OS distribution, and/or compiling from the original source.

  This situation is clearly not ideal. However, in consultation with the dvisvgm author, it was our best compromise between the requirements of the new dvisvgm (namely, C++11), providing the new dvisvgm with its new features, and providing binaries that run on older systems. Like all compromises, it is imperfect.

  Next year, most likely only the current version will be provided, and platforms will be built on newer systems or dropped entirely. This won't be because of dvisvgm, but because ICU, a core library, also now requires C++11, and it won't be feasible to deal with that on the older systems we have traditionally used in TL to provide binaries as widely usable as possible. Naturally, we (will) deplore this outcome, but we have no way to affect such choices.

Bug archives for the previous release and earlier years are still online.