TLMGR(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation TLMGR(1)
NAME
tlmgr - the native TeX Live Manager
SYNOPSIS
tlmgr [option...] action [option...] [operand...]
DESCRIPTION
tlmgr manages an existing TeX Live installation, both packages and
configuration options. For information on initially downloading and
installing TeX Live, see <https://tug.org/texlive/acquire.html>.
The most up-to-date version of this documentation (updated nightly from
the development sources) is available at
<https://tug.org/texlive/tlmgr.html>, along with procedures for updating
"tlmgr" itself and information about test versions.
WARNING: tlmgr in Debian runs always in user mode
TeX Live is organized into a few top-level schemes, each of which is
specified as a different set of collections and packages, where a
collection is a set of packages, and a package is what contains actual
files. Schemes typically contain a mix of collections and packages, but
each package is included in exactly one collection, no more and no less.
A TeX Live installation can be customized and managed at any level.
See <https://tug.org/texlive/doc> for all the TeX Live documentation
available.
EXAMPLES
After successfully installing TeX Live, here are a few common operations
with "tlmgr":
"tlmgr option repository ctan"
"tlmgr option repository https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet"
Tell "tlmgr" to use a nearby CTAN mirror for future updates; useful
if you installed TeX Live from the DVD image and want to have
continuing updates. The two commands are equivalent; "ctan" is just
an alias for the given url.
Caveat: "mirror.ctan.org" resolves to many different hosts, and they
are not perfectly synchronized; we recommend updating only daily (at
most), and not more often. You can choose a particular mirror if
problems; the list of all CTAN mirrors with the status of each is at
<https://ctan.org/mirrors/mirmon>.
"tlmgr update --list"
Report what would be updated without actually updating anything.
"tlmgr update --all"
Make your local TeX installation correspond to what is in the
package repository (typically useful when updating from CTAN).
"tlmgr info" what
Display detailed information about a package what, such as the
installation status and description, of searches for what in all
packages.
"tlmgr bug" what
Display available bug-reporting information for what, a package or
file name.
For all the capabilities and details of "tlmgr", please read the
following voluminous information.
OPTIONS
The following options to "tlmgr" are global options, not specific to any
action. All options, whether global or action-specific, can be given
anywhere on the command line, and in any order. The first non-option
argument will be the main action. In all cases, "--"option and
"-"option are equivalent, and an "=" is optional between an option name
and its value.
--repository url|path
Specify the package repository from which packages should be
installed or updated, either a local directory or network location,
as below. This overridesthe default package repository found in the
installation's TeX Live Package Database (a.k.a. the TLPDB, which is
given entirely in the file "tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb").
This "--repository" option changes the location only for the current
run; to make a permanent change, use "option repository" (see the
"option" action).
As an example, you can choose a particular CTAN mirror with
something like this:
-repository http://ctan.example.org/its/ctan/dir/systems/texlive/tlnet
Of course a real hostname and its particular top-level CTAN
directory have to be specified. The list of CTAN mirrors is
available at <https://ctan.org/mirrors/mirmon>.
Here's an example of using a local directory:
-repository /local/TL/repository
For backward compatibility and convenience, "--location" and
"--repo" are accepted as aliases for this option.
Locations can be specified as any of the following:
"/some/local/dir"
"file:/some/local/dir"
Equivalent ways of specifying a local directory.
"ctan"
"https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet"
Pick a CTAN mirror automatically, trying for one that is both
nearby and up-to-date. The chosen mirror is used for the entire
download. The bare "ctan" is merely an alias for the full url.
(See <https://ctan.org> for more about CTAN and its mirrors.)
"http://server/path/to/tlnet"
Standard HTTP. If the (default) LWP method is used, persistent
connections are supported. TL can also use "curl" or "wget" to
do the downloads, or an arbitrary user-specified program, as
described in the "tlmgr" documentation
(<https://tug.org/texlive/doc/tlmgr.html#ENVIRONMENT-VARIABLES>).
"https://server/path/to/tlnet"
Again, if the (default) LWP method is used, this supports
persistent connections. Unfortunately, some versions of "wget"
and "curl" do not support https, and even when "wget" supports
https, certificates may be rejected even when the certificate is
fine, due to a lack of local certificate roots. The simplest
workaround for this problem is to use http or ftp.
"ftp://server/path/to/tlnet"
If the (default) LWP method is used, persistent connections are
supported.
"user@machine:/path/to/tlnet"
"scp://user@machine/path/to/tlnet"
"ssh://user@machine/path/to/tlnet"
These forms are equivalent; they all use "scp" to transfer
files. Using "ssh-agent" is recommended. (Info:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSSH>,
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ssh-agent>.)
If the repository is on the network, trailing "/" characters and/or
trailing "/tlpkg" and/or "/archive" components are ignored.
--gui [action]
Two notable GUI front-ends for "tlmgr", "tlshell" and "tlcockpit",
are started up as separate programs; see their own documentation.
"tlmgr" itself has a graphical interface as well as the command line
interface. You can give the option to invoke it, "--gui", together
with an action to be brought directly into the respective screen of
the GUI. For example, running
tlmgr --gui update
starts you directly at the update screen. If no action is given,
the GUI will be started at the main screen. See "GUI FOR TLMGR".
However, the native GUI requires Perl/TK, which is no longer
included in TeX Live's Perl distribution for Windows. You may find
"tlshell" or "tlcockpit" easier to work with.
--gui-lang llcode
By default, the GUI tries to deduce your language from the
environment (on Windows via the registry, on Unix via
"LC_MESSAGES"). If that fails you can select a different language by
giving this option with a language code (based on ISO 639-1).
Currently supported (but not necessarily completely translated) are:
English (en, default), Czech (cs), German (de), French (fr),
Italian (it), Japanese (ja), Dutch (nl), Polish (pl),
Brazilian Portuguese (pt_BR), Russian (ru), Slovak (sk),
Slovenian (sl), Serbian (sr), Ukrainian (uk), Vietnamese (vi),
simplified Chinese (zh_CN), and traditional Chinese (zh_TW).
tlshell shares its message catalog with tlmgr.
--command-logfile file
"tlmgr" logs the output of all programs invoked (mktexlr, mtxrun,
fmtutil, updmap) to a separate log file, by default
"TEXMFSYSVAR/web2c/tlmgr-commands.log". This option allows you to
specify a different file for the log.
--debug-translation
In GUI mode, this switch tells "tlmgr" to report any untranslated
(or missing) messages to standard error. This can help translators
to see what remains to be done.
--machine-readable
Instead of the normal output intended for human consumption, write
(to standard output) a fixed format more suitable for machine
parsing. See the "MACHINE-READABLE OUTPUT" section below.
--no-execute-actions
Suppress the execution of the execute actions as defined in the
tlpsrc files. Unless you are going to do the postprocessing yourself
(as, for example, "install-tl" does), this shouldn't be specified.
Otherwise, format files and the filename database will become stale,
among other problems.
--package-logfile file
"tlmgr" logs all package actions (install, remove, update, failed
updates, failed restores) to a separate log file, by default
"TEXMFSYSVAR/web2c/tlmgr.log". This option allows you to specify a
different file for the log.
--pause
This option makes "tlmgr" wait for user input before exiting.
Useful on Windows to avoid disappearing command windows.
--persistent-downloads
--no-persistent-downloads
For network-based installations, this option (on by default) makes
"tlmgr" try to set up a persistent connection (using the "LWP" Perl
module). The idea is to open and reuse only one connection per
session between your computer and the server, instead of initiating
a new download for each package.
If this is not possible, "tlmgr" will fall back to using "wget". To
disable these persistent connections, use
"--no-persistent-downloads".
--pin-file
Change the pinning file location from "TEXMFLOCAL/tlpkg/pinning.txt"
(see "Pinning" below). Documented only for completeness, as this is
only useful in debugging.
--usermode
Activates user mode for this run of "tlmgr"; see "USER MODE" below.
--usertree dir
Uses dir for the tree in user mode; see "USER MODE" below.
--verify-repo=[none|main|all]
Defines the level of verification done: If "none" is specified, no
verification whatsoever is done. If "main" is given and a working
GnuPG ("gpg") binary is available, all repositories are checked, but
only the main repository is required to be signed. If "all" is
given, then all repositories need to be signed. See "CRYPTOGRAPHIC
VERIFICATION" below for details.
The standard options for TeX Live programs are also accepted:
"--help/-h/-?", "--version", "-q" (no informational messages), "-v"
(debugging messages, can be repeated). For the details about these, see
the "TeXLive::TLUtils" documentation.
The "--version" option shows version information about the TeX Live
release and about the "tlmgr" script itself. If "-v" is also given,
revision number for the loaded TeX Live Perl modules are shown, too.
ACTIONS
help
Display this help information and exit (same as "--help", and on the web
at <https://tug.org/texlive/doc/tlmgr.html>). Sometimes the "perldoc"
and/or "PAGER" programs on the system have problems, resulting in
control characters being literally output. This can't always be
detected, but you can set the "NOPERLDOC" environment variable and
"perldoc" will not be used.
version
Gives version information (same as "--version").
If "-v" has been given the revisions of the used modules are reported,
too.
backup
backup [option...] --all
backup [option...] pkg...
If the "--clean" option is not specified, this action makes a backup
of the given packages, or all packages given "--all". These backups
are saved to the value of the "--backupdir" option, if that is an
existing and writable directory. If "--backupdir" is not given, the
"backupdir" option setting in the TLPDB is used, if present. If both
are missing, no backups are made. (The installer sets "backupdir" to
".../tlpkg/backups", under the TL root installation directory, so it
is usually defined; see the "option" description for more
information.)
If the "--clean" option is specified, backups are pruned (removed)
instead of saved. The optional integer value N may be specified to
set the number of backups that will be retained when cleaning. If
"N" is not given, the value of the "autobackup" option is used. If
both are missing, an error is issued. For more details of backup
pruning, see the "option" action.
Options:
--backupdir directory
Overrides the "backupdir" option setting in the TLPDB. The
directory argument is required and must specify an existing,
writable directory where backups are to be placed.
--all
If "--clean" is not specified, make a backup of all packages in
the TeX Live installation; this will take quite a lot of space
and time. If "--clean" is specified, all packages are pruned.
--clean[=N]
Instead of making backups, prune the backup directory of old
backups, as explained above. The optional integer argument N
overrides the "autobackup" option set in the TLPDB. You must
use "--all" or a list of packages together with this option, as
desired.
--dry-run
Nothing is actually backed up or removed; instead, the actions
to be performed are written to the terminal.
bug [search-string]
Searches for search-string (prompted for, if not given) as a package
name and in package descriptions, as complete words, and in filenames,
as any substring, and outputs bug-reporting and other information for
the package selected from the results.
The search is equivalent to "tlmgr search --word --file" search-string.
Thus, search-string is interpreted as a (Perl) regular expression.
candidates pkg
Shows the available candidate repositories for package pkg. See
"MULTIPLE REPOSITORIES" below.
check [option...] [depends|executes|files|runfiles|texmfdbs|all]
Execute one (or all) check(s) of the consistency of the installation.
If no problems are found, there will be no output. (To get a view of
what is being done, run "tlmgr -v check".)
depends
Lists those packages which occur as dependencies in an installed
collection, but are themselves not installed, and those packages
which are not contained in any collection.
If you call "tlmgr check collections" this test will be carried out
instead since former versions for "tlmgr" called it that way.
executes
Check that the files referred to by "execute" directives in the TeX
Live Database are present.
files
Checks that all files listed in the local TLPDB ("texlive.tlpdb")
are actually present, and lists those missing.
runfiles
List those filenames that are occurring more than one time in the
runfiles sections, except for known duplicates.
texmfdbs
Checks related to the "ls-R" files. If you have defined new trees,
or changed the "TEXMF" or "TEXMFDBS" variables, it can't hurt to run
this. It checks that:
- all items in "TEXMFDBS" have the "!!" prefix.
- all items in "TEXMFBDS" have an "ls-R" file (if they exist at
all).
- all items in "TEXMF" with "!!" are listed in "TEXMFDBS".
- all items in "TEXMF" with an "ls-R" file are listed in "TEXMFDBS".
Options:
--use-svn
Use the output of "svn status" instead of listing the files; for
checking the TL development repository. (This is run nightly.)
conf
conf [texmf|tlmgr|updmap [--conffile file] [--delete] [key [value]]]
conf auxtrees [--conffile file] [show|add|remove] [value]
With only "conf", show general configuration information for TeX
Live, including active configuration files, path settings, and more.
This is like running "texconfig conf", but works on all supported
platforms.
With one of "conf texmf", "conf tlmgr", or "conf updmap", shows all
key/value pairs (i.e., all settings) as saved in "ROOT/texmf.cnf",
the user-specific "tlmgr" configuration file (see below), or the
first found (via "kpsewhich") "updmap.cfg" file, respectively.
If key is given in addition, shows the value of only that key in the
respective file. If option --delete is also given, the value in the
given configuration file is entirely removed (not just commented
out).
If value is given in addition, key is set to value in the respective
file. No error checking is done!
The "PATH" value shown by "conf" is as used by "tlmgr". The
directory in which the "tlmgr" executable is found is automatically
prepended to the PATH value inherited from the environment.
Here is a practical example of changing configuration values. If the
execution of (some or all) system commands via "\write18" was left
enabled during installation, you can disable it afterwards:
tlmgr conf texmf shell_escape 0
The subcommand "auxtrees" allows adding and removing arbitrary
additional texmf trees, completely under user control. "auxtrees
show" shows the list of additional trees, "auxtrees add" tree adds a
tree to the list, and "auxtrees remove" tree removes a tree from the
list (if present). The trees should not contain an "ls-R" file (or
files will not be found if the "ls-R" becomes stale). This works by
manipulating the Kpathsea variable "TEXMFAUXTREES", in (by default)
"ROOT/texmf.cnf". Example:
tlmgr conf auxtrees add /quick/test/tree
tlmgr conf auxtrees remove /quick/test/tree
In all cases the configuration file can be explicitly specified via
the option "--conffile" file, e.g., if you don't want to change the
system-wide configuration.
Warning: The general facility for changing configuration values is
here, but tinkering with settings in this way is strongly
discouraged. Again, no error checking on either keys or values is
done, so any sort of breakage is possible.
dump-tlpdb [option...] [--json]
Dump complete local or remote TLPDB to standard output, as-is. The
output is analogous to the "--machine-readable" output; see "MACHINE-
READABLE OUTPUT" section.
Options:
--local
Dump the local TLPDB.
--remote
Dump the remote TLPDB.
--json
Instead of dumping the actual content, the database is dumped as
JSON. For the format of JSON output see
"tlpkg/doc/json-formats.txt", format definition "TLPDB".
Exactly one of "--local" and "--remote" must be given.
In either case, the first line of the output specifies the repository
location, in this format:
"location-url" "\t" location
where "location-url" is the literal field name, followed by a tab, and
location is the file or url to the repository.
Line endings may be either LF or CRLF depending on the current platform.
generate
generate [option...] language
generate [option...] language.dat
generate [option...] language.def
generate [option...] language.dat.lua
The "generate" action overwrites any manual changes made in the
respective files: it recreates them from scratch based on the
information of the installed packages, plus local adaptations. The TeX
Live installer and "tlmgr" routinely call "generate" for all of these
files.
For managing your own fonts, please read the "updmap --help" information
and/or <https://tug.org/fonts/fontinstall.html>.
For managing your own formats, please read the "fmtutil --help"
information.
In more detail: "generate" remakes any of the configuration files
"language.dat", "language.def", and "language.dat.lua" from the
information present in the local TLPDB, plus locally-maintained files.
The locally-maintained files are "language-local.dat",
"language-local.def", or "language-local.dat.lua", searched for in
"TEXMFLOCAL" in the respective directories. If local additions are
present, the final file is made by starting with the main file, omitting
any entries that the local file specifies to be disabled, and finally
appending the local file.
(Historical note: The formerly supported "updmap-local.cfg" and
"fmtutil-local.cnf" are no longer read, since "updmap" and "fmtutil" now
reads and supports multiple configuration files. Thus, local additions
can and should be put into an "updmap.cfg" of "fmtutil.cnf" file in
"TEXMFLOCAL". The "generate updmap" and "generate fmtutil" actions no
longer exist.)
Local files specify entries to be disabled with a comment line, namely
one of these:
%!NAME
--!NAME
where "language.dat" and "language.def" use "%", and "language.dat.lua"
use "--". In all cases, the name is the respective format name or
hyphenation pattern identifier. Examples:
%!german
--!usenglishmax
(Of course, you're not likely to actually want to disable those
particular items. They're just examples.)
After such a disabling line, the local file can include another entry
for the same item, if a different definition is desired. In general,
except for the special disabling lines, the local files follow the same
syntax as the master files.
The form "generate language" recreates all three files "language.dat",
"language.def", and "language.dat.lua", while the forms with an
extension recreates only that given language file.
Options:
--dest output_file
specifies the output file (defaults to the respective location in
"TEXMFSYSVAR"). If "--dest" is given to "generate language", it
serves as a basename onto which ".dat" will be appended for the name
of the "language.dat" output file, ".def" will be appended to the
value for the name of the "language.def" output file, and ".dat.lua"
to the name of the "language.dat.lua" file. (This is just to avoid
overwriting; if you want a specific name for each output file, we
recommend invoking "tlmgr" twice.)
--localcfg local_conf_file
specifies the (optional) local additions (defaults to the respective
location in "TEXMFLOCAL").
--rebuild-sys
tells "tlmgr" to run necessary programs after config files have been
regenerated. These are: "fmtutil-sys --all" after "generate
fmtutil", "fmtutil-sys --byhyphen .../language.dat" after "generate
language.dat", and "fmtutil-sys --byhyphen .../language.def" after
"generate language.def".
These subsequent calls cause the newly-generated files to actually
take effect. This is not done by default since those calls are
lengthy processes and one might want to made several related changes
in succession before invoking these programs.
The respective locations are as follows:
tex/generic/config/language.dat (and language-local.dat)
tex/generic/config/language.def (and language-local.def)
tex/generic/config/language.dat.lua (and language-local.dat.lua)
gui
Start the graphical user interface. See GUI below.
info
info [option...] pkg...
info [option...] collections
info [option...] schemes
With no argument, lists all packages available at the package
repository, prefixing those already installed with "i".
With the single word "collections" or "schemes" as the argument,
lists the request type instead of all packages.
With any other arguments, display information about pkg: the name,
category, short and long description, sizes, installation status,
and TeX Live revision number. If pkg is not locally installed,
searches in the remote installation source.
For normal packages (not collections or schemes), the sizes of the
four groups of files (run/src/doc/bin files) are shown separately.
For collections, the cumulative size is shown, including all
directly-dependent packages (but not dependent collections). For
schemes, the cumulative size is also shown, including all directly-
dependent collections and packages.
If pkg is not found locally or remotely, the search action is used
and lists matching packages and files.
It also displays information taken from the TeX Catalogue, namely
the package version, date, and license. Consider these, especially
the package version, as approximations only, due to timing skew of
the updates of the different pieces. By contrast, the "revision"
value comes directly from TL and is reliable.
The former actions "show" and "list" are merged into this action,
but are still supported for backward compatibility.
Options:
--list
If the option "--list" is given with a package, the list of
contained files is also shown, including those for platform-
specific dependencies. When given with schemes and collections,
"--list" outputs their dependencies in a similar way.
--only-files
If this option is given, only the files for a given package are
listed, no further information. If more than one package name is
given, each file list is preceded by the package name.
--only-installed
If this option is given, the installation source will not be
used; only locally installed packages, collections, or schemes
are listed.
--only-remote
Only list packages from the remote repository. Useful when
checking what is available in a remote repository using "tlmgr
--repo ... --only-remote info". Note that "--only-installed" and
"--only-remote" cannot both be specified.
--data "item1,item2,..."
If the option "--data" is given, its argument must be a comma or
colon separated list of field names from: "name", "category",
"localrev", "remoterev", "shortdesc", "longdesc", "installed",
"size", "relocatable", "depends", "cat-version", "cat-date",
"cat-license", plus various "cat-contact-*" fields (see below).
The "cat-*" fields all come from the TeX Catalogue
(<https://ctan.org/pkg/catalogue>). For each, there are two more
variants with prefix "l" and "r", e.g., "lcat-version" and
"rcat-version", which indicate the local and remote information,
respectively. The variants without "l" and "r" show the most
current one, which is normally the remote value.
The requested packages' information is listed in CSV format, one
package per line, and the column information is given by the
"itemN". The "depends" column contains the names of all the
dependencies separated by ":" characters.
At this writing, the "cat-contact-*" fields include: "home",
"repository", "support", "bugs", "announce", "development". Each
may be empty or a url value. A brief description is on the CTAN
upload page for new packages: <https://ctan.org/upload>.
--json
If "--json" is specified, the output is a JSON encoded array
where each array element is the JSON representation of a single
"TLPOBJ" but with additional information. For details see
"tlpkg/doc/json-formats.txt", format definition: "TLPOBJINFO".
If both "--json" and "--data" are given, "--json" takes
precedence.
init-usertree
Sets up a texmf tree for so-called user mode management, either the
default user tree ("TEXMFHOME"), or one specified on the command line
with "--usertree". See "USER MODE" below.
install [option...] pkg...
Install each pkg given on the command line, if it is not already
installed. It does not touch existing packages; see the "update" action
for how to get the latest version of a package.
By default this also installs all packages on which the given pkgs are
dependent. Options:
--dry-run
Nothing is actually installed; instead, the actions to be performed
are written to the terminal.
--file
Instead of fetching a package from the installation repository, use
the package files given on the command line. These files must be
standard TeX Live package files (with contained tlpobj file).
--force
If updates to "tlmgr" itself (or other parts of the basic
infrastructure) are present, "tlmgr" will bail out and not perform
the installation unless this option is given. Not recommended.
--no-depends
Do not install dependencies. (By default, installing a package
ensures that all dependencies of this package are fulfilled.)
--no-depends-at-all
Normally, when you install a package which ships binary files the
respective binary package will also be installed. That is, for a
package "foo", the package "foo.i386-linux" will also be installed
on an "i386-linux" system. This option suppresses this behavior,
and also implies "--no-depends". Don't use it unless you are sure
of what you are doing.
--reinstall
Reinstall a package (including dependencies for collections) even if
it already seems to be installed (i.e, is present in the TLPDB).
This is useful to recover from accidental removal of files in the
hierarchy.
When re-installing, only dependencies on normal packages are
followed (i.e., not those of category Scheme or Collection).
--with-doc
--with-src
While not recommended, the "install-tl" program provides an option
to omit installation of all documentation and/or source files. (By
default, everything is installed.) After such an installation, you
may find that you want the documentation or source files for a given
package after all. You can get them by using these options in
conjunction with "--reinstall", as in (using the "fontspec" package
as the example):
tlmgr install --reinstall --with-doc --with-src fontspec
This action does not automatically add new symlinks in system
directories; you need to run "tlmgr path add" ("path") yourself if you
are using this feature and want new symlinks added.
key
key list
key add file
key remove keyid
The action "key" allows listing, adding and removing additional GPG
keys to the set of trusted keys, that is, those that are used to
verify the TeX Live databases.
With the "list" argument, "key" lists all keys.
The "add" argument requires another argument, either a filename or
"-" for stdin, from which the key is added. The key is added to the
local keyring "GNUPGHOME/repository-keys.gpg", which is normally
"tlpkg/gpg/repository-keys.gpg".
The "remove" argument requires a key id and removes the requested id
from the local keyring.
list
Synonym for "info".
option
option [--json] [show]
option [--json] showall|help
option key [value]
The first form, "show", shows the global TeX Live settings currently
saved in the TLPDB with a short description and the "key" used for
changing it in parentheses.
The second form, "showall", is similar, but also shows options which can
be defined but are not currently set to any value ("help" is a synonym).
Both "show..." forms take an option "--json", which dumps the option
information in JSON format. In this case, both forms dump the same
data. For the format of the JSON output see
"tlpkg/doc/json-formats.txt", format definition "TLOPTION".
In the third form, with key, if value is not given, the setting for key
is displayed. If value is present, key is set to value.
Possible values for key are (run "tlmgr option showall" for the
definitive list):
repository (default package repository),
formats (generate formats at installation or update time),
postcode (run postinst code blobs)
docfiles (install documentation files),
srcfiles (install source files),
backupdir (default directory for backups),
autobackup (number of backups to keep).
sys_bin (directory to which executables are linked by the path action)
sys_man (directory to which man pages are linked by the path action)
sys_info (directory to which Info files are linked by the path action)
desktop_integration (Windows-only: create Start menu shortcuts)
fileassocs (Windows-only: change file associations)
multiuser (Windows-only: install for all users)
One common use of "option" is to permanently change the installation to
get further updates from the Internet, after originally installing from
DVD. To do this, you can run
tlmgr option repository https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet
The "install-tl" documentation has more information about the possible
values for "repository". (For backward compatibility, "location" can be
used as a synonym for "repository".)
If "formats" is set (this is the default), then formats are regenerated
when either the engine or the format files have changed. Disable this
only when you know how and want to regenerate formats yourself whenever
needed (which is often, in practice).
The "postcode" option controls execution of per-package postinstallation
action code. It is set by default, and again disabling is not likely to
be of interest except to developers doing debugging.
The "docfiles" and "srcfiles" options control the installation of their
respective file groups (documentation, sources; grouping is approximate)
per package. By default both are enabled (1). Either or both can be
disabled (set to 0) if disk space is limited or for minimal testing
installations, etc. When disabled, the respective files are not
downloaded at all.
The options "autobackup" and "backupdir" determine the defaults for the
actions "update", "backup" and "restore". These three actions need a
directory in which to read or write the backups. If "--backupdir" is not
specified on the command line, the "backupdir" option value is used (if
set). The TL installer sets "backupdir" to ".../tlpkg/backups", under
the TL root installation directory.
The "autobackup" option (de)activates automatic generation of backups.
Its value is an integer. If the "autobackup" value is -1, no backups
are removed. If "autobackup" is 0 or more, it specifies the number of
backups to keep. Thus, backups are disabled if the value is 0. In the
"--clean" mode of the "backup" action this option also specifies the
number to be kept. The default value is 1, so that backups are made,
but only one backup is kept.
To setup "autobackup" to -1 on the command line, use:
tlmgr option -- autobackup -1
The "--" avoids having the -1 treated as an option. (The "--" stops
parsing for options at the point where it appears; this is a general
feature across most Unix programs.)
The "sys_bin", "sys_man", and "sys_info" options are used on Unix
systems to control the generation of links for executables, Info files
and man pages. See the "path" action for details.
The last three options affect behavior on Windows installations. If
"desktop_integration" is set, then some packages will install items in a
sub-folder of the Start menu for "tlmgr gui", documentation, etc. If
"fileassocs" is set, Windows file associations are made (see also the
"postaction" action). Finally, if "multiuser" is set, then changes to
the registry and the menus are done for all users on the system instead
of only the current user. All three options are on by default.
paper
paper [a4|letter]
<[xdvi|pdftex|dvips|dvipdfmx|context|psutils] paper [papersize|--list]>
paper --json
With no arguments ("tlmgr paper"), shows the default paper size setting
for all known programs.
With one argument (e.g., "tlmgr paper a4"), sets the default for all
known programs to that paper size.
With a program given as the first argument and no paper size specified
(e.g., "tlmgr dvips paper"), shows the default paper size for that
program.
With a program given as the first argument and a paper size as the last
argument (e.g., "tlmgr dvips paper a4"), set the default for that
program to that paper size.
If either "pdftex" or "context" is one of the arguments, whether
implicitly or explicitly, existing formats are rebuilt (i.e., "fmtutil
--refresh" is called), unless "--no-execute-actions" is specified.
With a program given as the first argument and "--list" given as the
last argument (e.g., "tlmgr dvips paper --list"), shows all valid paper
sizes for that program. The first size shown is the default.
If "--json" is specified without other options, the paper setup is
dumped in JSON format. For the format of JSON output see
"tlpkg/doc/json-formats.txt", format definition "TLPAPER".
Incidentally, this syntax of having a specific program name before the
"paper" keyword is unusual. It is inherited from the longstanding
"texconfig" script, which supports other configuration settings for some
programs, notably "dvips". "tlmgr" does not support those extra
settings.
path
path [--windowsmode=user|admin] add
path [--windowsmode=user|admin] remove
On Unix, adds or removes symlinks for executables, man pages, and
info pages in the system directories specified by the respective
options (see the "option" description above). Does not change any
initialization files, either system or personal. Furthermore, any
executables added or removed by future updates are not taken care of
automatically; this command must be rerun as needed.
On Windows, the registry part where the binary directory is added or
removed is determined in the following way:
If the user has admin rights, and the option "--windowsmode" is not
given, the setting w32_multi_user determines the location (i.e., if
it is on then the system path, otherwise the user path is changed).
If the user has admin rights, and the option "--windowsmode" is
given, this option determines the path to be adjusted.
If the user does not have admin rights, and the option
"--windowsmode" is not given, and the setting w32_multi_user is off,
the user path is changed, while if the setting w32_multi_user is on,
a warning is issued that the caller does not have enough privileges.
If the user does not have admin rights, and the option
"--windowsmode" is given, it must be "user" and the user path will
be adjusted. If a user without admin rights uses the option
"--windowsmode admin" a warning is issued that the caller does not
have enough privileges.
pinning
The "pinning" action manages the pinning file, see "Pinning" below.
"pinning show"
Shows the current pinning data.
"pinning add" repo pkgglob...
Pins the packages matching the pkgglob(s) to the repository repo.
"pinning remove" repo pkgglob...
Any packages recorded in the pinning file matching the <pkgglob>s
for the given repository repo are removed.
"pinning remove repo --all"
Remove all pinning data for repository repo.
platform
platform list|add|remove platform...
platform set platform
platform set auto
"platform list" lists the TeX Live names of all the platforms
(a.k.a. architectures), ("i386-linux", ...) available at the package
repository.
"platform add" platform... adds the executables for each given
platform platform to the installation from the repository.
"platform remove" platform... removes the executables for each given
platform platform from the installation, but keeps the currently
running platform in any case.
"platform set" platform switches TeX Live to always use the given
platform instead of auto detection.
"platform set auto" switches TeX Live to auto detection mode for
platform.
Platform detection is needed to select the proper "xz" and "wget"
binaries that are shipped with TeX Live.
"arch" is a synonym for "platform".
Options:
--dry-run
Nothing is actually installed; instead, the actions to be
performed are written to the terminal.
postaction
postaction [option...] install [shortcut|fileassoc|script] [pkg...]
postaction [option...] remove [shortcut|fileassoc|script] [pkg...]
Carry out the postaction "shortcut", "fileassoc", or "script" given
as the second required argument in install or remove mode (which is
the first required argument), for either the packages given on the
command line, or for all if "--all" is given.
Options:
--windowsmode=[user|admin]
If the option "--windowsmode" is given the value "user", all
actions will only be carried out in the user-accessible parts of
the registry/filesystem, while the value "admin" selects the
system-wide parts of the registry for the file associations. If
you do not have enough permissions, using "--windowsmode=admin"
will not succeed.
--fileassocmode=[1|2]
"--fileassocmode" specifies the action for file associations.
If it is set to 1 (the default), only new associations are
added; if it is set to 2, all associations are set to the TeX
Live programs. (See also "option fileassocs".)
--all
Carry out the postactions for all packages
print-platform
Print the TeX Live identifier for the detected platform
(hardware/operating system) combination to standard output, and exit.
"--print-arch" is a synonym.
print-platform-info
Print the TeX Live platform identifier, TL platform long name, and
original output from guess.
remove [option...] pkg...
Remove each pkg specified. Removing a collection removes all package
dependencies (unless "--no-depends" is specified), but not any
collection dependencies of that collection. However, when removing a
package, dependencies are never removed. Options:
--all
Uninstalls all of TeX Live, asking for confirmation unless "--force"
is also specified.
--backup
--backupdir directory
These options behave just as with the update action (q.v.), except
they apply to making backups of packages before they are removed.
The default is to make such a backup, that is, to save a copy of
packages before removal.
The "restore" action explains how to restore from a backup.
--no-depends
Do not remove dependent packages.
--no-depends-at-all
See above under install (and beware).
--force
By default, removal of a package or collection that is a dependency
of another collection or scheme is not allowed. With this option,
the package will be removed unconditionally. Use with care.
A package that has been removed using the "--force" option because
it is still listed in an installed collection or scheme will not be
updated, and will be mentioned as "forcibly removed" in the output
of "tlmgr update --list".
--dry-run
Nothing is actually removed; instead, the actions to be performed
are written to the terminal.
Except with "--all", this "remove" action does not automatically remove
symlinks to executables from system directories; you need to run "tlmgr
path remove" ("path") yourself if you remove an individual package with
a symlink in a system directory.
repository
repository list
repository list path|url|tag
repository add path [tag]
repository remove path|tag
repository set path[#tag] [path[#tag] ...]
repository status
This action manages the list of repositories. See MULTIPLE
REPOSITORIES below for detailed explanations.
The first form, "repository list", lists all configured repositories
and the respective tags if set. If a path, url, or tag is given
after the "list" keyword, it is interpreted as the source from which
to initialize a TL database and lists the contained packages. This
can also be an otherwise-unused repository, either local or remote.
If the option "--with-platforms" is specified in addition, for each
package the available platforms (if any) are also listed.
The form "repository add" adds a repository (optionally attaching a
tag) to the list of repositories, while "repository remove" removes
a repository, either by full path/url, or by tag.
The form "repository set" sets the list of available repositories to
the items given on the command line, overwriting previous settings.
The form "repository status" reports the verification status of the
loaded repositories with the format of one repository per line with
fields separated by a single space:
The tag (which can be the same as the url);
= the url;
= iff machine-readable output is specified, the verification
code (a number);
= a textual description of the verification status, as the last
field extending to the end of line.
That is, in normal (not machine-readable) output, the third field
(numeric verification status) is not present.
In all cases, one of the repositories must be tagged as "main";
otherwise, all operations will fail!
restore
restore [option...] pkg [rev]
restore [option...] --all
Restore a package from a previously-made backup.
If "--all" is given, try to restore the latest revision of all
package backups found in the backup directory.
Otherwise, if neither pkg nor rev are given, list the available
backup revisions for all packages. With pkg given but no rev, list
all available backup revisions of pkg.
When listing available packages, "tlmgr" shows the revision, and in
parenthesis the creation time if available (in format yyyy-mm-dd
hh:mm).
If (and only if) both pkg and a valid revision number rev are
specified, try to restore the package from the specified backup.
Options:
--all
Try to restore the latest revision of all package backups found
in the backup directory. Additional non-option arguments (like
pkg) are not allowed.
--backupdir directory
Specify the directory where the backups are to be found. If not
given it will be taken from the configuration setting in the
TLPDB.
--dry-run
Nothing is actually restored; instead, the actions to be
performed are written to the terminal.
--force
Don't ask questions.
--json
When listing backups, the option "--json" writes JSON output.
The format is an array of JSON objects ("name", "rev", "date").
For details see "tlpkg/doc/json-formats.txt", format definition:
"TLBACKUPS". If both "--json" and "--data" are given, "--json"
takes precedence.
search
search [option...] what
search [option...] --file what
search [option...] --all what
By default, search the names, short descriptions, and long
descriptions of all locally installed packages for the argument
what, interpreted as a (Perl) regular expression.
Options:
--file
List all filenames containing what.
--all
Search everything: package names, descriptions and filenames.
--global
Search the TeX Live Database of the installation medium, instead
of the local installation.
--word
Restrict the search of package names and descriptions (but not
filenames) to match only full words. For example, searching for
"table" with this option will not output packages containing the
word "tables" (unless they also contain the word "table" on its
own).
--json
Output search results as a JSON hash with two keys: files and
packages. For the format of the JSON output see
"tlpkg/doc/json-formats.txt", format definition "TLSEARCH".
shell
Starts an interactive mode, where tlmgr prompts for commands. This can
be used directly, or for scripting. The first line of output is
"protocol" n, where n is an unsigned number identifying the protocol
version (currently 1).
In general, tlmgr actions that can be given on the command line
translate to commands in this shell mode. For example, you can say
"update --list" to see what would be updated. The TLPDB is loaded the
first time it is needed (not at the beginning), and used for the rest of
the session.
Besides these actions, a few commands are specific to shell mode:
protocol
Print "protocol n", the current protocol version.
help
Print pointers to this documentation.
version
Print tlmgr version information.
quit, end, bye, byebye, EOF
Exit.
restart
Restart "tlmgr shell" with the original command line; most useful
when developing "tlmgr".
load [local|remote]
Explicitly load the local or remote, respectively, TLPDB.
save
Save the local TLPDB, presumably after other operations have changed
it.
get [var] =item set [var [val]]
Get the value of var, or set it to val. Possible var names:
"debug-translation", "machine-readable", "no-execute-actions",
"require-verification", "verify-downloads", "repository", and
"prompt". All except "repository" and "prompt" are booleans, taking
values 0 and 1, and behave like the corresponding command line
option. The "repository" variable takes a string, and sets the
remote repository location. The "prompt" variable takes a string,
and sets the current default prompt.
If var or then val is not specified, it is prompted for.
show
Synonym for "info".
uninstall
Synonym for remove.
update [option...] [pkg...]
Updates the packages given as arguments to the latest version available
at the installation source. Either "--all" or at least one pkg name
must be specified. Options:
--all
Update all installed packages except for "tlmgr" itself. If updates
to "tlmgr" itself are present, this gives an error, unless also the
option "--force" or "--self" is given. (See below.)
In addition to updating the installed packages, during the update of
a collection the local installation is (by default) synchronized to
the status of the collection on the server, for both additions and
removals.
This means that if a package has been removed on the server (and
thus has also been removed from the respective collection), "tlmgr"
will remove the package in the local installation. This is called
``auto-remove'' and is announced as such when using the option
"--list". This auto-removal can be suppressed using the option
"--no-auto-remove" (not recommended, see option description).
Analogously, if a package has been added to a collection on the
server that is also installed locally, it will be added to the local
installation. This is called ``auto-install'' and is announced as
such when using the option "--list". This auto-installation can be
suppressed using the option "--no-auto-install" (also not
recommended).
An exception to the collection dependency checks (including the
auto-installation of packages just mentioned) are those that have
been ``forcibly removed'' by you, that is, you called "tlmgr remove
--force" on them. (See the "remove" action documentation.) To
reinstall any such forcibly removed packages use
"--reinstall-forcibly-removed".
To reiterate: automatic removals and additions are entirely
determined by comparison of collections. Thus, if you manually
install an individual package "foo" which is later removed from the
server, "tlmgr" will not notice and will not remove it locally. (It
has to be this way, without major rearchitecture work, because the
tlpdb does not record the repository from which packages come from.)
If you want to exclude some packages from the current update run
(e.g., due to a slow link), see the "--exclude" option below.
--self
Update "tlmgr" itself (that is, the infrastructure packages) if
updates to it are present. On Windows this includes updates to the
private Perl interpreter shipped inside TeX Live.
If this option is given together with either "--all" or a list of
packages, then "tlmgr" will be updated first and, if this update
succeeds, the new version will be restarted to complete the rest of
the updates.
In short:
tlmgr update --self # update infrastructure only
tlmgr update --self --all # update infrastructure and all packages
tlmgr update --force --all # update all packages but *not* infrastructure
# ... this last at your own risk, not recommended!
--dry-run
Nothing is actually installed; instead, the actions to be performed
are written to the terminal. This is a more detailed report than
"--list".
--list [pkg]
Concisely list the packages which would be updated, newly installed,
or removed, without actually changing anything. If "--all" is also
given, all available updates are listed. If "--self" is given, but
not "--all", only updates to the critical packages (tlmgr, texlive
infrastructure, perl on Windows, etc.) are listed. If neither
"--all" nor "--self" is given, and in addition no pkg is given, then
"--all" is assumed (thus, "tlmgr update --list" is the same as
"tlmgr update --list --all"). If neither "--all" nor "--self" is
given, but specific package names are given, those packages are
checked for updates.
--exclude pkg
Exclude pkg from the update process. If this option is given more
than once, its arguments accumulate.
An argument pkg excludes both the package pkg itself and all its
related platform-specific packages pkg.ARCH. For example,
tlmgr update --all --exclude a2ping
will not update "a2ping", "a2ping.i386-linux", or any other
"a2ping."ARCH package.
If this option specifies a package that would otherwise be a
candidate for auto-installation, auto-removal, or reinstallation of
a forcibly removed package, "tlmgr" quits with an error message.
Excludes are not supported in these circumstances.
This option can also be set permanently in the tlmgr config file
with the key "update-exclude".
--no-auto-remove [pkg...]
By default, "tlmgr" tries to remove packages in an existing
collection which have disappeared on the server, as described above
under "--all". This option prevents such removals, either for all
packages (with "--all"), or for just the given pkg names. This can
lead to an inconsistent TeX installation, since packages are not
infrequently renamed or replaced by their authors. Therefore this is
not recommended.
--no-auto-install [pkg...]
Under normal circumstances "tlmgr" will install packages which are
new on the server, as described above under "--all". This option
prevents any such automatic installation, either for all packages
(with "--all"), or the given pkg names.
Furthermore, after the "tlmgr" run using this has finished, the
packages that would have been auto-installed will be considered as
forcibly removed. So, if "foobar" is the only new package on the
server, then
tlmgr update --all --no-auto-install
is equivalent to
tlmgr update --all
tlmgr remove --force foobar
Again, since packages are sometimes renamed or replaced, using this
option is not recommended.
--reinstall-forcibly-removed
Under normal circumstances "tlmgr" will not install packages that
have been forcibly removed by the user; that is, removed with
"remove --force", or whose installation was prohibited by
"--no-auto-install" during an earlier update.
This option makes "tlmgr" ignore the forcible removals and re-
install all such packages. This can be used to completely
synchronize an installation with the server's idea of what is
available:
tlmgr update --reinstall-forcibly-removed --all
--backup
--backupdir directory
These two options control the creation of backups of packages before
updating; that is, backing up packages as currently installed. If
neither option is given, no backup will made. If "--backupdir" is
given and specifies a writable directory then a backup will be made
in that location. If only "--backup" is given, then a backup will be
made to the directory previously set via the "option" action (see
below). If both are given then a backup will be made to the
specified directory.
You can also set options via the "option" action to automatically
make backups for all packages, and/or keep only a certain number of
backups.
"tlmgr" always makes a temporary backup when updating packages, in
case of download or other failure during an update. In contrast,
the purpose of this "--backup" option is to save a persistent backup
in case the actual content of the update causes problems, e.g.,
introduces an TeX incompatibility.
The "restore" action explains how to restore from a backup.
--no-depends
If you call for updating a package normally all depending packages
will also be checked for updates and updated if necessary. This
switch suppresses this behavior.
--no-depends-at-all
See above under install (and beware).
--force
Force update of normal packages, without updating "tlmgr" itself
(unless the "--self" option is also given). Not recommended.
Also, "update --list" is still performed regardless of this option.
If the package on the server is older than the package already installed
(e.g., if the selected mirror is out of date), "tlmgr" does not
downgrade. Also, packages for uninstalled platforms are not installed.
"tlmgr" saves one copy of the main "texlive.tlpdb" file used for an
update with a suffix representing the repository url, as in
"tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb.main."long-hash-string. Thus, even when many
mirrors are used, only one main "tlpdb" backup is kept. For non-main
repositories, which do not generally have (m)any mirrors, no pruning of
backups is done.
This action does not automatically add or remove new symlinks in system
directories; you need to run "tlmgr" "path" yourself if you are using
this feature and want new symlinks added.
CONFIGURATION FILE FOR TLMGR
"tlmgr" reads two configuration files: one is system-wide, in
"TEXMFSYSCONFIG/tlmgr/config", and the other is user-specific, in
"TEXMFCONFIG/tlmgr/config". The user-specific one is the default for
the "conf tlmgr" action. (Run "kpsewhich -var-value=TEXMFSYSCONFIG" or
"... TEXMFCONFIG ..." to see the actual directory names.)
A few defaults corresponding to command-line options can be set in these
configuration files. In addition, the system-wide file can contain a
directive to restrict the allowed actions.
In these config files, empty lines and lines starting with # are
ignored. All other lines must look like:
key = value
where the spaces are optional but the "=" is required.
The allowed keys are:
"auto-remove =" 0 or 1 (default 1), same as command-line option.
"gui-expertmode =" 0 or 1 (default 1). This switches between the full
GUI and a simplified GUI with only the most common settings.
"gui-lang =" llcode, with a language code value as with the command-line
option.
"no-checksums =" 0 or 1 (default 0, see below).
"persistent-downloads =" 0 or 1 (default 1), same as command-line
option.
"require-verification =" 0 or 1 (default 0), same as command-line
option.
"tkfontscale =" floating-point number (default 1.0); scaling factor for
fonts in the Tk-based frontends.
"update-exclude =" comma-separated list of packages (no spaces allowed).
Same as the command line option "--exclude" for the "update" action.
"verify-downloads =" 0 or 1 (default 1), same as command-line option.
The system-wide config file can contain one additional key:
"allowed-actions =" action1[,action2,...] The value is a comma-separated
list (no spaces) of "tlmgr" actions which are allowed to be executed
when "tlmgr" is invoked in system mode (that is, without "--usermode").
This allows distributors to include "tlmgr" in their packaging, but
allow only a restricted set of actions that do not interfere with their
distro package manager. For native TeX Live installations, it doesn't
make sense to set this.
Finally, the "no-checksums" key needs more explanation. By default,
package checksums computed and stored on the server (in the TLPDB) are
compared to checksums computed locally after downloading.
"no-checksums" disables this process. The checksum algorithm is SHA-512.
Your system must have one of (looked for in this order) the Perl
"Digest::SHA" module, the "openssl" program (<https://openssl.org>), the
"sha512sum" program (from GNU Coreutils,
<https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils>), or finally the "shasum"
program (just to support old Macs). If none of these are available, a
warning is issued and "tlmgr" proceeds without checking checksums.
"no-checksums" avoids the warning. (Incidentally, other SHA
implementations, such as the pure Perl and pure Lua modules, are much
too slow to be usable in our context.)
CRYPTOGRAPHIC VERIFICATION
"tlmgr" and "install-tl" perform cryptographic verification if possible.
If verification is performed and successful, the programs report
"(verified)" after loading the TLPDB; otherwise, they report "(not
verified)". But either way, by default the installation and/or updates
proceed normally.
If a program named "gpg" is available (that is, found in "PATH"), by
default cryptographic signatures will be checked: we require the main
repository be signed, but not any additional repositories. If "gpg" is
not available, by default signatures are not checked and no verification
is carried out, but "tlmgr" still proceeds normally.
The behavior of the verification can be controlled by the command line
and config file option "verify-repo" which takes one of the following
values: "none", "main", or "all". With "none", no verification
whatsoever is attempted. With "main" (the default) verification is
required only for the main repository, and only if "gpg" is available;
though attempted for all, missing signatures of subsidiary repositories
will not result in an error. Finally, in the case of "all", "gpg" must
be available and all repositories need to be signed.
In all cases, if a signature is checked and fails to verify, an error is
raised.
Cryptographic verification requires checksum checking (described just
above) to succeed, and a working GnuPG ("gpg") program (see below for
search method). Then, unless cryptographic verification has been
disabled, a signature file ("texlive.tlpdb.*.asc") of the checksum file
is downloaded and the signature verified. The signature is created by
the TeX Live Distribution GPG key 0x0D5E5D9106BAB6BC, which in turn is
signed by Karl Berry's key 0x0716748A30D155AD and Norbert Preining's key
0x6CACA448860CDC13. All of these keys are obtainable from the standard
key servers.
Additional trusted keys can be added using the "key" action.
Configuration of GnuPG invocation
The executable used for GnuPG is searched as follows: If the environment
variable "TL_GNUPG" is set, it is tested and used; otherwise "gpg" is
checked; finally "gpg2" is checked.
Further adaptation of the "gpg" invocation can be made using the two
environment variables "TL_GNUPGHOME", which is passed to "gpg" as the
value for "--homedir", and "TL_GNUPGARGS", which replaces the default
options "--no-secmem-warning --no-permission-warning".
USER MODE
"tlmgr" provides a restricted way, called ``user mode'', to manage
arbitrary texmf trees in the same way as the main installation. For
example, this allows people without write permissions on the
installation location to update/install packages into a tree of their
own.
"tlmgr" is switched into user mode with the command line option
"--usermode". It does not switch automatically, nor is there any
configuration file setting for it. Thus, this option has to be
explicitly given every time user mode is to be activated.
This mode of "tlmgr" works on a user tree, by default the value of the
"TEXMFHOME" variable. This can be overridden with the command line
option "--usertree". In the following when we speak of the user tree we
mean either "TEXMFHOME" or the one given on the command line.
Not all actions are allowed in user mode; "tlmgr" will warn you and not
carry out any problematic actions. Currently not supported (and
probably will never be) is the "platform" action. The "gui" action is
currently not supported, but may be in a future release.
Some "tlmgr" actions don't need any write permissions and thus work the
same in user mode and normal mode. Currently these are: "check",
"help", "list", "print-platform", "print-platform-info", "search",
"show", "version".
On the other hand, most of the actions dealing with package management
do need write permissions, and thus behave differently in user mode, as
described below: "install", "update", "remove", "option", "paper",
"generate", "backup", "restore", "uninstall", "symlinks".
Before using "tlmgr" in user mode, you have to set up the user tree with
the "init-usertree" action. This creates usertree"/web2c" and
usertree"/tlpkg/tlpobj", and a minimal usertree"/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb".
At that point, you can tell "tlmgr" to do the (supported) actions by
adding the "--usermode" command line option.
In user mode the file usertree"/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb" contains only the
packages that have been installed into the user tree using "tlmgr", plus
additional options from the ``virtual'' package "00texlive.installation"
(similar to the main installation's "texlive.tlpdb").
All actions on packages in user mode can only be carried out on packages
that are known as "relocatable". This excludes all packages containing
executables and a few other core packages. Of the 2500 or so packages
currently in TeX Live the vast majority are relocatable and can be
installed into a user tree.
Description of changes of actions in user mode:
User mode install
In user mode, the "install" action checks that the package and all
dependencies are all either relocated or already installed in the system
installation. If this is the case, it unpacks all containers to be
installed into the user tree (to repeat, that's either "TEXMFHOME" or
the value of "--usertree") and add the respective packages to the user
tree's "texlive.tlpdb" (creating it if need be).
Currently installing a collection in user mode installs all dependent
packages, but in contrast to normal mode, does not install dependent
collections. For example, in normal mode "tlmgr install
collection-context" would install "collection-basic" and other
collections, while in user mode, only the packages mentioned in
"collection-context" are installed.
If a package shipping map files is installed in user mode, a backup of
the user's "updmap.cfg" in "USERTREE/web2c/" is made, and then this file
regenerated from the list of installed packages.
User mode backup, restore, remove, update
In user mode, these actions check that all packages to be acted on are
installed in the user tree before proceeding; otherwise, they behave
just as in normal mode.
User mode generate, option, paper
In user mode, these actions operate only on the user tree's
configuration files and/or "texlive.tlpdb".
User mode logs
In user mode, "tlmgr.log" and <tlmgr-commands.log> are written in the
"TEXMFVAR/web2c/" directlry instead of "TEXMFSYSVAR/web2c/".
MULTIPLE REPOSITORIES
The main TeX Live repository contains a vast array of packages.
Nevertheless, additional local repositories can be useful to provide
locally-installed resources, such as proprietary fonts and house styles.
Also, alternative package repositories distribute packages that cannot
or should not be included in TeX Live, for whatever reason.
The simplest and most reliable method is to temporarily set the
installation source to any repository (with the "-repository" or "option
repository" command line options), and perform your operations.
When you are using multiple repositories over a sustained length of
time, however, explicitly switching between them becomes inconvenient.
Thus, it's possible to tell "tlmgr" about additional repositories you
want to use. The basic command is "tlmgr repository add". The rest of
this section explains further.
When using multiple repositories, one of them has to be set as the main
repository, which distributes most of the installed packages. When you
switch from a single repository installation to a multiple repository
installation, the previous sole repository will be set as the main
repository.
By default, even if multiple repositories are configured, packages are
still only installed from the main repository. Thus, simply adding a
second repository does not actually enable installation of anything from
there. You also have to specify which packages should be taken from the
new repository, by specifying so-called ``pinning'' rules, described
next.
Pinning
When a package "foo" is pinned to a repository, a package "foo" in any
other repository, even if it has a higher revision number, will not be
considered an installable candidate.
As mentioned above, by default everything is pinned to the main
repository. Let's now go through an example of setting up a second
repository and enabling updates of a package from it.
First, check that we have support for multiple repositories, and have
only one enabled (as is the case by default):
$ tlmgr repository list
List of repositories (with tags if set):
/var/www/norbert/tlnet
Ok. Let's add the "tlcontrib" repository (this is a real repository
hosted at <http://contrib.texlive.info>) with the tag "tlcontrib":
$ tlmgr repository add http://contrib.texlive.info/current tlcontrib
Check the repository list again:
$ tlmgr repository list
List of repositories (with tags if set):
http://contrib.texlive.info/current (tlcontrib)
/var/www/norbert/tlnet (main)
Now we specify a pinning entry to get the package "classico" from
"tlcontrib":
$ tlmgr pinning add tlcontrib classico
Check that we can find "classico":
$ tlmgr show classico
package: classico
...
shortdesc: URW Classico fonts
...
- install "classico":
$ tlmgr install classico
tlmgr: package repositories:
...
[1/1, ??:??/??:??] install: classico @tlcontrib [737k]
In the output here you can see that the "classico" package has been
installed from the "tlcontrib" repository (@tlcontrib).
Finally, "tlmgr pinning" also supports removing certain or all packages
from a given repository:
$ tlmgr pinning remove tlcontrib classico # remove just classico
$ tlmgr pinning remove tlcontrib --all # take nothing from tlcontrib
A summary of "tlmgr pinning" actions is given above.
GUI FOR TLMGR
The graphical user interface for "tlmgr" requires Perl/Tk
<https://search.cpan.org/search?query=perl%2Ftk>. For Unix-based systems
Perl/Tk (as well as Perl of course) has to be installed outside of TL.
<https://tug.org/texlive/distro.html#perltk> has a list of invocations
for some distros. For Windows the necessary modules are no longer
shipped within TeX Live, so you'll have to have an external Perl
available that includes them.
We are talking here about the GUI built into tlmgr itself, not about the
other tlmgr GUIs, which are: tlshell (Tcl/Tk-based), tlcockpit (Java-
based) and, only on Macs, TeX Live Utility. These are invoked as
separate programs.
The GUI mode of tlmgr is started with the invocation "tlmgr gui";
assuming Tk is loadable, the graphical user interface will be shown.
The main window contains a menu bar, the main display, and a status area
where messages normally shown on the console are displayed.
Within the main display there are three main parts: the "Display
configuration" area, the list of packages, and the action buttons.
Also, at the top right the currently loaded repository is shown; this
also acts as a button and when clicked will try to load the default
repository. To load a different repository, see the "tlmgr" menu item.
Finally, the status area at the bottom of the window gives additional
information about what is going on.
Main display
Display configuration area
The first part of the main display allows you to specify (filter) which
packages are shown. By default, all are shown. Changes here are
reflected right away.
Status
Select whether to show all packages (the default), only those
installed, only those not installed, or only those with update
available.
Category
Select which categories are shown: packages, collections, and/or
schemes. These are briefly explained in the "DESCRIPTION" section
above.
Match
Select packages matching for a specific pattern. By default, this
searches both descriptions and filenames. You can also select a
subset for searching.
Selection
Select packages to those selected, those not selected, or all.
Here, ``selected'' means that the checkbox in the beginning of the
line of a package is ticked.
Display configuration buttons
To the right there are three buttons: select all packages, select
none (a.k.a. deselect all), and reset all these filters to the
defaults, i.e., show all available.
Package list area
The second are of the main display lists all installed packages. If a
repository is loaded, those that are available but not installed are
also listed.
Double clicking on a package line pops up an informational window with
further details: the long description, included files, etc.
Each line of the package list consists of the following items:
a checkbox
Used to select particular packages; some of the action buttons (see
below) work only on the selected packages.
package name
The name (identifier) of the package as given in the database.
local revision (and version)
If the package is installed the TeX Live revision number for the
installed package will be shown. If there is a catalogue version
given in the database for this package, it will be shown in
parentheses. However, the catalogue version, unlike the TL
revision, is not guaranteed to reflect what is actually installed.
remote revision (and version)
If a repository has been loaded the revision of the package in the
repository (if present) is shown. As with the local column, if a
catalogue version is provided it will be displayed. And also as
with the local column, the catalogue version may be stale.
short description
The short description of the package.
Main display action buttons
Below the list of packages are several buttons:
Update all installed
This calls "tlmgr update --all", i.e., tries to update all available
packages. Below this button is a toggle to allow reinstallation of
previously removed packages as part of this action.
The other four buttons only work on the selected packages, i.e.,
those where the checkbox at the beginning of the package line is
ticked.
Update
Update only the selected packages.
Install
Install the selected packages; acts like "tlmgr install", i.e., also
installs dependencies. Thus, installing a collection installs all
its constituent packages.
Remove
Removes the selected packages; acts like "tlmgr remove", i.e., it
will also remove dependencies of collections (but not dependencies
of normal packages).
Backup
Makes a backup of the selected packages; acts like "tlmgr backup".
This action needs the option "backupdir" set (see "Options -"
General>).
Menu bar
The following entries can be found in the menu bar:
"tlmgr" menu
The items here load various repositories: the default as specified
in the TeX Live database, the default network repository, the
repository specified on the command line (if any), and an
arbitrarily manually-entered one. Also has the so-necessary "quit"
operation.
"Options menu"
Provides access to several groups of options: "Paper" (configuration
of default paper sizes), "Platforms" (only on Unix, configuration of
the supported/installed platforms), "GUI Language" (select language
used in the GUI interface), and "General" (everything else).
Several toggles are also here. The first is "Expert options", which
is set by default. If you turn this off, the next time you start
the GUI a simplified screen will be shown that display only the most
important functionality. This setting is saved in the configuration
file of "tlmgr"; see "CONFIGURATION FILE FOR TLMGR" for details.
The other toggles are all off by default: for debugging output, to
disable the automatic installation of new packages, and to disable
the automatic removal of packages deleted from the server. Playing
with the choices of what is or isn't installed may lead to an
inconsistent TeX Live installation; e.g., when a package is renamed.
"Actions menu"
Provides access to several actions: update the filename database
(aka "ls-R", "mktexlsr", "texhash"), rebuild all formats
("fmtutil-sys --all"), update the font map database ("updmap-sys"),
restore from a backup of a package, and use of symbolic links in
system directories (not on Windows).
The final action is to remove the entire TeX Live installation (also
not on Windows).
"Help menu"
Provides access to the TeX Live manual (also on the web at
<https://tug.org/texlive/doc.html>) and the usual ``About'' box.
GUI options
Some generic Perl/Tk options can be specified with "tlmgr gui" to
control the display:
"-background" color
Set background color.
"-font "" fontname fontsize """
Set font, e.g., "tlmgr gui -font "helvetica 18"". The argument to
"-font" must be quoted, i.e., passed as a single string.
"-foreground" color
Set foreground color.
"-geometry" geomspec
Set the X geometry, e.g., "tlmgr gui -geometry 1024x512-0+0" creates
the window of (approximately) the given size in the upper-right
corner of the display.
"-xrm" xresource
Pass the arbitrary X resource string xresource.
A few other obscure options are recognized but not mentioned here. See
the Perl/Tk documentation (<https://search.cpan.org/perldoc?Tk>) for the
complete list, and any X documentation for general information.
MACHINE-READABLE OUTPUT
With the "--machine-readable" option, "tlmgr" writes to stdout in the
fixed line-oriented format described here, and the usual informational
messages for human consumption are written to stderr (normally they are
written to stdout). The idea is that a program can get all the
information it needs by reading stdout.
Currently this option only applies to the update, install, and "option"
actions.
Machine-readable "update" and "install" output
The output format is as follows:
fieldname "\t" value
...
"end-of-header"
pkgname status localrev serverrev size runtime esttot
...
"end-of-updates"
other output from post actions, not in machine readable form
The header section currently has two fields: "location-url" (the
repository source from which updates are being drawn), and "total-bytes"
(the total number of bytes to be downloaded).
The localrev and serverrev fields for each package are the revision
numbers in the local installation and server repository, respectively.
The size field is the number of bytes to be downloaded, i.e., the size
of the compressed tar file for a network installation, not the unpacked
size. The runtime and esttot fields are only present for updated and
auto-install packages, and contain the currently passed time since start
of installation/updates and the estimated total time.
Line endings may be either LF or CRLF depending on the current platform.
"location-url" location
The location may be a url (including "file:///foo/bar/..."), or a
directory name ("/foo/bar"). It is the package repository from
which the new package information was drawn.
"total-bytes" count
The count is simply a decimal number, the sum of the sizes of all
the packages that need updating or installing (which are listed
subsequently).
Then comes a line with only the literal string "end-of-header".
Each following line until a line with literal string "end-of-updates"
reports on one package. The fields on each line are separated by a tab.
Here are the fields.
pkgname
The TeX Live package identifier, with a possible platform suffix for
executables. For instance, "pdftex" and "pdftex.i386-linux" are
given as two separate packages, one on each line.
status
The status of the package update. One character, as follows:
"d" The package was removed on the server.
"f" The package was removed in the local installation, even
though a collection depended on it. (E.g., the user ran
"tlmgr remove --force".)
"u" Normal update is needed.
"r" Reversed non-update: the locally-installed version is newer
than the version on the server.
"a" Automatically-determined need for installation, the package
is new on the server and is (most probably) part of an
installed collection.
"i" Package will be installed and isn't present in the local
installation (action install).
"I" Package is already present but will be reinstalled (action
install).
localrev
The revision number of the installed package, or "-" if it is not
present locally.
serverrev
The revision number of the package on the server, or "-" if it is
not present on the server.
size
The size in bytes of the package on the server. The sum of all the
package sizes is given in the "total-bytes" header field mentioned
above.
runtime
The run time since start of installations or updates.
esttot
The estimated total time.
Machine-readable "option" output
The output format is as follows:
key "\t" value
If a value is not saved in the database the string "(not set)" is shown.
If you are developing a program that uses this output, and find that
changes would be helpful, do not hesitate to write the mailing list.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
"tlmgr" uses many of the standard TeX environment variables, as reported
by, e.g., "tlmgr conf" ("conf").
In addition, for ease in scripting and debugging, "tlmgr" looks for the
following environment variables. These are not of interest for normal
user installations.
"TEXLIVE_COMPRESSOR"
This variable allows selecting a different compressor program for
backups and intermediate rollback containers. The order of selection
is:
1. If the environment variable "TEXLIVE_COMPRESSOR" is defined,
use it; abort if it doesn't work. Possible values: "lz4",
"gzip", "xz". The necessary options are added internally.
2. If lz4 is available (either from the system or TL) and
working, use that.
3. If gzip is available (from the system) and working, use
that.
4. If xz is available (either from the system or TL) and
working, use that.
lz4 and gzip are faster in creating tlmgr's local backups, hence
they are preferred. The unconditional use of xz for the tlnet
containers is unaffected, to minimize download sizes.
"TEXLIVE_DOWNLOADER"
"TL_DOWNLOAD_PROGRAM"
"TL_DOWNLOAD_ARGS"
These options allow selecting different download programs then the
ones automatically selected by the installer. The order of selection
is:
1. If the environment variable "TEXLIVE_DOWNLOADER" is defined,
use it; abort if the specified program doesn't work.
Possible values: "lwp", "curl", "wget". The necessary
options are added internally.
2. If the environment variable "TL_DOWNLOAD_PROGRAM" is defined
(can be any value), use it together with "TL_DOWNLOAD_ARGS";
abort if it doesn't work.
3. If LWP is available and working, use that (by far the most
efficient method, as it supports persistent downloads).
4. If curl is available (from the system) and working, use
that.
5. If wget is available (either from the system or TL) and
working, use that.
TL provides "wget" binaries for platforms where necessary, so some
download method should always be available.
"TEXLIVE_PREFER_OWN"
By default, compression and download programs provided by the
system, i.e., found along "PATH" are preferred over those shipped
with TeX Live.
This can create problems with systems that are too old, and so can
be overridden by setting the environment variable
"TEXLIVE_PREFER_OWN" to 1. In this case, executables shipped with TL
will be preferred.
Extra compression/download programs not provided by TL, such as
gzip, lwp, and curl, are still checked for on the system and used if
available, per the above. "TEXLIVE_PREFER_OWN" only applies when the
program being checked for is shipped with TL, namely the lz4 and xz
compressors and wget downloader.
Exception: on Windows, the "tar.exe" shipped with TL is always used,
regardless of any setting.
AUTHORS AND COPYRIGHT
This script and its documentation were written for the TeX Live
distribution (<https://tug.org/texlive>) and both are licensed under the
GNU General Public License Version 2 or later.
$Id: tlmgr.pl 73493 2025-01-17 22:28:29Z karl $
perl v5.40.1 2025-02-23 TLMGR(1)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 06:27:26 CET 2025.