[tex-live] Is tlmgr 2008 now completely unusable?

[Robin Fairbairns]

Ulrike Fischer <news3 at nililand.de> wrote:

> Am Wed, 2 Dec 2009 06:19:03 +0100 schrieb Norbert Preining:
> 
> >> so cannot install the full texlive collection. But I would like, for
> >> 2-5 years at least, be able to pick and choose new packages to install
> >> as the need arises. Updating full texlive every year is just not an
> >> option.
> > 
> > Then you have to sponsor CTAN nodes with a new computer, hard drives,
> > infrastructure and band width.
> > 
> > Sorry as far as we see we cannot provide old TL releases that way.
> > THere is simply not the space.
> 
> In miktex a package like e.g. hyperref.tar.lzma can be used and
> installed by various miktex version so it takes up space only once.
> Version specific are only a rather small number of packages/files
> like binaries and the two database packages (like
> miktex-zzdb2-2.8.tar.lzma). 

sure.  and as everyone has said, there's an ambition that this should be
the case for tex live, but they didn't manage it this time.

i don't know where christian finds the time (or does he have support,
too?), but the tex live team is known to be short of effort and haven't
yet managed the seamless upgrade that christian regularly does.

fingers crossed for 2010, eh?

robin