[tex-live] "why is tex live so big"

[Robin Fairbairns]

Khaled Hosny <khaledhosny at eglug.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 09:15:25PM -0200, Paulo Roberto Massa Cereda wrote:
> > Em 22/10/2012 20:47, Khaled Hosny escreveu:
> > >Can't agree more. I'm pretty sure there is a name for this not uncommon
> > >software development phenomenon.
> > 
> > There is. :) The most common name I know for this phenomenon is
> > "Feature creep", but apparently there are other similar names as
> > well.
> > 
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_creep
> 
> No, I'm referring to people who see a mature but complex system and say:
> I can redo it in a less complex way, but by the time it provides the
> same features (which, after all, turn to be necessary) it becomes as
> complex as the system it was set to replace.

it's not the problem i'm interested in, either.

what i want to point to, from the faq, is a coherent strategy for
newbies to download enough of tl for a coherent system, without hauling
in things that are _not_ necessary.  so (for example) lm fonts without
cm-super (i'm not even sure whether that's a proper dichotomy).

robin