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

[Karl Berry]

    There is a BasicTeX distribution for Mac OS X

Indeed.  And, guess what?  Basic(MacOSX)TeX is exactly a TL installation
scheme, namely scheme-small.  See my previous reply, rinse and repeat :).

Robin: sorry, I cannot get a grip on what you're asking for wrt cm-super
vs. lm, etc.  What I can tell you is that cm-super is in
collection-fontsrecommended, and that is included in scheme-medium and
larger (eg, not scheme-small).  Whereas it looks lm is included in
scheme-small due to dependencies (collection-latexrecommended ->
fontspec).

But anyway, FWIW, my recommendation (aside from buying a bigger disk)
for someone who doesn't want to install the whole thing is:
1) choose a different installation scheme; and then
2) use tlmgr to install packages as you find you need them.

karl

P.S. I also have no experience with texliveonfly.  As far as I know, its
author never contacted us about anything.  The first I heard about it
was when it showed up on CTAN.  I have never needed or wanted to install
packages "on the fly" myself, so I have never tried it.