Daniel Stonier wrote:
I'm not sure if it helps, but I have a bunch of style files I use that are non-tetex standard. The easiest way I've found to manage them while updating or re-installing the OS is to keep them in directories on my work partition somewhere and then set up symlinks to them in /usr/share/texmf/tex/latex.
(and others wrote similar ideas)
yes, that's what I've been doing for non-standard packages or for packages locally developed. However, utopia.sty (which I tend to use because I just like it) and listings are just two examples. I do not know the extent to which this can happen, and I wouldn't like to be bitten by it while, e.g., preparing slides in a plane (which is not the best idea, probably, but, hey, that's life...). I am worried about backward compatibility, obviously, and I just do not know if the lack of those files comes from the LaTeX distribution itsef (as it comes from the CTAN archives, which means that whoever decides what comes into the tetex ditribution has ruled out these packages), or if it is a decision (maybe just an involuntary mistake) of the person who made the packaging.
MCL _____ sPAIN