tlbuild: install-tl PROFILES
A.6 PROFILES
============
A _profile_ file contains all the values needed to perform an
installation. After a normal installation has finished, a profile for
that exact installation is written to the file 'tlpkg/texlive.profile'.
In addition, from the text menu one can select 'P' to save the current
setup as a profile at any time.
Such a profile file can be given as the argument to '-profile', for
example to redo the exact same installation on a different system.
Alternatively, you can use a custom profile, most easily created by
starting from a generated one and changing values, or an empty file,
which will take all the defaults.
As mentioned above, the installer only supports selection by scheme
and collections, not individual packages, so packages cannot be
specified in profile files either. Use 'tlmgr' to work at the package
level.
Within a profile file, each line consists of
_variable_ [_value_]
except for comment lines starting with '#'. The possible variable
names are listed below. Values, when present, are either '0' or '1' for
booleans, or strings (which must be specified without any quote
characters). Leading whitespace is ignored.
If the variable 'selected_scheme' is defined and _no_ collection
variables at all are defined, then the collections required by the
specified scheme (which might change over time) are installed, without
explicitly listing them. This eases maintenance of profile files. If
any collections are specified in a profile, though, then all desired
collections must be given explicitly.
For example, a line
selected_scheme scheme-small
along with definitions for the installation directories (given below
under "path options") suffices to install the "small" scheme with all
default options. The schemes are described in the 'S' menu in the text
installer, or equivalent.
Besides 'selected_scheme', here is the list of variable names
supported in a profile:
*collection options* (prefix 'collection-')
Collections are specified with a variable name with the prefix
'collection-' followed by a collection name; there is no value. For
instance, 'collection-basic'. The collections are described in the 'C'
menu.
Schemes and collections (and packages) are ultimately defined by the
files in the 'tlpkg/tlpsrc/' source directory.
*path options*
It is best to define all of these, even though they may not be used
in the installation, so as to avoid unintentionally getting a default
value that could cause problems later.
TEXDIR
TEXMFCONFIG
TEXMFVAR
TEXMFHOME
TEXMFLOCAL
TEXMFSYSCONFIG
TEXMFSYSVAR
*installer options* (prefix 'instopt_')
'instopt_adjustpath' (default 0 on Unix, 1 on Windows)
Adjust 'PATH' environment variable.
'instopt_adjustrepo' (default 1)
Set remote repository to a multiplexed CTAN mirror after
installation; see '-repository' above.
'instopt_letter' (default 0)
Set letter size paper as the default, instead of a4.
'instopt_portable' (default 0)
Install for portable use, e.g., on a USB stick.
'instopt_write18_restricted' (default 1)
Enable '\write18' for a restricted set of programs.
*tlpdb options* (prefix 'tlpdbopt_')
The definitive list is given in 'tlpkg/TeXLive/TLConfig.pm', in the
hash '%TeXLive::TLConfig::TLPDBOptions', together with explanations.
All items given there _except_ for 'tlpdbopt_location' can be specified.
Here is the current list:
tlpdbopt_autobackup
tlpdbopt_backupdir
tlpdbopt_create_formats
tlpdbopt_desktop_integration
tlpdbopt_file_assocs
tlpdbopt_generate_updmap
tlpdbopt_install_docfiles
tlpdbopt_install_srcfiles
tlpdbopt_post_code
tlpdbopt_sys_bin
tlpdbopt_sys_info
tlpdbopt_sys_man
tlpdbopt_w32_multi_user
*platform options* (prefix 'binary_')
For each supported platform in TeX Live (directories under 'bin/'),
the variable 'binary_'_PLATFORM_ can be set with value 1. For example:
binary_x86_64-linux 1
If no 'binary_' settings are made, the default is whatever the
current machine is running.
In releases before 2017, many profile variables had different names
(not documented here; see the 'install-tl' source). They are accepted
and transformed to the names given above. When a profile is written,
the names above are always used.
For more details on all of the above options, consult the TeX Live
installation manual, linked from <https://tug.org/texlive/doc>.