Provided by: texlive-base_2013.20140215-1ubuntu0.1_all 
NAME
tlmgr - the TeX Live Manager
SYNOPSIS
tlmgr [option]... action [option]... [operand]...
DESCRIPTION
tlmgr manages an existing TeX Live installation, both packages and configuration options. For
information on initially downloading and installing TeX Live, see <http://tug.org/texlive/acquire.html>.
The most up-to-date version of this documentation (updated nightly from the development sources) is
available at <http://tug.org/texlive/tlmgr.html>, along with procedures for updating "tlmgr" itself and
information about test versions.
WARNING: tlmgr in Debian runs always in user mode
TeX Live is organized into a few top-level schemes, each of which is specified as a different set of
collections and packages, where a collection is a set of packages, and a package is what contains actual
files. Schemes typically contain a mix of collections and packages, but each package is included in
exactly one collection, no more and no less. A TeX Live installation can be customized and managed at
any level.
See <http://tug.org/texlive/doc> for all the TeX Live documentation available.
EXAMPLES
After successfully installing TeX Live, here are a few common operations with "tlmgr":
"tlmgr option repository http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet"
Tell "tlmgr" to use a nearby CTAN mirror for future updates; useful if you installed TeX Live from
the DVD image and want continuing updates.
"tlmgr update --list"
Report what would be updated without actually updating anything.
"tlmgr update --all"
Make your local TeX installation correspond to what is in the package repository (typically useful
when updating from CTAN).
"tlmgr info" pkg
Display detailed information about pkg, such as the installation status and description.
For all the capabilities and details of "tlmgr", please read the following voluminous information.
OPTIONS
The following options to "tlmgr" are global options, not specific to any action. All options, whether
global or action-specific, can be given anywhere on the command line, and in any order. The first non-
option argument will be the main action. In all cases, "--"option and "-"option are equivalent, and an
"=" is optional between an option name and its value.
--repository url|path
Specifies the package repository from which packages should be installed or updated, overriding the
default package repository found in the installation's TeX Live Package Database (a.k.a. the TLPDB,
defined entirely in the file "tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb"). The documentation for "install-tl" has more
details about this (<http://tug.org/texlive/doc/install-tl.html>).
"--repository" changes the repository location only for the current run; to make a permanent change,
use "option repository" (see the "option" action).
For backward compatibility and convenience, "--location" and "--repo" are accepted as aliases for
this option.
--gui [action]
"tlmgr" has a graphical interface as well as the command line interface. You can give this option,
"--gui", together with an action to be brought directly into the respective screen of the GUI. For
example, running
tlmgr --gui update
starts you directly at the update screen. If no action is given, the GUI will be started at the main
screen.
--gui-lang llcode
By default, the GUI tries to deduce your language from the environment (on Windows via the registry,
on Unix via "LC_MESSAGES"). If that fails you can select a different language by giving this option
with a language code (based on ISO 639-1). Currently supported (but not necessarily completely
translated) are: English (en, default), Czech (cs), German (de), French (fr), Italian (it), Japanese
(ja), Dutch (nl), Polish (pl), Brazilian Portuguese (pt_BR), Russian (ru), Slovak (sk), Slovenian
(sl), Serbian (sr), Ukrainian (uk), Vietnamese (vi), simplified Chinese (zh_CN), and traditional
Chinese (zh_TW).
--debug-translation
In GUI mode, this switch tells "tlmgr" to report any untranslated (or missing) messages to standard
error. This can help translators to see what remains to be done.
--machine-readable
Instead of the normal output intended for human consumption, write (to standard output) a fixed
format more suitable for machine parsing. See the "MACHINE-READABLE OUTPUT" section below.
--no-execute-actions
Suppress the execution of the execute actions as defined in the tlpsrc files. Documented only for
completeness, as this is only useful in debugging.
--package-logfile file
"tlmgr" logs all package actions (install, remove, update, failed updates, failed restores) to a
separate log file, by default "TEXMFSYSVAR/web2c/tlmgr.log". This option allows you to specific a
different file for the log.
--pause
This option makes "tlmgr" wait for user input before exiting. Useful on Windows to avoid
disappearing command windows.
--persistent-downloads
--no-persistent-downloads
For network-based installations, this option (on by default) makes "tlmgr" try to set up a persistent
connection (using the "LWP" Perl module). The idea is to open and reuse only one connection per
session between your computer and the server, instead of initiating a new download for each package.
If this is not possible, "tlmgr" will fall back to using "wget". To disable these persistent
connections, use "--no-persistent-downloads".
--pin-file
Change the pinning file location from "TEXMFLOCAL/tlpkg/pinning.txt" (see "Pinning" below).
Documented only for completeness, as this is only useful in debugging.
--usermode
Activates user mode for this run of "tlmgr"; see "USER MODE" below.
--usertree dir
Uses dir for the tree in user mode; see "USER MODE" below.
The standard options for TeX Live programs are also accepted: "--help/-h/-?", "--version", "-q" (no
informational messages), "-v" (debugging messages, can be repeated). For the details about these, see
the "TeXLive::TLUtils" documentation.
The "--version" option shows version information about the TeX Live release and about the "tlmgr" script
itself. If "-v" is also given, revision number for the loaded TeX Live Perl modules are shown, too.
ACTIONS
help
Gives this help information (same as "--help").
version
Gives version information (same as "--version").
If "-v" has been given the revisions of the used modules are reported, too.
backup [--clean[=N]] [--backupdir dir] [--all | pkg]...
If the "--clean" option is not specified, this action makes a backup of the given packages, or all
packages given "--all". These backups are saved to the value of the "--backupdir" option, if that is an
existing and writable directory. If "--backupdir" is not given, the "backupdir" option setting in the
TLPDB is used, if present. If both are missing, no backups are made.
If the "--clean" option is specified, backups are pruned (removed) instead of saved. The optional integer
value N may be specified to set the number of backups that will be retained when cleaning. If "N" is not
given, the value of the "autobackup" option is used. If both are missing, an error is issued. For more
details of backup pruning, see the "option" action.
Options:
--backupdir directory
Overrides the "backupdir" option setting in the TLPDB. The directory argument is required and must
specify an existing, writable directory where backups are to be placed.
--all
If "--clean" is not specified, make a backup of all packages in the TeX Live installation; this will
take quite a lot of space and time. If "--clean" is specified, all packages are pruned.
--clean[=N]
Instead of making backups, prune the backup directory of old backups, as explained above. The
optional integer argument N overrides the "autobackup" option set in the TLPDB. You must use "--all"
or a list of packages together with this option, as desired.
--dry-run
Nothing is actually backed up or removed; instead, the actions to be performed are written to the
terminal.
candidates
candidates pkg
Shows the available candidate repositories for package pkg. See "MULTIPLE REPOSITORIES" below.
check [option]... [files|depends|executes|runfiles|all]
Executes one (or all) check(s) on the consistency of the installation.
files
Checks that all files listed in the local TLPDB ("texlive.tlpdb") are actually present, and lists
those missing.
depends
Lists those packages which occur as dependencies in an installed collections, but are themselves not
installed, and those packages that are not contained in any collection.
If you call "tlmgr check collections" this test will be carried out instead since former versions for
"tlmgr" called it that way.
executes
Check that the files referred to by "execute" directives in the TeX Live Database are present.
runfiles
List those filenames that are occurring more than one time in the runfiles.
Options:
--use-svn
Use the output of "svn status" instead of listing the files; for checking the TL development
repository.
conf [texmf|tlmgr [key [value]]]
With only "conf", show general configuration information for TeX Live, including active configuration
files, path settings, and more. This is like the "texconfig conf" call, but works on all supported
platforms.
With either "conf texmf" or "conf tlmgr" given in addition, shows all key/value pairs (i.e., all
settings) as saved in "ROOT/texmf.cnf" or the tlmgr configuration file (see below), respectively.
If key is given in addition, shows the value of only that given key in the respective file.
If value is given in addition, key is set to value in the respective file. No error checking is done!
Practical application: if the execution of (some or all) system commands via "\write18" was left enabled
during installation, you can disable it afterwards:
tlmgr conf texmf shell_escape 0
Warning: The general facility is here, but tinkering with settings in this way is very strongly
discouraged. Again, no error checking is done, so any sort of breakage is possible.
dump-tlpdb [--local|--remote]
Dump complete local or remote TLPDB to standard output, as-is. The output is analogous to the
"--machine-readable" output; see "MACHINE-READABLE OUTPUT" section.
Options:
--local
Dump the local tlpdb.
--remote
Dump the remote tlpdb.
Exactly one of "--local" and "--remote" must be given.
In either case, the first line of the output specifies the repository location, in this format:
"location-url" "\t" location
where "location-url" is the literal field name, followed by a tab, and location is the file or url to the
repository.
Line endings may be either LF or CRLF depending on the current platform.
generate [option]... what
generate language
generate language.dat
generate language.def
generate language.dat.lua
generate fmtutil
The "generate" action overwrites any manual changes made in the respective files: it recreates them from
scratch based on the information of the installed packages, plus local adaptions. The TeX Live installer
and "tlmgr" routinely call "generate" for all of these files.
For managing your own fonts, please read the "updmap --help" information and/or
<http://tug.org/fonts/fontinstall.html>.
In more detail: "generate" remakes any of the configuration files "language.dat", "language.def",
"language.dat.lua", and "fmtutil.cnf", from the information present in the local TLPDB, plus locally-
maintained files.
The locally-maintained files are "language-local.dat", "language-local.def", "language-local.dat.lua", or
"fmtutil-local.cnf", searched for in "TEXMFLOCAL" in the respective directories. If local additions are
present, the final file is made by starting with the main file, omitting any entries that the local file
specifies to be disabled, and finally appending the local file.
(Historical note: The formerly supported "updmap-local.cfg" is no longer read, since "updmap" now
supports multiple "updmap.cfg" files. Thus, local additions can and should be put into an "updmap.cfg"
file in "TEXMFLOCAL". The "generate updmap" action no longer exists.)
Local files specify entries to be disabled with a comment line, namely one of these:
#!NAME
%!NAME
--!NAME
where "fmtutil.cnf" uses "#", "language.dat" and "language.def" use "%", and "language.dat.lua" use "--".
In all cases, the name is the respective format name or hyphenation pattern identifier. Examples:
#!pdflatex
%!german
--!usenglishmax
(Of course, you're not likely to actually want to disable those particular items. They're just
examples.)
After such a disabling line, the local file can include another entry for the same item, if a different
definition is desired. In general, except for the special disabling lines, the local files follow the
same syntax as the master files.
The form "generate language" recreates all three files "language.dat", "language.def", and
"language.dat.lua", while the forms with an extension recreates only that given language file.
Options:
--dest output_file
specifies the output file (defaults to the respective location in "TEXMFSYSVAR"). If "--dest" is
given to "generate language", it serves as a basename onto which ".dat" will be appended for the name
of the "language.dat" output file, ".def" will be appended to the value for the name of the
"language.def" output file, and ".dat.lua" to the name of the "language.dat.lua" file. (This is just
to avoid overwriting; if you want a specific name for each output file, we recommend invoking "tlmgr"
twice.)
--localcfg local_conf_file
specifies the (optional) local additions (defaults to the respective location in "TEXMFLOCAL").
--rebuild-sys
tells tlmgr to run necessary programs after config files have been regenerated. These are:
"fmtutil-sys --all" after "generate fmtutil", "fmtutil-sys --byhyphen .../language.dat" after
"generate language.dat", and "fmtutil-sys --byhyphen .../language.def" after "generate language.def".
These subsequent calls cause the newly-generated files to actually take effect. This is not done by
default since those calls are lengthy processes and one might want to made several related changes in
succession before invoking these programs.
The respective locations are as follows:
tex/generic/config/language.dat (and language-local.dat);
tex/generic/config/language.def (and language-local.def);
tex/generic/config/language.dat.lua (and language-local.dat.lua);
web2c/fmtutil.cnf (and fmtutil-local.cnf);
gui
Start the graphical user interface. See GUI below.
info [option...] [collections|schemes|pkg...]
With no argument, lists all packages available at the package repository, prefixing those already
installed with "i".
With the single word "collections" or "schemes" as the argument, lists the request type instead of all
packages.
With any other arguments, display information about pkg: the name, category, short and long description,
installation status, and TeX Live revision number. If pkg is not locally installed, searches in the
remote installation source.
It also displays information taken from the TeX Catalogue, namely the package version, date, and license.
Consider these, especially the package version, as approximations only, due to timing skew of the updates
of the different pieces. By contrast, the "revision" value comes directly from TL and is reliable.
The former actions "show" and "list" are merged into this action, but are still supported for backward
compatibility.
Options:
--list
If the option "--list" is given with a package, the list of contained files is also shown, including
those for platform-specific dependencies. When given with schemes and collections, "--list" outputs
their dependencies in a similar way.
--only-installed
If this options is given, the installation source will not be used; only locally installed packages,
collections, or schemes are listed. (Does not work for listing of packages for now)
--taxonomy
--keyword
--functionality
--characterization
In addition to the normal data displayed, also display information for given packages from the
corresponding taxonomy (or all of them). See "TAXONOMIES" below for details.
init-usertree
Sets up a texmf tree for so-called user mode management, either the default user tree ("TEXMFHOME"), or
one specified on the command line with "--usertree". See "USER MODE" below.
install [option]... pkg...
Install each pkg given on the command line. By default this installs all packages on which the given pkgs
are dependent, also. Options:
--file
Instead of fetching a package from the installation repository, use the package files given on the
command line. These files must be standard TeX Live package files (with contained tlpobj file).
--reinstall
Reinstall a package (including dependencies for collections) even if it already seems to be installed
(i.e, is present in the TLPDB). This is useful to recover from accidental removal of files in the
hierarchy.
When re-installing, only dependencies on normal packages are followed (i.e., not those of category
Scheme or Collection).
--no-depends
Do not install dependencies. (By default, installing a package ensures that all dependencies of this
package are fulfilled.)
--no-depends-at-all
Normally, when you install a package which ships binary files the respective binary package will also
be installed. That is, for a package "foo", the package "foo.i386-linux" will also be installed on
an "i386-linux" system. This option suppresses this behavior, and also implies "--no-depends".
Don't use it unless you are sure of what you are doing.
--dry-run
Nothing is actually installed; instead, the actions to be performed are written to the terminal.
--force
If updates to "tlmgr" itself (or other parts of the basic infrastructure) are present, "tlmgr" will
bail out and not perform the installation unless this option is given. Not recommended.
option
option [show]
option showall
option key [value]
The first form shows the global TeX Live settings currently saved in the TLPDB with a short description
and the "key" used for changing it in parentheses.
The second form is similar, but also shows options which can be defined but are not currently set to any
value.
In the third form, if value is not given, the setting for key is displayed. If value is present, key is
set to value.
Possible values for key are (run "tlmgr option showall" for the definitive list):
repository (default package repository),
formats (create formats at installation time),
postcode (run postinst code blobs)
docfiles (install documentation files),
srcfiles (install source files),
backupdir (default directory for backups),
autobackup (number of backups to keep).
sys_bin (directory to which executables are linked by the path action)
sys_man (directory to which man pages are linked by the path action)
sys_info (directory to which Info files are linked by the path action)
desktop_integration (Windows-only: create Start menu shortcuts)
fileassocs (Windows-only: change file associations)
multiuser (Windows-only: install for all users)
One common use of "option" is to permanently change the installation to get further updates from the
Internet, after originally installing from DVD. To do this, you can run
tlmgr option repository http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet
The "install-tl" documentation has more information about the possible values for "repository". (For
backward compatibility, "location" can be used as alternative name for "repository".)
If "formats" is set (this is the default), then formats are regenerated when either the engine or the
format files have changed. Disable this only when you know what you are doing.
The "postcode" option controls execution of per-package postinstallation action code. It is set by
default, and again disabling is not likely to be of interest except perhaps to developers.
The "docfiles" and "srcfiles" options control the installation of their respective files of a package. By
default both are enabled (1). This can be disabled (set to 0) if disk space is (very) limited.
The options "autobackup" and "backupdir" determine the defaults for the actions "update", "backup" and
"restore". These three actions need a directory in which to read or write the backups. If "--backupdir"
is not specified on the command line, the "backupdir" option value is used (if set).
The "autobackup" option (de)activates automatic generation of backups. Its value is an integer. If the
"autobackup" value is "-1", no backups are removed. If "autobackup" is 0 or more, it specifies the
number of backups to keep. Thus, backups are disabled if the value is 0. In the "--clean" mode of the
"backup" action this option also specifies the number to be kept.
To setup "autobackup" to "-1" on the command line, use either:
tlmgr option autobackup infty
or:
tlmgr option -- autobackup -1
The "--" avoids having the "-1" treated as an option. ("--" stops parsing for options at the point where
it appears; this is a general feature across most Unix programs.)
The "sys_bin", "sys_man", and "sys_info" options are used on Unix-like systems to control the generation
of links for executables, info files and man pages. See the "path" action for details.
The last three options control behaviour on Windows installations. If "desktop_integration" is set, then
some packages will install items in a sub-folder of the Start menu for "tlmgr gui", documentation, etc.
If "fileassocs" is set, Windows file associations are made (see also the "postaction" action). Finally,
if "multiuser" is set, then adaptions to the registry and the menus are done for all users on the system
instead of only the current user. All three options are on by default.
paper
paper [a4|letter]
[xdvi|pdftex|dvips|dvipdfmx|dvipdfm|context] paper [papersize|--list]
With no arguments ("tlmgr paper"), shows the default paper size setting for all known programs.
With one argument (e.g., "tlmgr paper a4"), sets the default for all known programs to that paper size.
With a program given as the first argument and no paper size specified (e.g., "tlmgr dvips paper"), shows
the default paper size for that program.
With a program given as the first argument and a paper size as the last argument (e.g., "tlmgr dvips
paper a4"), set the default for that program to that paper size.
With a program given as the first argument and "--list" given as the last argument (e.g., "tlmgr dvips
paper --list"), shows all valid paper sizes for that program. The first size shown is the default.
Incidentally, this syntax of having a specific program name before the "paper" keyword may seem strange.
It is inherited from the longstanding "texconfig" script, which supports other configuration settings for
some programs, notably "dvips". "tlmgr" does not support those extra settings at present.
path [--w32mode=user|admin] [add|remove]
On Unix, merely adds or removes symlinks for binaries, man pages, and info pages in the system
directories specified by the respective options (see the "option" description above). Does not change
any initialization files, either system or personal.
On Windows, the registry part where the binary directory is added or removed is determined in the
following way:
If the user has admin rights, and the option "--w32mode" is not given, the setting w32_multi_user
determines the location (i.e., if it is on then the system path, otherwise the user path is changed).
If the user has admin rights, and the option "--w32mode" is given, this option determines the path to be
adjusted.
If the user does not have admin rights, and the option "--w32mode" is not given, and the setting
w32_multi_user is off, the user path is changed, while if the setting w32_multi_user is on, a warning is
issued that the caller does not have enough privileges.
If the user does not have admin rights, and the option "--w32mode" is given, it must be user and the user
path will be adjusted. If a user without admin rights uses the option "--w32mode admin" a warning is
issued that the caller does not have enough privileges.
pinning
The "pinning" action manages the pinning file, see "Pinning" below.
"pinning show"
Shows the current pinning data.
"pinning add" repo pkgglob...
Pins the packages matching the pkgglob(s) to the repository repo.
"pinning remove" repo pkgglob...
Any packages recorded in the pinning file matching the <pkgglob>s for the given repository repo are
removed.
"pinning remove repo --all"
Remove all pinning data for repository repo.
platform list|add|remove platform...
platform set platform
platform set auto
"platform list" lists the TeX Live names of all the platforms (a.k.a. architectures), ("i386-linux", ...)
available at the package repository.
"platform add" platform... adds the executables for each given platform platform to the installation from
the repository.
"platform remove" platform... removes the executables for each given platform platform from the
installation, but keeps the currently running platform in any case.
"platform set" platform switches TeX Live to always use the given platform instead of auto detection.
"platform set auto" switches TeX Live to auto detection mode for platform.
Platform detection is needed to select the proper "xz", "xzdec" and "wget" binaries that are shipped with
TeX Live.
"arch" is a synonym for "platform".
Options:
--dry-run
Nothing is actually installed; instead, the actions to be performed are written to the terminal.
postaction [--w32mode=user|admin] [--fileassocmode=1|2] [--all] [install|remove] [shortcut|fileassoc|script]
[pkg]...
Carry out the postaction "shortcut", "fileassoc", or "script" given as the second required argument in
install or remove mode (which is the first required argument), for either the packages given on the
command line, or for all if "--all" is given.
If the option "--w32mode" is given the value "user", all actions will only be carried out in the user-
accessible parts of the registry/filesystem, while the value "admin" selects the system-wide parts of the
registry for the file associations. If you do not have enough permissions, using "--w32mode=admin" will
not succeed.
"--fileassocmode" specifies the action for file associations. If it is set to 1 (the default), only new
associations are added; if it is set to 2, all associations are set to the TeX Live programs. (See also
"option fileassocs".)
print-platform
Print the TeX Live identifier for the detected platform (hardware/operating system) combination to
standard output, and exit. "--print-arch" is a synonym.
restore [--backupdir dir] [--all | pkg [rev]]
Restore a package from a previously-made backup.
If "--all" is given, try to restore the latest revision of all package backups found in the backup
directory.
Otherwise, if neither pkg nor rev are given, list the available backup revisions for all packages.
With pkg given but no rev, list all available backup revisions of pkg.
When listing available packages tlmgr shows the revision and in parenthesis the creation time if
available (in format yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm).
With both pkg and rev, tries to restore the package from the specified backup.
Options:
--all
Try to restore the latest revision of all package backups found in the backup directory. Additional
non-option arguments (like pkg) are not allowed.
--backupdir directory
Specify the directory where the backups are to be found. If not given it will be taken from the
configuration setting in the TLPDB.
--dry-run
Nothing is actually restored; instead, the actions to be performed are written to the terminal.
--force
Don't ask questions.
remove [option]... pkg...
Remove each pkg specified. Removing a collection removes all package dependencies (unless "--no-depends"
is specified), but not any collection dependencies of that collection. However, when removing a package,
dependencies are never removed. Options:
--no-depends
Do not remove dependent packages.
--no-depends-at-all
See above under install (and beware).
--force
By default, removal of a package or collection that is a dependency of another collection or scheme
is not allowed. With this option, the package will be removed unconditionally. Use with care.
A package that has been removed using the "--force" option because it is still listed in an installed
collection or scheme will not be updated, and will be mentioned as forcibly removed in the output of
tlmgr update --list.
--dry-run
Nothing is actually removed; instead, the actions to be performed are written to the terminal.
repository
repository list
repository list path|tag
repository add path [tag]
repository remove path|tag
repository set path[#tag] [path[#tag] ...]
This action manages the list of repositories. See "MULTIPLE REPOSITORIES" below for detailed
explanations.
The first form ("list") lists all configured repositories and the respective tags if set. If a path,
url, or tag is given after the "list" keyword, it is interpreted as source from where to initialize a
TeX Live Database and lists the contained packages. This can also be an up-to-now not used
repository, both locally and remote. If one pass in addition "--with-platforms", for each package the
available platforms (if any) are listed, too.
The third form ("add") adds a repository (optionally attaching a tag) to the list of repositories.
The forth form ("remove") removes a repository, either by full path/url, or by tag. The last form
("set") sets the list of repositories to the items given on the command line, not keeping previous
settings
In all cases, one of the repositories must be tagged as "main"; otherwise, all operations will fail!
search [option...] what
search [option...] --file what
search [option...] --taxonomy what
search [option...] --keyword what
search [option...] --functionality what
search [option...] --characterization what
search [option...] --all what
By default, search the names, short descriptions, and long descriptions of all locally installed packages
for the argument what, interpreted as a regular expression.
Options:
--global
Search the TeX Live Database of the installation medium, instead of the local installation.
--word
Restrict the search to match only full words. For example, searching for "table" with this option
will not output packages containing the word "tables" (unless they also contain the word "table" on
its own).
--list
If a search for any (or all) taxonomies is done, by specifying one of the taxonomy options below,
then instead of searching for packages, list the entire corresponding taxonomy (or all of them). See
"TAXONOMIES" below.
Other search options are selected by specifying one of the following:
--file
List all filenames containing what.
--taxonomy
--keyword
--functionality
--characterization
Search in the corresponding taxonomy (or all) instead of the package descriptions. See "TAXONOMIES"
below.
--all
Search for package names, descriptions, and taxonomies, but not files.
uninstall
Uninstalls the entire TeX Live installation. Options:
--force
Do not ask for confirmation, remove immediately.
update [option]... [pkg]...
Updates the packages given as arguments to the latest version available at the installation source.
Either "--all" or at least one pkg name must be specified. Options:
--all
Update all installed packages except for "tlmgr" itself. Thus, if updates to "tlmgr" itself are
present, this will simply give an error, unless also the option "--force" or "--self" is given. (See
below.)
In addition to updating the installed packages, during the update of a collection the local
installation is (by default) synchronized to the status of the collection on the server, for both
additions and removals.
This means that if a package has been removed on the server (and thus has also been removed from the
respective collection), "tlmgr" will remove the package in the local installation. This is called
``auto-remove'' and is announced as such when using the option "--list". This auto-removal can be
suppressed using the option "--no-auto-remove" (not recommended, see option description).
Analogously, if a package has been added to a collection on the server that is also installed
locally, it will be added to the local installation. This is called ``auto-install'' and is
announced as such when using the option "--list". This auto-installation can be suppressed using the
option "--no-auto-install".
An exception to the collection dependency checks (including the auto-installation of packages just
mentioned) are those that have been ``forcibly removed'' by you, that is, you called "tlmgr remove
--force" on them. (See the "remove" action documentation.) To reinstall any such forcibly removed
packages use "--reinstall-forcibly-removed".
If you want to exclude some packages from the current update run (e.g., due to a slow link), see the
"--exclude" option below.
--self
Update "tlmgr" itself (that is, the infrastructure packages) if updates to it are present. On Windows
this includes updates to the private Perl interpreter shipped inside TeX Live.
If this option is given together with either "--all" or a list of packages, then "tlmgr" will be
updated first and, if this update succeeds, the new version will be restarted to complete the rest of
the updates.
In short:
tlmgr update --self # update infrastructure only
tlmgr update --self --all # update infrastructure and all packages
tlmgr update --force --all # update all packages but *not* infrastructure
# ... this last at your own risk, not recommended!
--dry-run
Nothing is actually installed; instead, the actions to be performed are written to the terminal.
This is a more detailed report than "--list".
--list [pkg]
Concisely list the packages which would be updated, newly installed, or removed, without actually
changing anything. If "--all" is also given, all available updates are listed. If "--self" is
given, but not "--all", only updates to the critical packages (tlmgr, texlive infrastructure, perl on
Windows, etc.) are listed. If neither "--all" nor "--self" is given, and in addition no pkg is
given, then "--all" is assumed (thus, "tlmgr update --list" is the same as "tlmgr update --list
--all"). If neither "--all" nor "--self" is given, but specific package names are given, those
packages are checked for updates.
--exclude pkg
Exclude pkg from the update process. If this option is given more than once, its arguments
accumulate.
An argument pkg excludes both the package pkg itself and all its related platform-specific packages
pkg.ARCH. For example,
tlmgr update --all --exclude a2ping
will not update "a2ping", "a2ping.i386-linux", or any other "a2ping."ARCH package.
If this option specifies a package that would otherwise be a candidate for auto-installation, auto-
removal, or reinstallation of a forcibly removed package, "tlmgr" quits with an error message.
Excludes are not supported in these circumstances.
--no-auto-remove [pkg]...
By default, "tlmgr" tries to remove packages which have disappeared on the server, as described above
under "--all". This option prevents such removals, either for all packages (with "--all"), or for
just the given pkg names. This can lead to an inconsistent TeX installation, since packages are not
infrequently renamed or replaced by their authors. Therefore this is not recommend.
--no-auto-install [pkg]...
Under normal circumstances "tlmgr" will install packages which are new on the server, as described
above under "--all". This option prevents any such automatic installation, either for all packages
(with "--all"), or the given pkg names.
Furthermore, after the "tlmgr" run using this has finished, the packages that would have been auto-
installed will be considered as forcibly removed. So, if "foobar" is the only new package on the
server, then
tlmgr update --all --no-auto-install
is equivalent to
tlmgr update --all
tlmgr remove --force foobar
--reinstall-forcibly-removed
Under normal circumstances "tlmgr" will not install packages that have been forcibly removed by the
user; that is, removed with "remove --force", or whose installation was prohibited by
"--no-auto-install" during an earlier update.
This option makes "tlmgr" ignore the forcible removals and re-install all such packages. This can be
used to completely synchronize an installation with the server's idea of what is available:
tlmgr update --reinstall-forcibly-removed --all
--backup and --backupdir directory
These two options control the creation of backups of packages before updating; that is, backup of
packages as currently installed. If neither of these options are given, no backup package will be
saved. If "--backupdir" is given and specifies a writable directory then a backup will be made in
that location. If only "--backup" is given, then a backup will be made to the directory previously
set via the "option" action (see below). If both are given then a backup will be made to the
specified directory.
You can set options via the "option" action to automatically create backups for all packages, and/or
keep only a certain number of backups. Please see the "option" action for details.
"tlmgr" always makes a temporary backup when updating packages, in case of download or other failure
during an update. In contrast, the purpose of this "--backup" option is to allow you to save a
persistent backup in case the actual content of the update causes problems, e.g., introduces an
incompatibility.
The "restore" action explains how to restore from a backup.
--no-depends
If you call for updating a package normally all depending packages will also be checked for updates
and updated if necessary. This switch suppresses this behavior.
--no-depends-at-all
See above under install (and beware).
--force
Force update of normal packages, without updating "tlmgr" itself (unless the "--self" option is also
given). Not recommended.
Also, "update --list" is still performed regardless of this option.
If the package on the server is older than the package already installed (e.g., if the selected mirror is
out of date), "tlmgr" does not downgrade. Also, packages for uninstalled platforms are not installed.
USER MODE
WARNING: This is new work in TL 2013. Expect breakage, and the need to reinstall your user tree.
"tlmgr" provides a restricted way, called ``user mode'', to manage arbitrary texmf trees in the same way
as the main installation. For example, this allows people without write permissions on the installation
location to update/install packages into a tree of their own.
"tlmgr" is switched into user mode with the command line option "--usermode". It does not switch
automatically, nor is there any configuration file setting for it. Thus, this option has to be
explicitly given every time user mode is to be activated.
This mode of "tlmgr" works on a user tree, by default the value of the "TEXMFHOME" variable. This can be
overridden with the command line option "--usertree". In the following when we speak of the user tree we
mean either "TEXMFHOME" or the one given on the command line.
Not all actions are allowed in user mode; "tlmgr" will warn you and not carry out any problematic
actions. Currently not supported (and probably will never be) is the "platform" action. The "gui"
action is currently not supported, but may be in a future release.
Some "tlmgr" actions don't need any write permissions and thus work the same in user mode and normal
mode. Currently these are: "check", "help", "list", "print-platform", "search", "show", "version".
On the other hand, most of the actions dealing with package management do need write permissions, and
thus behave differently in user mode, as described below: "install", "update", "remove", "option",
"paper", "generate", "backup", "restore", "uninstall", "symlinks".
Before using "tlmgr" in user mode, you have to set up the user tree with the "init-usertree" action.
This creates usertree"/web2c" and usertree"/tlpkg/tlpobj", and a minimal usertree"/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb".
At that point, you can tell "tlmgr" to do the (supported) actions by adding the "--usermode" command line
option.
In user mode the file usertree"/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb" contains only the packages that have been installed
into the user tree using "tlmgr", plus additional options from the ``virtual'' package
"00texlive.installation" (similar to the main installation's "texlive.tlpdb").
All actions on packages in user mode can only be carried out on packages that are known as "relocatable".
This excludes all packages containing executables and a few other core packages. Of the 2500 or so
packages currently in TeX Live the vast majority are relocatable and can be installed into a user tree.
Description of changes of actions in user mode:
install
In user mode, the "install" action checks that the package and all dependencies are all either relocated
or already installed in the system installation. If this is the case, it unpacks all containers to be
installed into the user tree (to repeat, that's either "TEXMFHOME" or the value of "--usertree") and add
the respective packages to the user tree's "texlive.tlpdb" (creating it if need be).
Currently installing a collection in user mode installs all dependent packages, but in contrast to normal
mode, does not install dependent collections. For example, in normal mode "tlmgr install
collection-context" would install "collection-basic" and other collections, while in user mode, only the
packages mentioned in "collection-context" are installed.
backup, restore, remove, update
In user mode, these actions check that all packages to be acted on are installed in the user tree before
proceeding; otherwise, they behave just as in normal mode.
generate, option, paper
In user mode, these actions operate only on the user tree's configuration files and/or "texlive.tlpdb".
creates configuration files in user tree
WARNING repeated: this is still has to be considered experimental! Please report bugs to
"tex-live@tug.org" as usual
TLMGR CONFIGURATION FILE
A small subset of the command line options can be set in a config file for "tlmgr" which resides in
"TEXMFCONFIG/tlmgr/config". By default, the config file is in "~/.texliveYYYY/texmf-config/tlmgr/config"
(replacing "YYYY" with the year of your TeX Live installation). This is not "TEXMFSYSVAR", so that the
file is specific to a single user.
In this file, empty lines and lines starting with # are ignored. All other lines must look like
key = value
where the allowed keys are "gui-expertmode" (value 0 or 1), "persistent-downloads" (value 0 or 1),
"auto-remove" (value 0 or 1), and "gui-lang" (value like in the command line option).
"persistent-downloads", "gui-lang", and "auto-remove" correspond to the respective command line options
of the same name. "gui-expertmode" switches between the full GUI and a simplified GUI with only the
important and mostly used settings.
TAXONOMIES
tlmgr allows searching and listing of various categorizations, which we call taxonomies, as provided by
an enhanced TeX Catalogue (available for testing at <http://az.ctan.org>). This is useful when, for
example, you don't know a specific package name but have an idea of the functionality you need; or when
you want to see all packages relating to a given area.
There are three different taxonomies, specified by the following options:
"--keyword"
The keywords, as specified at <http://az.ctan.org/keyword>.
"--functionality"
The ``by-topic'' categorization created by J\"urgen Fenn, as specified at
<http://az.ctan.org/characterization/by-function>.
"--characterization"
Both the primary and secondary functionalities, as specified at
<http://az.ctan.org/characterization/choose_dimen>.
"--taxonomy"
Operate on all the taxonomies.
The taxonomies are updated nightly and stored within TeX Live, so Internet access is not required to
search them.
Examples:
tlmgr search --taxonomy exercise # check all taxonomies for "exercise"
tlmgr search --taxonomy --word table # check for "table" on its own
tlmgr search --list --keyword # dump entire keyword taxonomy
tlmgr show --taxonomy pdftex # show pdftex package information,
# including all taxonomy entries
MULTIPLE REPOSITORIES
The main TeX Live repository contains a vast array of packages. Nevertheless, additional local
repositories can be useful to provide locally-installed resources, such as proprietary fonts and house
styles. Also, alternative package repositories distribute packages that cannot or should not be included
in TeX Live, for whatever reason.
The simplest and most reliable method is to temporarily set the installation source to any repository
(with the "-repository" or "option repository" command line options), and perform your operations.
When you are using multiple repositories over a sustained time, however, explicitly switching between
them becomes inconvenient. Thus, it's possible to tell "tlmgr" about additional repositories you want to
use. The basic command is "tlmgr repository add". The rest of this section explains further.
When using multiple repositories, one of them has to be set as the main repository, which distributes
most of the installed packages. When you switch from a single repository installation to a multiple
repository installation, the previous sole repository will be set as the main repository.
By default, even if multiple repositories are configured, packages are still only installed from the main
repository. Thus, simply adding a second repository does not actually enable installation of anything
from there. You also have to specify which packages should be taken from the new repository, by
specifying so-called ``pinning'' rules, described next.
Pinning
When a package "foo" is pinned to a repository, a package "foo" in any other repository, even if it has a
higher revision number, will not be considered an installable candidate.
As mentioned above, by default everything is pinned to the main repository. Let's now go through an
example of setting up a second repository and enabling updates of a package from it.
First, check that we have support for multiple repositories, and have only one enabled (as is the case by
default):
$ tlmgr repository list
List of repositories (with tags if set):
/var/www/norbert/tlnet
Ok. Let's add the "tlcontrib" repository (this is a real repository, hosted at
<http://tlcontrib.metatex.org>, maintained by Taco Hoekwater et al.), with the tag "tlcontrib":
$ tlmgr repository add http://tlcontrib.metatex.org/2012 tlcontrib
Check the repository list again:
$ tlmgr repository list
List of repositories (with tags if set):
http://tlcontrib.metatex.org/2012 (tlcontrib)
/var/www/norbert/tlnet (main)
Now we specify a pinning entry to get the package "context" from "tlcontrib":
$ tlmgr pinning add tlcontrib context
Check that we can find "context":
$ tlmgr show context
tlmgr: package repositories:
...
package: context
repository: tlcontrib/26867
...
- install "context":
$ tlmgr install context
tlmgr: package repositories:
...
[1/1, ??:??/??:??] install: context @tlcontrib [
In the output here you can see that the "context" package has been installed from the "tlcontrib"
repository (@tlcontrib).
Finally, "tlmgr pinning" also supports removing certain or all packages from a given repository:
$ tlmgr pinning remove tlcontrib context # remove just context
$ tlmgr pinning remove tlcontrib --all # take nothing from tlcontrib
A summary of the "tlmgr pinning" actions is given above.
GUI FOR TLMGR
The graphical user interface for "tlmgr" needs Perl/Tk to be installed. For Windows the necessary
modules are shipped within TeX Live, for all other (i.e., Unix-based) systems Perl/Tk (as well as Perl of
course) has to be installed. <http://tug.org/texlive/distro.html#perltk> has a list of invocations for
some distros.
When started with "tlmgr gui" the graphical user interface will be shown. The main window contains a
menu bar, the main display, and a status area where messages normally shown on the console are displayed.
Within the main display there are three main parts: the "Display configuration" area, the list of
packages, and the action buttons.
Also, at the top right the currently loaded repository is shown; this also acts as a button and when
clicked will try to load the default repository. To load a different repository, see the "tlmgr" menu
item.
Finally, the status area at the bottom of the window gives additional information about what is going on.
Main display
Display configuration area
The first part of the main display allows you to specify (filter) which packages are shown. By default,
all are shown. Changes here are reflected right away.
Status
Select whether to show all packages (the default), only those installed, only those not installed, or
only those with update available.
Category
Select which categories are shown: packages, collections, and/or schemes. These are briefly
explained in the "DESCRIPTION" section above.
Match
Select packages matching for a specific pattern. By default, this uses the same algorithm as "tlmgr
search", i.e., searches everything: descriptions, taxonomies, and/or filenames. You can also select
any subset for searching.
Selection
Select packages to those selected, those not selected, or all. Here, ``selected'' means that the
checkbox in the beginning of the line of a package is ticked.
Display configuration buttons
To the right there are three buttons: select all packages, select none (a.k.a. deselect all), and
reset all these filters to the defaults, i.e., show all available.
Package list area
The second are of the main display lists all installed packages. If a repository is loaded, those that
are available but not installed are also listed.
Double clicking on a package line pops up an informational window with further details: the long
description, included files, etc.
Each line of the package list consists of the following items:
a checkbox
Used to select particular packages; some of the action buttons (see below) work only on the selected
packages.
package name
The name (identifier) of the package as given in the database.
local revision (and version)
If the package is installed the TeX Live revision number for the installed package will be shown. If
there is a catalogue version given in the database for this package, it will be shown in parentheses.
However, the catalogue version, unlike the TL revision, is not guaranteed to reflect what is actually
installed.
remote revision (and version)
If a repository has been loaded the revision of the package in the repository (if present) is shown.
As with the local column, if a catalogue version is provided it will be displayed. And also as with
the local column, the catalogue version may be stale.
short description
The short description of the package.
Main display action buttons
Below the list of packages are several buttons:
Update all installed
This calls "tlmgr update --all", i.e., tries to update all available packages. Below this button is
a toggle to allow reinstallation of previously removed packages as part of this action.
The other four buttons only work on the selected packages, i.e., those where the checkbox at the
beginning of the package line is ticked.
Update
Update only the selected packages.
Install
Install the selected packages; acts like "tlmgr install", i.e., also installs dependencies. Thus,
installing a collection installs all its constituent packages.
Remove
Removes the selected packages; acts like "tlmgr remove", i.e., it will also remove dependencies of
collections (but not dependencies of normal packages).
Backup
Makes a backup of the selected packages; acts like "tlmgr backup". This action needs the option
"backupdir" set (see "Options -" General>).
Menu bar
The following entries can be found in the menu bar:
"tlmgr" menu
The items here load various repositories: the default as specified in the TeX Live database, the
default network repository, the repository specified on the command line (if any), and an arbitrarily
manually-entered one. Also has the so-necessary "quit" operation.
"Options menu"
Provides access to several groups of options: "Paper" (configuration of default paper sizes),
"Platforms" (only on Unix, configuration of the supported/installed platforms), "GUI Language"
(select language used in the GUI interface), and "General" (everything else).
Several toggles are also here. The first is "Expert options", which is set by default. If you turn
this off, the next time you start the GUI a simplified screen will be shown that display only the
most important functionality. This setting is saved in the configuration file of "tlmgr"; see
"CONFIGURATION FILE" for details.
The other toggles are all off by default: for debugging output, to disable the automatic installation
of new packages, and to disable the automatic removal of packages deleted from the server. Playing
with the choices of what is or isn't installed may lead to an inconsistent TeX Live installation;
e.g., when a package is renamed.
"Actions menu"
Provides access to several actions: update the filename database (aka "ls-R", "mktexlsr", "texhash"),
rebuild all formats ("fmtutil-sys --all"), update the font map database ("updmap-sys"), restore from
a backup of a package, and use of symbolic links in system directories (not on Windows).
The final action is to remove the entire TeX Live installation (also not on Windows).
"Help menu"
Provides access to the TeX Live manual (also on the web at <http://tug.org/texlive/doc.html>) and the
usual ``About'' box.
MACHINE-READABLE OUTPUT
With the "--machine-readable" option, "tlmgr" writes to stdout in the fixed line-oriented format
described here, and the usual informational messages for human consumption are written to stderr
(normally they are written to stdout). The idea is that a program can get all the information it needs
by reading stdout.
Currently this option only applies to the update, the install, and the "option" actions.
update, install
The output format is as follows:
fieldname "\t" value
...
"end-of-header"
pkgname status localrev serverrev size runtime esttot
...
"end-of-updates"
other output from post actions, not in machine readable form
The header section currently has two fields: "location-url" (the repository source from which updates are
being drawn), and "total-bytes" (the total number of bytes to be downloaded).
The localrev and serverrev fields for each package are the revision numbers in the local installation and
server repository, respectively. The size field is the number of bytes to be downloaded, i.e., the size
of the compressed tar file for a network installation, not the unpacked size. The runtime and esttot
fields are only present for updated and auto-install packages, and contain the currently passed time
since start of installation/updates and the estimated total time.
Line endings may be either LF or CRLF depending on the current platform.
"location-url" location
The location may be a url (including "file:///foo/bar/..."), or a directory name ("/foo/bar"). It is
the package repository from which the new package information was drawn.
"total-bytes" count
The count is simply a decimal number, the sum of the sizes of all the packages that need updating or
installing (which are listed subsequently).
Then comes a line with only the literal string "end-of-header".
Each following line until a line with literal string "end-of-updates" reports on one package. The fields
on each line are separated by a tab. Here are the fields.
pkgname
The TeX Live package identifier, with a possible platform suffix for executables. For instance,
"pdftex" and "pdftex.i386-linux" are given as two separate packages, one on each line.
status
The status of the package update. One character, as follows:
"d" The package was removed on the server.
"f" The package was removed in the local installation, even though a collection depended on it.
(E.g., the user ran "tlmgr remove --force".)
"u" Normal update is needed.
"r" Reversed non-update: the locally-installed version is newer than the version on the server.
"a" Automatically-determined need for installation, the package is new on the server and is (most
probably) part of an installed collection.
"i" Package will be installed and isn't present in the local installation (action install).
"I" Package is already present but will be reinstalled (action install).
localrev
The revision number of the installed package, or "-" if it is not present locally.
serverrev
The revision number of the package on the server, or "-" if it is not present on the server.
size
The size in bytes of the package on the server. The sum of all the package sizes is given in the
"total-bytes" header field mentioned above.
runtime
The run time since start of installations or updates.
esttot
The estimated total time.
option
The output format is as follows:
key "\t" value
If a value is not saved in the database the string "(not set)" is shown.
If you are developing a program that uses this output, and find that changes would be helpful, do not
hesitate to write the mailing list.
AUTHORS AND COPYRIGHT
This script and its documentation were written for the TeX Live distribution (<http://tug.org/texlive>)
and both are licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2 or later.
perl v5.18.1 2013-08-09 TLMGR(1)