[Rd] MiKTeX 2.5

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 8/11/2006 8:01 PM, apjaworski at mmm.com wrote:
> As you may already know, the MiKTeX distribution just went through a major
> upgade: from 2.4 to 2.5 with some major changes in the configuration files
> and directory structure.  SInce I routinely build new versions of R-patched
> and R-dvel from tarballs (this includes PDF documentation) I wnated to
> check how the new version will work.  I am happy to report that things went
> pretty smoothly.  Here is a short synopsis fo what I did:

Thanks for the report.  I haven't upgraded to 2.5 yet, and am heading 
out on vacation for a week or two, so won't likely try it until late in 
the month.

> 
> 1. First of all I am on Win2000 system with all recent security patches
> applied (my company takes care of that).
> 2. I tried to update my old version of MiKTeX using the new Update Wizard
> which poped up by itself after a routine MiKTeX update.  This did not go
> over too well.  The upgrade crashed in the middle complaining something
> about not being able to replace files in use.  I ended up with unusable
> MiKTeX.
> 3.  I uninstalled MiKTeX and downloaded the "basic" installer from a
> mirror.  I ran the installer making sure that I used the same path as the
> old installation.  This probably is not necessary, but then one might need
> to change the PATH environmental variable.  The install ran with no
> problem.
> 4.  I downloaded a fresh tarball of R-dvel and ran "make distribution >&
> zzz &" in the command (cygwin) window.  The compilation ran up to a point
> when it started making PDF documentation.  Then a window popped up asking
> me if I wanted to download a missing *.sty file (I do nor remember which
> one).  I clicked on the Install button and after a short while the make
> process picked up the compilation.  This happened one more time and the
> whole process finished with no further problems.
> 5.  I did some spot checks of  the *.pdf manuals and they seem to be fine.
> Also, I inspected the zzz file for error messages and there were none, so
> it looks like things worked OK.
> 6.  The basic MiKTeX installation apparently has an "on the fly"
> installation of missing packages feature that seems to work.  I think
> someplace on the MiKTeX site I saw something to that effect.
> 7.  With the old version of MiKTeX I had to copy the files from the
> share/texmf directory to MiKTeX's localtexmf/tex/latex.  This does not seem
> to be necessary anymore.  In fact the localtexmf does not exist in the new
> MiKTeX.

This may or may not be a MiKTeX change.  As of release 2.2.0, MikTeX has 
been working with R builds (though Rcmd Rd2dvi had a lingering bug until 
a post 2.3.1 patch).  It's possible they've reinstated the standard 
method of specifying TEXINPUTS through environment variables, and then 
it would work with older R builds, or maybe you just never noticed the 
2.2.0 change ;).

Duncan Murdoch
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Andy
> 
> __________________________________
> Andy Jaworski
> 518-1-01
> Process Laboratory
> 3M Corporate Research Laboratory
> -----
> E-mail: apjaworski at mmm.com
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> Fax:  (651) 736-3122
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