> On 16 Jul 2026, at 10:12, Henning Hraban Ramm <[email protected]> wrote: > > Am 15.07.26 um 23:59 schrieb Bruce Horrocks: > >> That mismatch is that Nix wants to install everything in hidden directories >> that it controls and that the user is actively prevented from changing >> (except via Nix). Context, on the other hand, lives in a directory named >> "context-<os_version>-<processor-type>" and you are encouraged to add your >> own packages, environment files and fonts into that directory tree. > > Nnno… You’re not expected to change anything in the architecture dependend > tree or the other "main" trees. > > ConTeXt (LMTX) offers texmf-local, texmf-project and texmf-fonts for your own > stuff, while texmf-modules could be filled via some package instructions > using "mtxrun --script modules --install --all".
I over simplified a little. You are correct that only those directories are intended for user modification but Nix will still install them all as hidden and un-modifiable unless some clever Nix fu is used. And even if that is possible; users will be confused by seeing what appears to be only half an installation because the documentation assumes that all are visible. > > There’s also ~/texmf available, even if that is (usually) not indexed and > thus a bit slower. > > It *is* a problem if you install with admin/root permissions (LMTX or TeX > live regardless), because then ConTeXt can’t change the caches anymore with > just user rights; it will create additional "user" caches and conflicts > between them lead to errors that are hard to analyze. > You should delete the "root" caches after installation and let ConTeXt > re-create them as user. Nix always installs everything as a 'nix' user and regular users don't have permissions to see or change anything. Running as sudo is being used (mis-used, perhaps) to signal to Nix that it is okay to do some things that Nix normally frowns on. They could just use a command line flag to override the default behaviour but I assume that they want the package developer to be really sure they want to override. > >> Lastly the TeXlive people clearly have better Nix fu than I do as there is a >> TexLive package that includes Context. >> <https://search.nixos.org/packages?channel=26.05&query=texlivePackages.texlive-en#show=texlivePackages.texlive-en> >> This might be your path of least resistance if you can live with the Context >> version from the beginning of the year and the extra disk space needed for a >> full LaTeX as well. > > The ConTeXt version in TeX live is much more current since Max Chernoff took > over. AFAIK it’s usually only a few days behind if at all. That is good news - I thought it was fixed once per year with the TexLive release. In that case there is virtually no reason not to use TexLive on Nixos. I'll run a quick install test when I get a chance to see what an end user actually sees. -- Bruce Horrocks Hampshire, UK ___________________________________________________________________________________ If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki! maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl webpage : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror) archive : https://github.com/contextgarden/context wiki : https://wiki.contextgarden.net ___________________________________________________________________________________
