Installing using ready-built ZIP files

Installing packages, as they (“traditionally”) appear on CTAN, involves:

• identifying where to put the various files on an TDS tree,
• installing them, and
• a few housekeeping operations.

Most people, for most packages, find the first two steps onerous, the last being easy (unless it is forgotten!).

Ready-built ZIP files — also known as TDS-ZIP files — are designed to lighten the load of performing the first two steps of installation: they contain all the files that are to be installed for a given package, in their “correct” locations in a TDS tree.

To install such a file on a Unix system (we assume that you’ll install into the local TEXMF tree, at $TEXMFLOCAL):

cd $TEXMFLOCAL
unzip $package.tds.zip

On a Windows system that is modern enough that it has a built-in ZIP unpacker, simply double-click on the file, and browse to where it’s to be unpacked. (We trust that those using earlier versions of Windows will already have experience of using WinZIP or the like.)

Having unpacked the zip archive, in most cases the only remaining chore is to update the file indexes — as in normal installation instructions. However, if the package provides a font, you also need to enable the font’s map, which is discussed in “Installing a Type 1 font”

FAQ ID: Q-inst-tds-zip