install-tl

Start the text-based installer (default on Unix systems)

$ install-tl -no-gui

$ install-tl -gui

$ install-tl -profile [path/to/texlive.profile]

$ install-tl -init-from-file [path/to/texlive.profile]

$ install-tl -portable

$ install-tl -help

install-tl [options]... [profile-file]

--help
    Display help and exit

--version
    Print version information

--gui[=mode]
    Invoke GUI (mode: text, perl, basic, advanced)

--no-gui
    Force non-graphical text mode

--profile[=FILE]
    Read profile from FILE (default: interactive)

--repository=URL
    Use specified CTAN mirror or repository

--scheme=SCHEME
    Override profile with given scheme (full, medium, etc.)

--no-interaction
    Skip prompts, use defaults

--location=DIR
    Set installation root directory

--no-hash-check
    Skip checksum verification (development use)

--force
    Overwrite files if needed

--init-usertree
    Initialize user-local tree

install-tl is the official Perl-based installer script for TeX Live, a free distribution of the TeX typesetting system and thousands of packages for document preparation, math, fonts, and more. It supports Linux, other Unix-like systems, macOS, and Windows.

To use, download install-tl-unix.tar.gz (or .tar.xz) from tug.org/texlive/acquire.html, extract it, cd into the directory, and execute perl install-tl or make it executable with chmod +x install-tl then ./install-tl. The installer fetches packages from CTAN mirrors, installs to a specified directory (default ~/texmf-local for users or /usr/local/texlive/YYYY for root), and configures binaries and environment variables.

Installation modes include interactive text prompts, graphical interfaces (--gui with Perl Tk or text), or fully non-interactive via profiles. Profiles (e.g., profile-full) specify schemes like full (7GB+), medium, or basic, controlling installed collections. Post-install, add PATH to ~/.profile or /etc/profile, and use tlmgr for updates.

Ideal for LaTeX users, academics, and publishers needing high-quality typesetting.

Requires Perl 5.8+, wget or curl; full install downloads 7GB+ (slow on poor connections); user installs preferred over root to avoid permission issues; not for containerized or package-manager TeX installs.

Predefined in texlive-profiles/ directory post-extraction; edit for custom collections/packages (see texlive.profile.txt example).

Update PATH: export PATH=/path/to/texlive/YYYY/bin/x86_64-linux:$PATH; run tlmgr option repo public for updates; fmtutil-sys --all if root.

Default auto-selects nearest CTAN; list at ctan.org/mirrors; use --repository http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet for primary.

Introduced in TeX Live 2009 to standardize installation across platforms, replacing ad-hoc scripts; evolved with TeX Live annual releases (e.g., TL2023, TL2024), adding GUI, better mirror selection, and profile system.

tlmgr(1), tex(1), pdflatex(1), tlmgr(8)