Bug#1071763: texlive-base: tlmgr gives misinfo about installed pkgs + runs in user mode as root
Package: texlive-base
Version: 2022.20230122-3
Severity: normal
X-Debbugs-Cc: debbug.texlive-base@sideload.33mail.com
I was surprised tlmgr had to access the cloud to tell me what version
of the acro pkg I have installed:
===8<----------------------------------------
$ tlmgr --usermode info acro
/usr/bin/tlmgr: TLPDB::from_file could not initialize from: https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/tlpkg/texlive.tlpdb
/usr/bin/tlmgr: Maybe the repository setting should be changed.
/usr/bin/tlmgr: More info: https://tug.org/texlive/acquire.html
===8<----------------------------------------
Then noticed docs state “If *pkg* is not locally installed, searches
in the remote installation source.” Although the acro pkg is locally
installed, I added the --only-installed option because the cloud
should not be needed:
===8<----------------------------------------
$ tlmgr --usermode info --only-installed acro
package: acro
installed: No
===8<----------------------------------------
I know acro is installed system-wide, so tlmgr is apparently not
finding it when I run as a user and thus may only know about
user-installed pkgs. So I ran as root:
===8<----------------------------------------
# tlmgr info --only-installed acro
(running on Debian, switching to user mode!)
(see /usr/share/doc/texlive-base/README.tlmgr-on-Debian.md)
TLPDB: not a directory, not loading: /root/.local/share/texmf
tlmgr: user mode not initialized, please read the documentation!
===8<----------------------------------------
I was baffled that it’s switching to user mode when running as
root. This comment clarifies:
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=907415#8
It’s because tlmgr runs on Debian that it runs in user mode. That’s
not exactly clear from the output message:
“(running on Debian, switching to user mode!)”
I took that to mean tlmgr detected a Debian system for some reason
beyond me, and that it also switched to user mode for some other
reason beyond me. It would be more clear if it said:
“(running on Debian THUS switching to user mode!)”
Users will still be astonished about why Debian implies that we can
only run as a user, but it would at least be clear that user mode is
an intentional consequence of being on Debian.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 12.5
APT prefers stable-updates
APT policy: (990, 'stable-updates'), (990, 'stable-security'), (990, 'stable'), (500, 'oldstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386
Kernel: Linux 5.10.0-28-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU threads)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled
Versions of packages texlive-base depends on:
ii debconf [debconf-2.0] 1.5.82
ii libpaper-utils 1.1.29
ii sensible-utils 0.0.17+nmu1
ii tex-common 6.18
ii texlive-binaries 2022.20220321.62855-5.1+deb12u1
ii ucf 3.0043+nmu1
ii xdg-utils 1.1.3-4.1
Versions of packages texlive-base recommends:
ii lmodern 2.005-1
Versions of packages texlive-base suggests:
ii evince [postscript-viewer] 43.1-2+b1
ii ghostscript [postscript-viewer] 10.0.0~dfsg-11+deb12u3
ii mupdf [pdf-viewer] 1.21.1+ds2-1+b4
ii okular [postscript-viewer] 4:22.12.3-1
pn perl-tk <none>
ii qpdfview [pdf-viewer] 0.5.0+ds-2
ii qpdfview-ps-plugin [postscript-viewer] 0.5.0+ds-2
ii xpdf [pdf-viewer] 3.04+git20220601-1+b2
pn xzdec <none>
Versions of packages tex-common depends on:
ii ucf 3.0043+nmu1
Versions of packages tex-common suggests:
ii debhelper 13.11.4
Versions of packages texlive-base is related to:
ii tex-common 6.18
ii texlive-binaries 2022.20220321.62855-5.1+deb12u1
-- debconf information:
texlive-base/binary_chooser: pdftex, dvips, dvipdfmx, xdvi
texlive-base/texconfig_ignorant:
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