We generally recommend installing the full version. But, if you don’t have enough available storage space on your machine, you can use these instructions to install the minimal version instead.
You only need to install one version!
To install the minimal version (≈600 MB), just as with the full installation, begin by following these steps to download the TeXlive installation script:
cd ~/.localcurl -L http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz | tar xzTEXLIVE_INSTALL_PREFIX=~/.local/texlive ./install-tl-*/install-tlTo only download the basic version in lieu of the full version,
type S and confirm with Enter.
Afterwards, you can switch the full-scheme to basic by typing d followed by R,
confirming each entry with Enter.
Finally, just as with the full installation,
begin the installation process by typing I.
In this case, only the program tlmgr will be installed.
To ensure the program is executable afterwards,
you must add the path to your shell’s configuration file.
To do this, add the following line to the ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file.
To see which shell is being used, you can enter echo $SHELL in a terminal.
If the output contains bash, you can add the path to TeXlive to your PATH with:
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/texlive/2025/bin/x86_64-linux:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrcsource ~/.bashrcFor other terminal variants, write the export command into the corresponding configuration file.
Next, the update options should be adjusted:
tlmgr option autobackup -- -1tlmgr option repository https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnetluaotfload-tool --update --forceYou can download a list of all the necessary LaTeX packages using:
curl -fLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pep-dortmund/toolbox-workshop/main/tex-packages.txtThe installation can be performed using:
xargs -a tex-packages.txt tlmgr installThis completes the installation of the minimal version. Continue with the tests in the guide for Windows 10, Windows 11 or Linux.