[Rd] MiKTeX 2.5

[apjaworski at mmm.com]

As you may already know, the MiKTeX distribution just went through a major
upgade: from 2.4 to 2.5 with some major changes in the configuration files
and directory structure.  SInce I routinely build new versions of R-patched
and R-dvel from tarballs (this includes PDF documentation) I wnated to
check how the new version will work.  I am happy to report that things went
pretty smoothly.  Here is a short synopsis fo what I did:

1. First of all I am on Win2000 system with all recent security patches
applied (my company takes care of that).
2. I tried to update my old version of MiKTeX using the new Update Wizard
which poped up by itself after a routine MiKTeX update.  This did not go
over too well.  The upgrade crashed in the middle complaining something
about not being able to replace files in use.  I ended up with unusable
MiKTeX.
3.  I uninstalled MiKTeX and downloaded the "basic" installer from a
mirror.  I ran the installer making sure that I used the same path as the
old installation.  This probably is not necessary, but then one might need
to change the PATH environmental variable.  The install ran with no
problem.
4.  I downloaded a fresh tarball of R-dvel and ran "make distribution >&
zzz &" in the command (cygwin) window.  The compilation ran up to a point
when it started making PDF documentation.  Then a window popped up asking
me if I wanted to download a missing *.sty file (I do nor remember which
one).  I clicked on the Install button and after a short while the make
process picked up the compilation.  This happened one more time and the
whole process finished with no further problems.
5.  I did some spot checks of  the *.pdf manuals and they seem to be fine.
Also, I inspected the zzz file for error messages and there were none, so
it looks like things worked OK.
6.  The basic MiKTeX installation apparently has an "on the fly"
installation of missing packages feature that seems to work.  I think
someplace on the MiKTeX site I saw something to that effect.
7.  With the old version of MiKTeX I had to copy the files from the
share/texmf directory to MiKTeX's localtexmf/tex/latex.  This does not seem
to be necessary anymore.  In fact the localtexmf does not exist in the new
MiKTeX.

Hope this helps,

Andy

__________________________________
Andy Jaworski
518-1-01
Process Laboratory
3M Corporate Research Laboratory
-----
E-mail: apjaworski at mmm.com
Tel:  (651) 733-6092
Fax:  (651) 736-3122