# TexLive Installation

**Install TexLive** via your package manager. On Debian/Ubuntu, install the full distribution (TexLive plus all common packages) or a minimal set if disk space matters.

```bash
sudo apt update
sudo apt install texlive-full       # ~3GB, includes everything
```

If you want a smaller installation, install only essential packages:

```bash
sudo apt install texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-fonts-extra
```

`texlive-latex-base` gives you core LaTeX with common document classes. `texlive-latex-extra` adds most packages (amsmath, graphicx, xcolor, etc.). `texlive-fonts-recommended` and `texlive-fonts-extra` provide additional fonts.

Check installation by compiling a test document:

```bash
echo '\documentclass{article}\begin{document}Hello\end{document}' > test.tex
pdflatex test.tex
ls test.pdf
```

If `test.pdf` is created, TexLive is working. The first run takes time as it generates font cache; subsequent runs are faster.

On Fedora/RHEL, use:

```bash
sudo dnf install texlive-latex-full
```

On macOS with Homebrew:

```bash
brew install texlive
```

For minimal setups or when you need specific packages not in your distro, install TexLive directly from [tug.org](https://tug.org/texlive/). The distro package is usually simpler—stick with it unless you need the latest version.

After installing new packages later with `tlmgr`, you may need to rebuild the font cache: `fmtutil-sys --all`.