# TeX Live

TeX Live is a cross-platform, free software distribution for the TeX typesetting system that includes major TeX-related programs, macro packages, and fonts. It is the replacement of its no-longer supported counterpart teTeX. It is now the default TeX distribution for several Linux distributions such as openSUSE, Fedora, Debian, Slackware, Ubuntu, Termux and Gentoo. Other Unix operating systems like OpenBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD have also converted from teTeX to TeX Live.
The project was originally started by Sebastian Rahtz in 1996 in collaboration with the TeX user groups worldwide, including the TeX Users Group. Today, it is maintained by Karl Berry, Akira Kakuto, Luigi Scarso and many other people.
Up to version 2009, TeX Live could be run directly, or "live", from a CD-ROM, from a DVD-ROM, or from any other mobile device, hence its name. As of TeX Live 2010, it was no longer possible to run the distribution from the TeX Collection DVD due to restrictions in storage space. TeX Live follows the TeX Directory Structure.
Since the 2009 release, the editor TeXworks is included for Microsoft Windows, as well as the vector graphics language Asymptote.
For macOS there is MacTeX, which comprises the full TeX Live distribution as well as some additional tools for using TeX on the Mac, most notably the editor TeXShop and the bibliography manager BibDesk. Similar to Basic MikTeX in MikTeX, a substantially smaller download, BasicTeX, can also be used for Mac as well. TeX Live can also be compiled and installed through MacPorts or Homebrew.

## Release history

| Version | Release date | Significant changes |
| class="templateVersion c swatch-latest" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Latest version" data-sort-value="2024" | Latest version: 2024 | 12 March 2024 | |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2023" | Old version, not maintained: 2023 | 19 March 2023 | Windows version starts and only provides 64-bit binaries. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2022" | Old version, not maintained: 2022 | 4 April 2022 | |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2021" | Old version, not maintained: 2021 | 1 April 2021 | |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2020" | Old version, not maintained: 2020 | 10 April 2020 | |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2019" | Old version, not maintained: 2019 | 19 April 2019 | New interface for TeX Live Manager. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2018" | Old version, not maintained: 2018 | 28 April 2018 | Case-insensitive file name matching on Unix by default. LaTeX default input encoding now UTF-8. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2017" | Old version, not maintained: 2017 | 4 June 2017 | LuaTeX 1.04. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2016" | Old version, not maintained: 2016 | 5 June 2016 | LuaTeX 0.90. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2015" | Old version, not maintained: 2015 | | LaTeX2e now include fixes previously found in fixltx2e. LuaTeX 0.80. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2014" | Old version, not maintained: 2014 | | |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2013" | Old version, not maintained: 2013 | | XeTeX now uses HarfBuzz for font layout. LuaTeX 0.77. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2012" | Old version, not maintained: 2012 | | MorphOS port |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2011" | Old version, not maintained: 2011 | | biber added. LuaTeX 0.70. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2010" | Old version, not maintained: 2010 | | Automatic EPS conversion for pdfTeX. PDF 1.5 output by default. XeTeX have margin kerning. LuaTeX 0.60. Can no longer be run live from a DVD. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2009" | Old version, not maintained: 2009 | | TeXworks included in Windows and OSX ports. Asymptote included. LuaTeX 0.40. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2008" | Old version, not maintained: 2008 | | Incremental updates over the internet. First release with LuaTeX. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2007" | Old version, not maintained: 2007 | | First release with XeTeX. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2005" | Old version, not maintained: 2005 | | |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2004" | Old version, not maintained: 2004 | | New folder structure. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2003" | Old version, not maintained: 2003 | | e-TeX as default. Latin Modern included. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="7" | Old version, not maintained: 7 | 2002 | Mac OS X support |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="6" | Old version, not maintained: 6 | July 2001 | Finegrained collections. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="5" | Old version, not maintained: 5 | March 2000 | Removed all non-free software. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="4" | Old version, not maintained: 4 | 1999 | Windows support. Web2C 7.3. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="3" | Old version, not maintained: 3 | 1998 | Web2C 7.2. |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="2" | Old version, not maintained: 2 | 1997 | |
| class="templateVersion co swatch-unsupported" style="color: var(--color-base, #202122); " title="Old version, not maintained" data-sort-value="1" | Old version, not maintained: 1 | May 1996 | |