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How can I install TeXLive bbm.sty without the full 3 GB install?

2 votes
1 answer
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I have a fairly large (~ 1 GB) texlive install on Ubuntu 24 LTS:
$ apt list --installed | grep texlive

WARNING: apt does not have a stable CLI interface. Use with caution in scripts.

texlive-base/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed,automatic]
texlive-binaries/noble,now 2023.20230311.66589-9build3 amd64 [installed,automatic]
texlive-fonts-recommended/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed,automatic]
texlive-lang-greek/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed,automatic]
texlive-latex-base/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed,automatic]
texlive-latex-extra/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed]
texlive-latex-recommended/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed,automatic]
texlive-pictures/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed,automatic]
texlive-plain-generic/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed,automatic]
texlive-science/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed]
texlive/noble,now 2023.20240207-1 all [installed]

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Release:        24.04
Codename:       noble
I need to compile a LaTeX file which uses the bbm.sty file. It's provided by texlive-fonts-extra - but that package takes another 2 GB of disk space!
$ sudo apt-get install texlive-fonts-extra | grep MB
Need to get 728 MB of archives.
After this operation, 2017 MB of additional disk space will be used.
all for one little file. I tried installing it via the TeX package manager, but couldn't:
$ sudo tlmgr install bbm
(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/texmf
tlmgr: user mode not initialized, please read the documentation!
I don't use TeX very often, and don't want to fill my drive with GBs of files for it. In fact, the 1 GB I have for it is already too much. Is there anyway I can slim down my TeX install and still add the needed bbm.sty file? Or is there no reliable way other than to dedicate several GBs? I'm happy deleting the ubuntu packages and doing a native install. My only requirement is that I should be able to use LaTeX on standard math and CS papers _and_ not dedicate over a GB to it.
Asked by SRobertJames (133 rep)
Jan 29, 2025, 06:18 AM
Last activity: Jan 30, 2025, 08:13 AM