Installing LyX 2.3.6.1 on Linux MInt 20.3 with TeXLive 2021

[Graeme]

On 03/03/2022 22:59, Graeme wrote:
> I've just done a clean install of Linux Mint 20.3, and then a full 
> install of TeXLive 2021, which cannot be done with the Mint's Synaptic 
> Package Manager. Mint 20.3 includes TeXLive 2019 as part of its 
> distribution, but I have not (yet) installed that version.
> 
> The standard Plain TeX or LaTeX workflows seem to behave normally, so 
> I'd now like to install LyX 2.3.6.1 using the (unsupported) PPA 
> available on Launchpad at ppa:lyx-devel/release.
> 
> However, when I try to install it using Mint's Package Manager, it lists 
> a number of standard TeX packages that it claims are necessary, and will 
> not proceed unless I also install them. These include:
> tex-common
> tex-gyre
> texlive-base
> texlive binaries
> texlive-fonts recommended
> texlive-lang-greek
> texlive-latex-base
> texlive-latex-extra
> texlive-latex-recommended
> texlive-pictures
> texlive-plain-generic
> texlive-science
> tipa
> 
> These are mostly TeXLive 2019 versions for which there are already 
> TeXLive 2021 versions installed. I'd prefer not to have both 2019 and 
> 2021 versions of TeXLive installed at the same time.
> 
> This prompts a number of linked questions:
> 
> a) Will LyX 2.3.6.1 work OK with a TeXLive 2021 installation?
> 
> b) Is there a way to force Mint's Package Manager to recognise the 
> existence to TeXLive 2021 packages?
> 
> c) Is there a way to install LyX 2.3.6.1 without installing the TeXLive 
> 2019 dependencies? (I'd prefer not to have to compile LyX 2.3.6.1 from 
> source.)
> 
> d) If I want to install LyX 2.3.6.1 with Mint's Package Manager, will 
> this force me to use TeXLive 2019 instead?
> 
> I would welcome advice on how to deal with this problem.
> 
> Graeme

Thanks to all the replies for their helpful comments.

Both Tobias and Kees suggested looking at the TeX User Group page 
advising how to integrate a vanilla TeX Live with a Debian-based version 
of Linux, such as Ubuntu, or Mint. This can be found at:
https://tug.org/texlive/debian.html#vanilla

As I had already installed a full "vanilla" version of TeXLive 2021, I 
then followed the instructions given on that page. Specifically:

1. Using Mint's Synaptic Package Manager, I installed:
a) The texinfo, tex-common, and lmodern packages
(tex-common was a required dependency for texinfo, and lmodern is a set 
of postscript fonts that may not strictly be required.)
b) The equivs package of command-line tools.

I also added TeXLive's bin directory to the definition of ENV_PATH in 
/etc/login.defs.
(I'm not sure this last step is strictly necessary for my system, as I 
believe it will only affect any new user accounts that are created 
subsequently, but it seems otherwise harmless.)

2. From a terminal window I used the equivs-control command to create 
create a plain text template file called texlive2021local. I then edited 
this file to include some basic information, and the list of packages 
provided by TeXLive 2021. This list is available at:
https://tug.org/texlive/files/debian-equivs-2021-ex.txt

3. I used the equivs-build command to create a dummy package called 
texlive2021local_2021.999999-1_all.deb, using the information in the 
file texlive2021local.

4. I "installed" the dummy package using the command:
sudo dpkg -i texlive2021local_2021.999999-1_all.deb
A check with Mint's Package manager confirmed that the system now 
recognised a package called texlive2021local, with version number 
2021.999999-1, and that this satisfied all the TeX-related dependencies 
needed to let me install LyX 2.3.6.1.

5. Using Mint's Package Manager, I installed LyX 2.3.6.1, including the 
(now much shorter) list of non-TeX-specific dependencies.

I now have a working installation of LyX 2.3.6.1 that uses my local 
installation of TeXLive 2021, so all seems good so far.

Thanks again for the helpful replies to my original query.

Graeme