Installing ConTeXt from the files on CTAN ========================================= ConTeXt is a fairly complex package to install—if at all possible, please use `tlmgr` (TeX Live) or `mpm` (MikTeX), since manually unpacking and installing the files is error-prone and complicated. But if you insist on installing manually, read on. Binaries -------- Unlike other TeX formats, each ConTeXt release depends on an exact version of its engine, LuaMetaTeX. Because of this, upgrading LuaMetaTeX or ConTeXt independently of each other is likely to lead to a non-functional installation. The archive `context.bin.zip` contains the binaries necessary to run ConTeXt. To use this, unpack it, and then copy the subfolder appropriate to your platform into your `$PATH`. Please ensure that the targets of the symbolic links `context.lua` and `mtxrun.lua` exist—they should both point to scripts inside `$TEXMFDIST/scripts/context/lua/`. These scripts themselves are contained in the `context.tds.zip` archive, as discussed below. The archive `luametatex.src.zip` contains the source code and build scripts corresponding to the packaged binaries, so if `context.bin.zip` does not contain binaries appropriate for your system's platform, you may compile them yourself. Please see the [ConTeXt Wiki page “Building LuaMetaTeX for TeX Live”](https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Building_LuaMetaTeX_for_TeX_Live) for more information. Runtime Files ------------- The archive `context.tds.zip` (or just `context.zip` on CTAN) contains the complete TEXMF tree for ConTeXt. To use this, simply unpack it into your preexisting `$TEXMFDIST` tree. The archive `context-nonfree.tds.zip` (or just `context-nonfree.zip` on CTAN) contains optional ConTeXt files that may be redistributed free-of-charge, but do not [qualify as free (libre) software as per the TeX Live guidelines](https://tug.org/texlive/pkgcontrib.html). Once again, to use this, simply unpack it into your preexisting `$TEXMFDIST` tree. The archive `context-legacy.tds.zip` (or just `context-legacy.zip` on CTAN) contains the complete TEXMF tree for the now-obsolete MkII version of ConTeXt. This version of ConTeXt requires the pdfTeX engine to function; you'll need to install that on your own. As before, simply unpack it into your preexisting `$TEXMFDIST` tree to use this Dependencies ------------ ConTeXt has very few dependencies; please refer to [`DEPENDS.txt`][DEPENDS.txt] for a full discussion. [DEPENDS.txt]: ../DEPENDS.txt