TeX Resources

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The TeX program

TeX software is available from a number of sources:

• freeware or shareware
• commercial TeX vendors

LaTeX is an integral part of all "standard" TeX distributions.
The AMS document classes and the amsmath package are included among the "required" LaTeX packages.

Extended TeX engines

• pdfTeX generates pdf output instead of dvi.
• XeTeX supports the direct use of system fonts.
• LuaTeX is based on Unicode and embeds Lua (a scripting language) and MetaPost to permit operations not easily accomplished with the basic TeX engine; v1.0 was released in late 2016 and included in TeX Live 2017.

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Other TeX Resources

Other valuable resources for a TeX user

• TeX-related publications
• Donald Knuth's TeX pages
• TeX Users Group (TUG)
• Other TeX user groups worldwide

Package archives

• CTAN -- the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network, with mirrors around the world.
  Use the CTAN search facility to look for the name of a file you need.
• TLContrib -- an archive of contributed packages which, for various reasons, cannot be distributed in TeX Live (not free according to FSF guidelines, not available on CTAN, intermediate release for testing, ...)

General tools

• Detexify, a tool for identifying symbols from a hand-drawn image.
• Cross-platform TeX editors, a list compiled by the AMS

Frequently Asked Questions and other Q&A sites

• TeX Frequently Asked Questions, compiled by the UK TUG
• FAQ LaTeX de l'équipe Grappa, in French (old, HTML)
• FAQ de fr,comp.text.tex, in French (newer, PDF)
• DANTE's FAQ, in German
  
  
• TeX Stack Exchange, a forum in Q&A format with good search facilities; see the FAQ for more details.
• TeXnique.fr, a French Q&A site
• TeXwelt, a German Q&A site
• LaTeX Community, a forum for discussing all things LaTeX
  
  
• other electronic FAQs and mail addresses for TeX-related product information and assistance
• UPenn TeX Web page
• Why use LaTeX?, reasons both pro and con; the site also holds templates for many kinds of LaTeX documents.

LaTeX

• The LaTeX3 Project
• LaTeX bug reports: general information
  The LaTeX bugs database holds reports through December 2017.
  The Github Issue Tracker for LaTeX2e holds bug reports beginning in 2018.
• LaTeX: from quick and dirty to style and finesse, by Tony Roberts, University of Adelaide
• Text Processing using LaTeX, University of Cambridge Engineering Department; many links to on-line resources for LaTeX and friends
• Why TeX?, a comparison of structured document input vs. WYSIWYG, by Allin Cottrell
• Wikibooks LaTeX   Warning: This site is updated by many individuals, and editing is inconsistent. Some of the information posted there does not represent "best practices".

Graphics

• Using TikZ to Prepare Illustrations, by Jennifer Brown. This is a series of tutorials to show how to use TikZ to create professional-quality mathematical diagrams, graphs, and illustrations.

Bibliography tools
These tools are included in TeX Live and other comprehensive distributions.

• amsrefs supports the inclusion of structured bibliography data directly in LaTeX source files
• BibTeX resources via public-domain TeX sites