TeXLive: meaning of sys_bin, sys_man and sys_info when using --portable

Question

I'm trying to understand what the sys_bin, sys_man and sys_info options for TeXLive should point to.

At the moment, I'm installing everything on a pen drive using the --portable installer option, and would like to leave nothing in the "host" computer, even when updating my installation.

I'm just guessing here, but shouldn't sys_bin point to something along the lines of /media/disk/bin/i386-linux? any ideas as to how to make this less "mountpoint-dependent"?

The TeXLive documentation is moot on the matter and I've had no luck searching the "normal" channels.

PS: I understand this may well be off-topic here, I tried to tag it as much as possible, but found nothing more "uninviting" than {texlive} and {installing}... please do close if off-topic nonetheless.

Answer 1

The options sys_bin, sys_man and sys_info refer to the standard system directories for binaries, man and info pages, where symlinks should be created. These symlinks are not created unless you specifically enable that in the installer or call tlmgr path add, something you don't want for a potable setup. In other words, don't worry about this.