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Is there a way to download the package files only be knowing the CTAN package name (which can be a (La)TeX package, class, bundle, font, etc.)? I'm aware that http://www.ctan.org/pkg/<NAME> shows the package entry and tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/<NAME>.html shows the similar catalogue entry. Both of them link to the CTAN directory holding the package files, which is fine for manual browsing. I however look for an automatic way to retrieve the package files (mainly the DTX and INS files) without needing to parse a HTML page for the directory URL. The idea is to write a script which allows to install most CTAN packages directly from CTAN.

To elaborate: I'm looking for an online resource where I can use the CTAN package name in an URL and I get redirected to the CTAN directory of this package, on any mirror. This is similar to http://texdoc.net just not for the documentation but for the DTX/INS files. If there is no such thing I probably will create it myself (by altering the some source code of CTAN-HG), but I see no reason to duplicate something which already exists.

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    Have you looked at the TL scripts for updating packages? They already have the (long) list of 'special cases' you'd need to allow for.
    – Joseph Wright ♦
    May 26, 2012 at 19:31
  • @JosephWright: I didn't saw these scripts yet. Can you give me a link, please? However, I have experience with exceptions from my work on CTAN-HG.
    – Martin Scharrer
    May 26, 2012 at 20:21
  • Now there you have me. I know these scripts exist, but I'd have to ask on the TL list where they actually are :-)
    – Joseph Wright ♦
    May 26, 2012 at 20:24
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    ctan hosts allow any directory to be retrieved as a zip file so if you know the directory you can get all the files, in one go,
    – David Carlisle
    May 26, 2012 at 20:50
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    For the scripts in TL see tug.org/svn/texlive/trunk/Master/tlpkg/libexec/…, tug.org/svn/texlive/trunk/Master/tlpkg/bin/…, ... but these are not standalone and might need minor adjustments.
    – Mojca Miklavec
    May 30, 2012 at 0:24

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[Combining comments into a answer]

You can retrieve any directory from CTAN as a .zip file so if you know the directory you can get all the files, in one go. TeX Live uses a series of scripts, which can be downloaded from http://tug.org/svn/texlive/trunk/Master/tlpkg/libexec/ctan2tds?view=markup and http://tug.org/svn/texlive/trunk/Master/tlpkg/bin/tlpkg-ctan-check?view=markup, but these are not standalone and might need minor adjustments.

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