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Here comes a minimal-working example that does not run through for me on Ubuntu using TeXStudio:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{biblatex}


\begin{document}
Hi  
\end{document}

The error message is:

File biblatex.sty not found

When I try to install the message via sudo apt-get install biblatex, it throws an error that it cannot locate the package biblatex.

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1 Answer 1

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If you installed your TeX distribution via apt/apt-get, then you can get biblatex by installing the package texlive-bibtex-extra

sudo apt-get install texlive-bibtex-extra

LaTeX packages are usually available in the apt repositories not separately, but grouped into collections. biblatex is contained in the bibtex-extra collection.

You can find out which collection contains a package you are looking for by searching for the .sty file in the package contents: https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?mode=filename&suite=focal&section=all&arch=any&keywords=biblatex.sty&searchon=contents or https://packages.ubuntu.com/search?suite=focal&arch=any&mode=filename&searchon=contents&keywords=biblatex - obviously you have to pick the right Ubuntu version, I chose Ubuntu 20.04 LTS [Focal Fossa] in the example.


Note that the TeX distribution you get from apt/apt-get on Ubuntu (and similarly for other Linux distributions) is usually frozen and does not receive any updates. After a while, those distributions can get outdated, especially on LTS releases.

For example Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa) has a TeX live 2019 packaged in February 2020. The current TeX live is TeX live 2021, which receives daily updates. So you would be about 18months behind current development.

People who want to receive bug fixes in TeX packages and who want to benefit from current development are usually advised to install "vanilla" TeX live from TUG.org: How to install "vanilla" TeXLive on Debian or Ubuntu?.

With a vanilla TeX live, you'd install biblatex via tlmgr

tlmgr install biblatex

(or sudo tlmgr if you need super user rights to run tlmgr).

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  • Curiously, apt search biblatex will return a biblatex package, but not texlive-bibtex-extra (probably my "apt-fu" is failing me). apt show biblatex reports it is "not a real package (virtual)" and can't be installed. apt show texlive-bibtex-extra indeed shows biblatex prominently in the description. (I'm on the latest Mint, if I recall correctly, it corresponds to the latest Ubuntu LTS)
    – gusbrs
    Aug 15, 2021 at 10:55
  • apt-cache search biblatex does return it... Learned two things here then. ;-)
    – gusbrs
    Aug 15, 2021 at 11:02

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