latex – A TeX macro package that defines LaTeX

LaTeX is a widely-used macro package (format) for TeX, providing many basic document formatting commands extended by a wide range of packages. It was originally created by Leslie Lamport, whose last release was LaTeX 2.09. The current LaTeX superseded that release in June 1994. The basic distribution is catalogued separately, at latex-base.

Apart from a large set of contributed packages and third-party documentation (elsewhere on the archive), the distribution includes:

• a number of required packages, which LaTeX authors may assume will be present on any system running LaTeX; and
• a minimal set of documentation detailing differences from the ‘old’ version of LaTeX in the areas of
  • user commands,
  • font selection and control,
  • class and package writing,
  • font encodings,
  • configuration options and
  • modification of LaTeX.

For downloading details, documentation links, etc., see the linked catalogue entries above.