# [solved (kind of)] LaTeX has lost its article.cls file



## quamenzullo (Feb 10, 2014)

Hello everyone,

I have been using the TeX Live distribution of LaTeX since some months and everything used to work fine until now. Today, when trying to compile a .tex file, I am 'suddenly' getting this error:

```
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-2.5-1.40.14 (TeX Live 2013)
 restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./FractionsSimplification-d4691a5b7a3ec.tex
LaTeX2e <2011/06/27>
Babel <3.9f> and hyphenation patterns for 78 languages loaded.

! LaTeX Error: File `article.cls' not found.

Type X to quit or <RETURN> to proceed,
or enter new name. (Default extension: cls)

Enter file name:
```
The error is the same, no matter if I try to compile with latex or pdflatex. It comes from this quite standard line of the .tex file: 
	
	



```
\documentclass[a4paper,fleqn,12pt]{article}
```
So, I checked that article.cls was still at the right place: it is.

```
root@...:/srv/web/website1/temp_files # ls /usr/local/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
/usr/local/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
root@...:/srv/web/website1/temp_files #
```

I have run `make deinstall clean` and then `make install clean` in /usr/ports/print/texlive-latex, in the hope it would reconfigure or update some parameters but it didn't change anything.

Some configuration must have been broken at some point, but which one?

Any hint will be much appreciated!

Have a nice day!


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## Oko (Feb 15, 2014)

*Re: LaTeX has lost its article.cls file*

Something is very wrong with your TeX installation. Have you modified any local packages? If yes have you
run `mktexlsr` after that?


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## quamenzullo (Feb 15, 2014)

*Re: LaTeX has lost its article.cls file*

Last september and october, some texlive-* packages could not be compiled with PKGNG. I had to remove them from print/texlive-core/pkg-plist to be able to compile everything. This resulted in a working LaTeX installation.

Since then I have not changed anything, just updated. I have rerun `mktexlsr`, to be sure, but this does not change anything now. Also, /usr/ports/UPDATING does not contain any relevant information (the last information about texlive being older than my installation).

I think I will remove the whole texlive installation and reinstall it.


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## quamenzullo (Mar 3, 2014)

*Re: LaTeX has lost its article.cls file*

Well I finally deinstalled everything (removed $HOME/.texlive201* and then `pkg delete print/texlive-*`), and reinstalled all my packages (the print/texlive-base, plus some other packages I need) and everything seems to work fine again.

I still ignore the reason of the error.


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