LaTeX may be archaic in many respects. But it's on my top three list of best software of all time because it is virtually bug-free and due to its entrechment, it will be around for decades to come.
Moreover, if you're just typing a basic book or document and don't need to do fancy stuff, it's very easy to use.
If you find TeX and friends useful, please consider joining the TeX User Group, or your local group. https://tug.org/join.html We support development, including with grants, and by holding an annual conference, and having a journal.
They kind of threw in the kitchen sink on this one, and they admit it:
Platforms
The iso image again [Ed.: after a while of it not] includes binaries for all platforms. For the last several years, some binary sets had been pruned, but this year, we are not creating a physical DVD as a user group benefit, so may as well include everything again. Also, even a maximimally-pruned image is too large to fit on a single-layer DVD, so no benefit for the 2024 volunteer burners. More info.
> The official web page for “Acquiring TeX Live as an ISO image” hasn’t yet been updated with this year’s torrent file, but Karl Berry tells me that should be happening within the next day or so.
The installer in the ISO that is the topic of the article installs official 2024 TeX Live. I tested it via installing it to confirm this prior to creating the torrent.
If the definition of "released" is that it's on the official web page, then I agree with you. Karl can't update the web page until I give him the torrent file, and so there's a lag time between when I begin seeding it and when the official web page is updated. Initiating seeding at the same time (or close to the same time) that the web page is updated would be a level of coordination and precision across time zones and continents that is perhaps above and beyond what's needed.
That said, I'm sorry it's sowing confusion. I can see where you're coming from on that score.
@Tomte, you may be conflating two concepts in software distribution. Yes, TeX Live is also distributed via mirrors (typically, FTP sites). But with the BitTorrent protocol, there are not mirrors in this same sense. There are just the seeders and leechers who are the clients/participants in the swarm.
In a sense, by starting to seed last night, I really was "preseeding" so that by the time the announcement is made, there are at least several seeders already available to service the many new leechers who will only begin torrenting once the official web page is updated.
Moreover, if you're just typing a basic book or document and don't need to do fancy stuff, it's very easy to use.