There are a number of how–tos and forum entries out there for installing TexLive 2008 and getting it to work on your computer, though in this post I am consolidating and simplifying this information.

Beginning from a clean install of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), I downloaded TexLive 2008 through the automated installer, which this time worked flawlessly (unlike last time I tried it).

After the suite is installed, you must set path, which tells your computer where to find the new software. If you followed the default installation pathway (which I recommend), then enter:

PATH=/usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux:$PATH 

Next, you must run a texhash, which isn't functioning normally for some on Jaunty. For me, when I ran "sudo texhash", I got the following error:

texhash: /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf: directory not writable. Skipping...
texhash: /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-config: directory not writable. Skipping...
texhash: /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-dist: directory not writable. Skipping...
texhash: /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-doc: directory not writable. Skipping...
texhash: /usr/local/texlive/2008/../texmf-local: directory not writable. Skipping...
texhash: /usr/local/texlive/2008/texmf-var: directory not writable. Skipping...
texhash: Done.

In order to remedy this problem, I followed some directions that I found here. First, enter:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux/texhash /usr/bin/texhash

then run "sudo texhash". This time, you'll get an error saying that "kpsewhich" cannot be found. Then run:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux/kpsewhich /usr/bin/kpsewhich

Again, run "sudo texhash". You will get an error concerning "kpsestat". Run:

sudo ln -s /usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux/kpsewhich /usr/bin/kpsewhich

Repeat this process with "kpseaccess" and a few other unfound items. After a few rounds of this the texhash will run all the way through.

Finally, run one more path, for good measure:

PATH=/usr/local/texlive/2008/bin/i386-linux:$PATH

Opening up a terminal, I was able to confirm that TexLive was properly installed and configured by typing into the Terminal:

xelatex -v

The output should read something like:

XeTeX 3.1415926-2.2-0.999.6 (Web2C 7.5.7)
kpathsea version 3.5.7
Copyright 2008 SIL International.
Kpathsea is copyright 2008 Karl Berry and Olaf Weber.
There is NO warranty.  Redistribution of this software is
covered by the terms of both the XeTeX copyright and
the Lesser GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file
named COPYING and the XeTeX source.
Primary author of XeTeX: Jonathan Kew.
Kpathsea written by Karl Berry, Olaf Weber, and others.

Compiled with ICU version 3.8.1 [with modifications for XeTeX]
Compiled with zlib version 1.2.3; using 1.2.3
Compiled with FreeType2 version 2.3.7; using 2.3.7
Compiled with fontconfig version 2.3.1; using 2.6.0
Compiled with libpng version 1.2.29; using 1.2.29
Compiled with xpdf version 3.02pl2

Happy TeXing!