Installing LaTeX package

Question

I am trying to install the amsmath package for LaTeX on Linux Mint 16. I am using the tlmgr amsmath or sudo tlmgr amsmath commands, but both of them are giving me this error:

(running on Debian, switching to user mode!)
tlmgr: unknown action: amsmath; try --help if you need it.

I have also tried tlmgr install amsmath and sudo tlmgr install amsmath, but they are giving me:

(running on Debian, switching to user mode!)
cannot setup TLPDB in /home/evorlor/texmf at /usr/bin/tlmgr line 5308.

Any ideas on a fix? My ultimate goal is to line up an equation by the = signs, if it's relevant.

Answer 1

You have not initialized tlmgr. Try first

 tlmgr init-usertree

and then

 tlmgr install amsmath

If this does not work, it is not your fault, but you will have to be patient: see posts n.3 and 4 in this bug report, and you will have to wait for a fix. In my Debian unstable, I do not experience such a bug, and tlmgr works perfectly.