> You've probably done this already, but when you add a style or layout or > anything to the /usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/ tree, run the texhash > program. >
The couple of times I have done this, my latex'ing time quadrupled for some strange reason, so the performance hit was frustrating. One time dvis and fonts got fouled up as well. There are like three different ways listed to get classes added to latex, one involves setting a bunch of environment vars as well. There are two or three programs that can fix your paths when you make mods, so it is a bit screwy having option. There must be a crapload of cls files for journals and theses out there, but I can't see a large portion of them adding up to more than 5 - 10 MB, especially if you zip the text files initially. Give the user an option to pick the ones they want to install early on, then download them from a contrib site if you want. It is much easier to have the well-written installer handle it as opposed to idiot users like me mucking it all up later...
