When attempting to use the OSCOLA style with biblatex I receive the error '! Package biblatex Error: Option 'url' already defined.' during compilation (running pdflatex from the command line).
Someone else asked about this and the solution was to update the oscola package to receive a fix. I had previously installed the very-behind version of TeX Live via sudo apt install texlive-full, so I uninstalled that and followed the TUG guide to manually installing the most recent version. I have updated my PATH and all.
tlmgr list oscola confirms I am using the most recent version (1.7). tlmgr and pdflatex are located in the right folders:
~$ whereis tlmgr
tlmgr: /usr/bin/tlmgr /usr/local/texlive/2020/bin/x86_64-linux/tlmgr /usr/share/man/man1/tlmgr.1.gz
~$ whereis pdflatex
pdflatex: /usr/bin/pdflatex /usr/local/texlive/2020/bin/x86_64-linux/pdflatex /usr/share/man/man1/pdflatex.1.gz
But I am still getting the same error when I try to compile. Looking at the transcript, it seems that it is looking in the correct place for every single package except oscola for some reason:
Document Class: report 2019/12/20 v1.4l Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size12.clo))
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/abstract/abstract.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/biblatex.sty
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/pdftexcmds/pdftexcmds.sty
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/generic/infwarerr/infwarerr.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/iftex.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/generic/ltxcmds/ltxcmds.sty))
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/etoolbox/etoolbox.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/graphics/keyval.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/kvoptions/kvoptions.sty
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/generic/kvsetkeys/kvsetkeys.sty))
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/logreq/logreq.sty
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/logreq/logreq.def))
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/ifthen.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/url/url.sty)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/blx-dm.def)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/blx-compat.def)
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/biblatex.def)
(/home/{username}/texmf/tex/latex/oscola/oscola.bbx
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/bbx/authortitle.bbx
(/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/bbx/standard.bbx))
! Package biblatex Error: Option 'url' already defined.
Looking the /home/{username}/texmf/tex/latex/oscola/oscola.bbx file it is clear that it is version 1.6. There is an oscola.bbx file at /usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/oscola/ which is version 1.7.
How do I get pdflatex to use the correct version of oscola?
/home/{username}/texmf/is the user-controlledTEXMFHOMEdirectory. As far as I know no TeX distribution will actively try to interfere (delete/rename/move) with these files not even on a purge. But these files will usually have precedence over system-installed files. So it's good to keep an eye onTEXMFHOMEand periodically check that the files you have there are still needed and not outdated. – moewe Jun 01 '20 at 06:04