diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
index 4dd6ca9..374f5d9 100644
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ b/.drone.yml
@@ -63,9 +63,9 @@ steps:
     image: ubuntu
     commands:
       - apt update && apt install -y curl perl
-      - echo $PATH
       - export PATH=$HOME/texlive/bin/x86_64-linux:$HOME/texlive/bin/aarch64-linux:$PATH
       - ./ci/install-texlive
+      - xargs tlmgr install < texlive-2023.deps
       - latexmk sbabook
       - latexmk sbabook.bod
       - latexmk sbabook.spiral
@@ -92,9 +92,9 @@ steps:
     image: ubuntu
     commands:
       - apt update && apt install -y curl perl
-      - echo $PATH
       - export PATH=$HOME/texlive/bin/x86_64-linux:$HOME/texlive/bin/aarch64-linux:$PATH
       - ./ci/install-texlive
+      - xargs tlmgr install < texlive.deps
       - latexmk sbabook
       - latexmk sbabook.bod
       - latexmk sbabook.spiral
diff --git a/ci/install-texlive b/ci/install-texlive
index 65dfc02..eca7fca 100755
--- a/ci/install-texlive
+++ b/ci/install-texlive
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ trap 's=$?; echo "$0: Error on line "$LINENO": $BASH_COMMAND"; exit $s' ERR
 IFS=$'\n\t'
 # preamble from https://disconnected.systems/blog/another-bash-strict-mode/
 
+: "${TEXLIVE_TARBALL:=install-tl-unx.tar.gz}"
+
 function die() {
     echo "$@" >&2
     exit 1
@@ -11,42 +13,27 @@ function die() {
 
 function texlive-repo() {
     [[ $# -eq 1 ]] || die "${FUNCNAME[0]}: No release specified (YYYY or rolling)"
-    local release="$1"
+    local release="$1" url
 
     if [[ "$release" = rolling ]]; then
-        echo 'http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet'
+        url='http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet'
     else
         [[ "$release" = [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9] ]] || die "${FUNCNAME[0]}: incorrect release '$release'"
-        echo "https://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/tug/historic/systems/texlive/${release}/tlnet-final/"
+        url="https://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/tug/historic/systems/texlive/${release}/tlnet-final/"
         # the rolling release is missing the shasum, and the tlnet directory
         # US mirror: http://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/tex/historic/systems/texlive/${release}/
     fi
-}
-
-function deps-file() {
-    if [[ "$1" = [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9] ]]; then
-        echo "texlive-$1.deps"
-    else
-        echo texlive.deps
-    fi
-}
 
-function texlive-release() {
-    tlmgr --version \
-        | grep 'TeX Live .*version' \
-        | grep --only-matching '\d\d\d\d'
+    # resolve possible mirror to fixed URL
+    curl -LIs -o /dev/null -w '%{url_effective}' "$url"
 }
 
-# Ensure meaningful default values for required environment variables.
-# Override the full repository URL or set TEXLIVE_RELEASE to pick that year's frozen release.
-# Defaults to the current rolling release.
-: "${TEXLIVE_RELEASE:=rolling}"
-: "${TEXLIVE_REPOSITORY:="$(texlive-repo "$TEXLIVE_RELEASE")"}"
-: "${TEXLIVE_TARBALL:=install-tl-unx.tar.gz}"
-
 function get-texlive-installer() {
+    [[ $# -eq 1  ]] || die "Usage: ${FUNCNAME[0]} texlive-repo-url"
+    local repo="$1"
+
     # download, checksum, extract
-    curl --silent --location --remote-name-all "${TEXLIVE_REPOSITORY}/${TEXLIVE_TARBALL}"{,.sha512}
+    curl --silent --location --remote-name-all "${repo}/${TEXLIVE_TARBALL}"{,.sha512}
     sha512sum --check "${TEXLIVE_TARBALL}.sha512"
     tar --extract --gzip --file "${TEXLIVE_TARBALL}"
 }
@@ -83,11 +70,14 @@ EOF
 }
 
 function install-texlive() {
+    [[ $# -eq 2 ]] || die "Usage: ${FUNCNAME[0]} (YYYY | rolling) texlive-repository-url"
+    local release="$1" repo="$2"
+
     echo "Downloading TeXlive..."
-    echo "  release $TEXLIVE_RELEASE"
-    echo "  from $TEXLIVE_REPOSITORY"
+    echo "  release ${release}"
+    echo "  from ${repo}"
 
-    get-texlive-installer
+    get-texlive-installer "$repo"
 
     # find installer path from archive listing, sanity check
     local installer
@@ -95,18 +85,20 @@ function install-texlive() {
     [[ -x "$installer" ]] || die "can not find TeXlive installer at ${installer}";
 
     texlive-profile >> texlive.profile
-    "$installer" --repository "$TEXLIVE_REPOSITORY" --profile texlive.profile
-}
+    "$installer" --repository "$repo" --profile texlive.profile
+    tlmgr option repository "$repo"
 
-function install-deps() {
     tlmgr update --self --all
     tlmgr install latex-bin latexmk
-    xargs tlmgr install < "$(deps-file "$TEXLIVE_RELEASE")"
 }
 
 # Only call the main function if this script was called as a command. This makes
 # it possible to source this script as a library.
 if [[ ${BASH_SOURCE[0]} == "$0" ]]; then
-    install-texlive
-    install-deps
+    # Override the full repository URL or set TEXLIVE_RELEASE to pick that year's frozen release.
+    # Defaults to the current rolling release.
+    release="${1:-${TEXLIVE_RELEASE:-rolling}}"
+    repo="${2:-${TEXLIVE_REPOSITORY:-$(texlive-repo "$release")}}"
+
+    install-texlive "$release" "$repo"
 fi
diff --git a/ci/list-deps b/ci/list-deps
index 58072d2..25dd1b8 100755
--- a/ci/list-deps
+++ b/ci/list-deps
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ function info {
     printf "\n" 1>&2
 }
 
+function texlive-release() {
+    tlmgr --version \
+        | sed '/^tlmgr/d ; s/.*version //'
+}
+
 function filter-inputs {
     sed -e '\#^INPUT '"$PREFIX"'/texmf-dist#!d' \
         -e 's#^INPUT '"$PREFIX"'/##' \