On 2013–08–04 Michael Ash wrote:
(1) Is it possible to tell which version of a module is installed, i.e., that I am using the 2013.07.31 version of letter? (The version of context appears in the log file but not the version of the module.)
Often modules contain a line like \writestatus{loading}{Gnuplot (ver: 2013.05.13)} which outputs the version. But not all modules do. I don't know of any reliable way to tell the version. Modules do not even have to be versioned, It's up to the module writers.
(2) After I update of the entire context installation, how will I tell context to again use the /usr/share/texmf version instead of the personal version?
There's no built-in way to achieve that. Since ConTeXt can't tell which version of a module is installed, it can't prioritise a newer version. You have to remember to remove your manually installed module after it gets updated.
(3) Could I have done this installation into /usr/share/texmf and used "sudo mtxrun..." to make the updated module work on a multi-user system?
You can use the texmf-local directory.
(4) Where can I put personal files that I would like context to use regularly.
In the directory TEXMFHOME points to or texmf-local. Marco