[Mac OS X TeX] custom format files?

[Gerben Wierda]

I'll help:

First, try using the kpsewhich command to find out if a file can be 
found:

	kpsewhich hitex.fmt

Secondly, this might have to do with the change from teTeX to TeX Live. 
TeX Live does not use symbolic links but shell scripts for alternate 
formats because it also has to be able to run from a CD with a file 
system without symbolic links. I.e. the latex command now is:

#!/bin/sh
test -f "`kpsewhich latex.fmt`" || fmtutil --byfmt latex
exec tex -fmt=latex ${1+"$@"}

So, you can link to latex, but the use of latex.fmt is hard coded in the 
script. Workaround: instead of linking, copy the latex script and edit 
it. That is the TeX Live way.

G

PS. I can immediately think of a cleaner solution and I'll investigate 
this and I'll try to get it into TeX Live.

On Thursday, February 21, 2002, at 02:48 , Joachim Kock wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I upgraded to a recent version of teTeX (20020129) and I have a
> problem with custom formats (which I didn't have with my old
> installation (20010417)).  The problem seems to be related to
> a change in how format files are found...
>
> I would be very happy if somebody could help me, and I imagine
> the advice would benefit other users as well...
>
> My init file (called hitex.ini) is simply this:
>
>   \documentclass[12pt]{article}
>   \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{latexsym}
>   \input{diagrams} \usepackage{curves}
>   \usepackage[notref,notcite]{showkeys}
>   \usepackage{maplems}\pagestyle{plain}
>   \usepackage{meu} \input{eng-sec}
>
> (all packages of which work well in the new teTeX, when
> loaded in a standard latex file).
>
> So I do
>
> [prompt]: initex
> **&latex hitex.ini\dump
> [prompt]: mv hitex.fmt ~/Library/texmf/web2c/hitex.fmt
> [prompt]: ln -s /usr/local/teTeX/bin/powerpc-apple-darwin-current/latex
>             ~/bin/hitex
>
> Then open a new terminal window, (and I also tried texhash).
>
> Now
> [prompt]: hitex foo
> calls latex, but loading standard latex.fmt instead of loading
> hitex.fmt.  (It is not the case that for some reason hitex.fmt is
> identical to latex.fmt: I have tried to put an empty file in place of
> hitex.fmt, and nobody complains about that, so I conclude that the
> file is never read...).  Somehow it seems that the mechanism which
> determines the format from the name of the command does not work.
>
> Let me say again that all this worked fine with my old teTeX
> installation.   (For this reason, I am not embarrassed to ask for help.)
>
> On the other hand, I also had a problem with the old installation:
> Compiling a pdftex format called hiptex (from the same source as
> above), doing
>
> [prompt]: pdfinitex
> **&pdflatex hitex.ini\dump
> [prompt]: mv hitex.fmt ~/Library/texmf/web2c/hiptex.fmt
> [prompt]: ln -s /usr/local/teTeX/bin/powerpc-apple-darwin-
> current/pdflatex
>             ~/bin/hiptex
>
> when trying to run it I got this error:
>
> [prompt]: hiptex foo
> This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159-14h-released-20010417 (Web2C 7.3.3.1)
> (./foo.tex
> Error: hiptex (file pdftex.cfg): cannot open config file
>
> Now doing exactly the same in the new teTeX installation doesn't give 
> this
> error --- for the same reason as for latex: the hiptex.fmt file is never
> read, so instead of the pdftex.cfg error, I now get the error caused by
> missing documentclass and all that, due to missing my preamble...
>
> Although the pdftex.cfg problem has disappeared for the moment, I
> would also be glad if somebody could help me with that.  Because
> either the fmt problem will be solved and then I expect the cfg problem
> to reappear, or it is not solved and then I will revert to my old
> installation where the cfg problem is...
>
> Thanks in advance for any help,
> Joachim.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Joachim KOCK
> Laboratoire de Mathématiques J.A.Dieudonné    Tél.  +33 04.92.07.62.40
> Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis           Fax   +33 04.93.51.79.74
> Parc Valrose - 06108 Nice cédex 2 - FRANCE    Mél.  kock at math.unice.fr
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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