[OS X TeX] Problem for installing new fonts in MacTeX (TeXLive2007-dev)

[Herbert Schulz]

On Jan 11, 2008, at 3:06 AM, Franck Pastor wrote:

> Hello everybody,
>
> I wanted to install the new lxfonts (specially designed for slides  
> by Claudio Beccari). I reproduce the usual TDS in my ~/Library/texmf  
> package and install the fonts files where they must be (it's not the  
> first time I have to do so!). Then I enter
>
> updmap --enable Map lxfonts.map
>
> That works fine with gwTeX based on TeXLive 2007, but fails on  
> another computer with the last TeXLive2007-dev implementation  
> (installed with MacTeX). I get this message that I don't really  
> understand:
> --------
>
> updmap: This is updmap, version 1167072206
> updmap: using transcript file `/Users/fp/.texlive2007/texmf-var/ 
> web2c/updmap.log'
>
> There was a problem finding a proper place to store configuration  
> data.
> The message was:
>  Directory `/Users/fp/.texlive2007/texmf-config' is not writable
>
> To overcome such problems, set up the environment variable  
> TEXMFCONFIG to
> point to a directory tree that is writable to you, e.g.
>  TEXMFCONFIG=$HOME/texmf; export TEXMFCONFIG
> or
>  setenv TEXMFCONFIG $HOME/texmf
>
> --------
>
> Indeed, the command "echo $TEXMFCONFIG" produces a blank line.
>
> Since I use the bash shell, I entered then, as asked to me
>
> export TEXMFCONFIG=$HOME/texmf
>
> en then re-run the updmap command: everything has gone fluently, and  
> my fonts are now installed and usable.
>
> Is there thus a problem with the last MacTeX's TeXLive-dev package  
> configuration?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Franck Pastor


Howdy,

If you're the only user on your system, or you want to be the only  
user that can access the fonts, what you did will work fine.  
Basically. you just created a personal map file which is now stored in  
your personal tree. TeX Live, by default, tries to create that tree in  
~/.texlive2007/... and the directory texmf-config didn't exist so  
updmap complained. At least that's what I think happened.

A while ago I used to do a similar thing with gwTeX. There updmap and  
updmap-sys are synonymous and create the map files in the system level  
tree (and therefore must be run under sudo). To do this with TeX Live  
you've GOT to use

sudo updmap-sys ...

instead.

Finally, I've now gotten into the habit of installing fonts in the  
local system tree (i.e. in /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/...) so all  
users can then use the fonts. I then run

sudo texhash
sudo updmap-sys enable Map newfont.map

To do with your system now would require you to remove the installed  
map files from your personal tree first since kpsewhich will find  
those map files first. I've seen great confusion because of having  
multiple map files, etc.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)