[tex-live] what is the canonical way to customize fmtutil.cnf

[Norbert Preining]

On So, 10 Okt 2010, Ingo Krabbe wrote:
> tlmgr generate will only read the fmtutil-local.cnf if given on the
> command line.  Its not clear to me if/which fmtutil-local.cnf will be
> read automatically.

Huuu? That would be a bug!

No, if fmtutil-local.cnf is in the right directory, the one
you mentioned below
	$(kpsewhich --var-value=TEXMFLOCAL)/web2c/fmtutil-local.cnf
a call to
	tlmgr generate fmtutil
will include it automatically!

Please retry, if it is not working as advertised let me know.

Maybe it is simply a documentation issue, and I didn't explain
it clearly enough in the help page.

> formats.  All that seems to be done by `tlmgr generate --localcfg
> fmtutil-local.cnf' is the merging of files, that could also be done by
> `cat $P1/fmtutil.cnf $P2/fmtuil-local.cnf > $D/fmtutil.cnf' which is far
> to few function for a tool that needs some manual page to be read.

No, you *can* disable a format by putting a line
	#!pdflatex
into it, the pdflatex format as defined in the tlpdb will *NOT*
be included in the generated fmtutil.cnf file.

> I tried #!format to disable formats.  Maybe this is a bug, but for me it
> currently looks as a tool of big obfuscation and uselessness.

Why? There is currently no way to permanently disable a format
definition idirectly in the tlpdb, only in the fmutil-local.cnf

So if you want to replace pdflatex format with one of your own definitions,
then inlcude:
	#!pdflatex
	pdflatex myengine .....
and it will work.

The only explanation I see at the moment is either a misunderstanding
of the documentation on your side, or a misunderstanding of your
request on my side, or a bug in tlmgr.

Please let me know which you think is most appropriate.

Best wishes

Norbert
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norbert Preining            preining@{jaist.ac.jp, logic.at, debian.org}
JAIST, Japan                                 TeX Live & Debian Developer
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