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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Arthur Reutenauer wrote:<br>
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<blockquote cite="mid:20160827130941.GD2482454@phare.normalesup.org"
type="cite">
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<pre wrap="">But I am still puzzled as to know how how Knuth's "B L User" is intended to (a) learn of the existence of fc-cache (and presumably, some of the other fc-tools), (b) understand their potential importance in terms of the run-time for XeTeX and friends, and (c) learn how/when to invoke fc-cache.
</pre>
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<pre wrap="">
By reading the documentation? Try “texdoc xetex-reference”.
Fontconfig is mentioned in the second paragraph of the part about fonts.</pre>
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But there is no mention of "fc-cache" (the only "fc-" command
mentioned is "fc-list"). To be told that "the font is looked up
through the operating system, using the fontconfig library" does not
really make it clear that if one is experiencing significant delays
loading fonts that one needs to search outside the TeX Live
documentation in order to learn how to address such issues. One
might reasonably think that if a major component of TeX Live such as
XeTeX relies heavily on another component (fontconfig) that is
installed /as a part of/ TeX Live (all instances of fc-cache.exe on
my computer reside in *:\TeX\Live\*\bin\win32), then (a) the TeX
Live manager might expose an interface to fontconfig, (b) that the
TeX Live documentation might make some mention the importance of
fc-cache, and (c) that if running fc-cache is a necessary
prerequisite to obtaining satisfactory performance when compiling
XeTeX source files, that fc-cache might be run automatically (or
semi-automatically) rather than relying on the user (a) having heard
of it and (b) thinking to use it ...<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:20160827130941.GD2482454@phare.normalesup.org"
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<pre wrap="">is the latter a completely separate subsystem on which TeX Live depends but does not invoke directly nor document in any way ?
Yes, it is. </pre>
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Ah. Thank you.<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:20160827130941.GD2482454@phare.normalesup.org"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Had you really not heard of it before?</pre>
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Clearly I must have read at least once of "fc-cache", otherwise I
could never have thought to try it, but how, when and where I
learned of its existence I wot not. <br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<img src="cid:part1.02060402.07090209@Rhul.Ac.Uk"><br>
Philip Taylor</div>
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