[XeTeX] Re: [MacTeX] XeTeX

[Gerben Wierda]

On Apr 12, 2004, at 19:31, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Hi Ross,
>
> Thanks for your patient and extensive explanations. Some brief answers
> follow, I won't have time to go much further on this discussion.
>>   2.  when installing a new version using  tar  then existing
>>       directories are not rewritten --- rather, new files
>>       are added and old ones updated. So local additions should
>>       survive an update...
>>
>>    ... unless the update strategy is to create a completely
>>       new directory and remove the old one entirely.
>
> Yes I think that's exactly what it is. It may be the result of options 
> I
> chose once and don't remember, I'm not sure, but it seems to me that:
> - when you update the TeX i-Package i-Installer downloads the new bits 
> only,

The TeX i-Package is split into 12 archives or so (e.g. one for doc/, 
one for fonts/, one for tex4ht, etc). Only those that have changed are 
re-downloaded on a re-install.

> - and then when you press Install & Configure i-Installer first erases 
> all
> the TeX tree save the content of texmf.local, then redoes a complete
> install.
>>     see above.  Does Gerben replace whole directories ?

Yes. I do this because only overwriting is a dangerous option. Suppose 
the layout of the tex tree changes and some stuff erstwhile in pdftex/ 
now moves to tex/. If I do not remove the old stuff, you get two copies 
of this, old and new, and what is found depends on all kinds of 
settings and even which program you use. That is a use and support 
nightmare. So, I have split the texmf tree in parts which are complete 
replaced at a re-install. The obvious exception is texmf.local and some 
parts are even (historically) installed there.

>>     Certainly the TeXLive installer does not (at least in
>>     the pre-gwTeX days).

No, but it was a mistake. I have to to make sure I do not get old and 
new stuff in the texmf tree side by side with unpredictable results.

>>   4.  add a line into   texmf.cnf  that will help TeX find
>>       any support files that your new format needs;
>>       e.g.
>>         (for  myformat.fmt  being customised from LaTeX)
>>
>>         TEXINPUTS.myformat  =  .;$TEXMF/tex/{generic,latex}//
>
> Aside: I think this step too will create problems with Gerben's 
> install.
> The directory /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf/ inside which texmf.cnf 
> lives
> (inside web2c) is erased in the process. Actually, if I remember
> correctly, Gerben's installer warns that texmf.cnf will be replaced by 
> a
> newer version, and asks whether the former version should be saved on 
> the
> Desktop (default answer is yes) so that the user can inspect it later 
> and
> merge his/her changes with the newer version.

The one in share/texmf/web2c is bluntly replaced (with the entire tree 
there). The one you can change is /usr/local/teTeX/texmf.cnf where you 
find the differences with respect to teh standard setup (which does 
have a few problems).

> xdv2pdf yet; (ii) the margins seem to be different from those with 
> pdfTeX
> or TeX + dvips, possibly because my setup is made for A4 paper (a 
> choice
> during Gerben's install) and the same has probably not been applied to
> xetex.

paper size setting influences dvips and pdfTeX. I think xetex is purey 
dvi-based and as such independent from an output paper format, except 
what you put in your TeX file

G

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