[luatex] This is LuaHBTeX, Version 1.12.0 -- lualatex.fmt was written by luatex

[Knut Petersen]

Hi Norbert,

>> After updating my openSuSE Tumbleweed system I found lualatex broken. "lualatex somefile" led to an error message:  LuaHBTeX, Version 1.12.0 complained that "lualatex.fmt was written by luatex". Removing lualatex.fmt did not fix the problem. 
> My guess is you have a format for luahbtex hanging around in below your $HOME. If you would have shown the actual log file, one could see it.

There definitely was no old format file in the cwd or somewhere else in or below $HOME, it really were outdated fmtutil.cnf / lualatex.fmt in the texmf tree. I agree that an error in the update process is a case for a bugreport to openSuSE.
But I was surprised that fixing fmtutil.cnf and removing the obsolete format file did not trigger the creation of a new format file , so I removed the lualatex.fmt file and executed lualatex again:

    knut at golem:~/foo> sudo rm /var/lib/texmf/web2c/lualatex/lualatex.fmt
    [sudo] Passwort für root:
    knut at golem:~/foo> rm TRACE*; strace -v -f -ff -s 8192 -o TRACE lualatex Teilnehmer20200627.tex
    This is LuaHBTeX, Version 1.12.0 (TeX Live 2020/TeX Live for SUSE Linux)
      restricted system commands enabled.

    kpathsea: Running mktexfmt lualatex.fmt
    mktexfmt [ERROR]: -user mode but path setup is -sys type, bailing out.
    I can't find the format file `lualatex.fmt'!
    knut at golem:~/foo>

The trace shows that"/usr/bin/mktexfmt" was used with the single option "lualatex.fmt".

Let's summarize: The engine fails if there is a broken or outdated format file.
The engine tries to recover if it does not find format file,  but that fails too.
I would suggest to actually use a command that generates a format file in a place that normally is writable and searched first in those cases.

    fmtutil --no-engine-subdir --fmtdir=.  --byfmt lualatex.fmt'

seems to be a better idea than

    '/usr/bin/mktexfmt lualatex.fmt'.

Knut









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