» Solution: add the line » export TEXMFCNF=`kpsewhich -show-path=.cnf` » somewhere (e.g. your .bashrc or /etc/profile). how is it supposed to work? kpsewhich using exactly the same way to locate the texmf.cnf file as the other programs, how can it be that kpsewhich finds it & the other programs don't?