[pdftex] pdfetex can't find map files

[Matt Gushee]

Hello, all--

I am using ConTeXt with pdfetex as the main executable. My typical 
command line looks like this:

   $ texexec --pdf mybook.tex

However, I am finding that pdfetex can't read any of the font map files 
installed by ConTeXt. The error messages in the log look like this:

   Warning: pdfetex (file original-public-vnr.map): \
       cannot open font map file

I've asked about this on the ConTeXt mailing list, and have not gotten 
any suggestions that work for me. But based on that discussion, I 
believe my ConTeXt configuration is correct. And the map files are 
definitely known to kpathsea:

   $ kpsewhich original-public-vnr.map
   /usr/share/texmf/fonts/map/pdftex/context/original-public-vnr.map

So it seems to me the problem must be specific to pdf(e)tex, not ConTeXt 
per se. First of all, I'd like to know the answers to the following 
questions:

   1) Is pdfetex supposed to be able to find arbitrary map files through
      kpathsea?

   2) If the answer to the above is yes, which variable(s) in texmf.cnf
      determine where pdfetex looks for the files? And if there are
      alternatives, which is preferable?

   3) Is there any other possible cause for the error messages I am
      seeing (e.g. insufficient memory allocation, syntax errors in
      the map files, etc.)?

By the way, here's some version info:

   tetex      2.02   (Arch Linux package)
   pdfetex    pdfeTeX (Web2C 7.4.5) 3.14159-1.10b-2.1
   context    2004-12-06 release

Any clues greatly appreciated.

--
Matt Gushee
Englewood, CO, USA