[pdftex] pdfetex can't find map files

[h h extern]

George N. White III wrote:

> Why not tell people which version(s) of tex _YOU_ use with each context 
> update?  Of course the manual should reflect this version.  It might be 
> easiest to simply include a .log file from building formats.  This would 
> provide both version information and details of your directory 
> structure. People who prefer to take the easy route can "clone" your 
> setup.  People who insist on using context with other versions of tex 
> can figure out what changes are required, and hopefully post 
> configuration advice for others.

Actually i run old as well as new versions of pdftex and i do my best to be 
downward compatible. On the other hand, some time ago i started distributing 
zips in the new tds structure, but that's not related to pdftex, but it is 
related to kpse; i think that when users (of any macro package) update to the 
latest pdftex, they should also update the other binaries, since they all use 
the common kpse structure. Unless we have drastic changes in tds/kpse one can 
normally update pdftex independently. So, the best advice that i can give is

   when you update to pdftex 1.20+ make sure you update all binaries

since normally the whole lot of binaries are part of a bigger whole ... well 
that then could be a problem ... one option is that users just download/take the 
binaries from tex live.

btw, users who have context on their system, can (after updating) call

   textools --fixtexmftree --force

to convert their old local trees to the new structure.

The only 'tex' that currently is quite sensitive to updating and synchronization 
is xetex (mac) because that's a fast moving target, but then, gerben wierda's 
installers do a good job on keeping the mac very up to date.

> It might also help to include a blanket disclaimer: "Warning, this 
> ConTeXt update is unlikely to work with older versions of teTeX (e.g., 
> 2.02) supplied by linux vendors", together with pointers to current 
> versions
> of TeX.

currently i do issue a warning when a <1.20 pdftex and <2.2 etex are used since 
the latest pdftex has quite some improvements, and etex some very important bug 
fixes

Hans

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