[pdftex] Could not open char translation file `cp8bit.tcx' (pdfetex 1.11a-2.1)

[Gerolf]

Hans Hagen wrote:

> Gerolf wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> in section 5.7, the MikTeX 2.0 manual says:
>>
>> "TCX files are searched for along the TCXPath path. INITEX ignores 
>> TCX files."
>>
>> So I've defined a $TCXPath environment variable and created a 
>> corresponding folder and copied 'cp8bit.tcx' into it.
>>
>> Having installed the pdfetex 1.11a-2.1 binary for linux-i386 (and 
>> string pool) from TeXlive, I get a
>>
>> "warning: Could not open char translation file `cp8bit.tcx'."
>>
>> during *initex* run.
>>
>> In the same installation, this did not happen with pdfetex 1.10b-2.1, 
>> and it does not happen with the
>>
>> pdfetex 1.11a-2.1 static Win32 binary from TeXlive.
>>
>> What's wrong? And which command do I have to add to 'texmf.cnf' to 
>> disable character translation?
>
>
> i don't know how close miktex follows web2c but i was told that there 
> is  (and will be) no tcxpath (just a web2c path); so is there a web2c 
> path in your miktex? 
> concerning initex: recent pdftex's (and metapost) are supposed to 
> preload the given tcx vector (so the mapping ends up in the format)
>
> Hans  

Defining a $WEB2C environment variable solved the problem; thank you, Hans!

Gerolf

(Remains one question: If pdftex is satisfied finding 'cp8bit.tcx', and 
that file is just a 1:1 mapping, then why can't pdftex do this trick by 
itself?)