[pdftex] Where to put latest pdftex.

[John R. Culleton]

I tried to install pdftex 21c but just managed to screw things
up. So I deleted /usr/TeX and reinstalled TeXlive (December
version. . 

Now I have subdirectories bin, texmf, texmf-dist, texmf-var
texmf-local and xemtex. I want to upgrade to the newer pdftex.

The binaries go in /usr/TeX/bin/i386-linux. That part is
easy.

Where do the new pool files go?  The originals are in
~texmf/web2c Is it OK to overlay these?

There is also a fistful of new *.ini files. Where do
they go? The README seems to say that texmf-local is the
preferred spot. But other choices might be texmf-var and texmf.
Currently texmf-dist is the only location that has e.g,
pdftex.ini. 

do I have to transplant all the *ini files or just pdftex.ini and
pdfetex.ini?

Similarly, where does the pdftexconfig.tex go? the README
suggests texmf-local.

I followed the README as best I could and got the infamous fatal
format error.  A run of fmtutil --all generates most of the
formats but not pdf*. 
 

John Culleton