[tex-live] [tex-hyphen] german hyphenation patterns

[Karl Berry]

    [$] initexmf --update-fndb

mktexlsr

    [$] findtexmf language.dat

kpsewhich language.dat, but you don't want to edit the file directly, it
is generated.  I'll write you separately to discuss it.

    [$] initexmf --dump

fmtutil --refresh
(I guess; depends on exactly what you're telling them to do.)

    What is the path to a local texmf tree that can be suggested for TeX Live?

The default layout is
<texliveroot>/texmf-local
<texliveroot>/2008
<texliveroot>/2007
...
where <texliveroot> defaults to /usr/local/texlive on Unixish systems
and something-I-don't-know-what on Windows.