[XeTeX] XeTeX compile error in Gentoo Linux

[Jonathan Kew]

OK, here is the important difference from the --kpathsea-debug  
output, I believe:

> ----------pdftex --kpathsea-debug=8-----------

> kdebug:  compile-time path = {$SELFAUTOLOC,$SELFAUTODIR, 
> $SELFAUTOPARENT}{,{/share,}/texmf{-local,}/web2c}:$TETEXDIR:/var/ 
> lib/texmf/web2c:/var/lib/texmf/web2c

> --------------- xetex --kpathsea-debug=8  
> -------------------------------

> kdebug:  compile-time path = {$SELFAUTOLOC,$SELFAUTODIR, 
> $SELFAUTOPARENT}{,{/share,}/texmf{-local,}/web2c}:$TETEXDIR:/usr/ 
> share/texmf/web2c:/usr/share/texmf/web2c

Note how pdftex has a compiled-in default search location of /var/lib/ 
texmf/web2c, but in xetex the corresponding location is /usr/share/ 
texmf/web2c.

A "quick fix" might be to create a symlink so that these locations  
are actually the same, assuming /usr/share/texmf/web2c doesn't  
already exist with different contents on your system:

	ln -s /var/lib/texmf/web2c /usr/share/texmf/web2c

or even perhaps make the symlink for the texmf level rather than web2c.

The real question, though, is why the xetex configuration gets this  
wrong, giving you incorrect definitions in paths.h during the build.  
There might be clues in the output of the configure script, but it  
may be caused by changes in texk/kpathsea/texmf.in between the  
different web2c versions -- I notice that there are quite a lot of  
changes in the structure and even variable names used there.

There are a few possible ways forward that I can think of:

1. (simplest) work around the issue for now by symlinking texmf.cnf  
or a directory above it so that xetex finds the configuration file

2. (better) figure out a way to tell the "configure" script, when  
building xetex, where the right paths are, so that xetex paths match  
pdftex paths

3. (long-term solution) merge the xetex sources with the current TeX  
Live tree, so that all the binaries get built in the same way

I'm working towards (3) -- if you have a current TL source tree, it's  
not difficult to add the xetex files and rebuild, but for full TL  
integration there are still some library issues to work out. I can't  
really help with (2) without having direct access to a system to  
trace what's going on. But if you just want to try running something  
right now, I believe (1) will work.

JK