[XeTeX] I can't find the format file `xelatex.fmt'!

[maxwell at umiacs.umd.edu]

Peter Dyballa wrote:
> To correct your XeLaTeX problem, try this:
>
> 	sudo -H echo "xelatex xetex   language.dat    -etex xelatex.ini" >>
> `kpsewhich fmtutil.cnf`

I get an error msg:
   -bash: /usr/share/texmf/web2c/fmtutil.cnf: Permission denied
(Our /etc/sudoers file is empty, except for comments.)

At any rate, I believe the line is already in the .cnf file:
   > grep xelatex `kpsewhich fmtutil.cnf`
   xelatex         xetex   language.dat    -etex xelatex.ini

> Then try to build xelatex.fmt as root.

Where should root's version of xelatex.fmt file be?  I have tried running
'fmtutil-sys --missing' as root, but that doesn't appear to even try
creating anything to do with xelatex.  Is there another way?  Or maybe
more to the point, why doesn't fmtutil(-sys) even try?  There is a
xelatex.ini file, in /usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/latexconfig/.

Maybe fmtutil is failing to build the .fmt file for xelatex because it
can't build the corresponding file for Latex?  It seems to be missing a
file bghyphen.tex.  Don't know if that would cause a problem for
xelatex...

BTW, I installed the xetex package from the TeX Live 2007 pseudo-CD, using
setuptl/tlpm-x86_64-linux.pl, with the target dir of /usr/share.  There
was already an older distro of TeX on the machine (RedHat Linux, I
believe), in /usr/share/texmf.  Could that have interfered?  Some of the
directories under /usr/share/texmf/ seem to be a result of that TeXLive
installation (that is, they have a date of Aug 8), while the rest of the
TeXLive installation seems to have gone into /usr/share/texmf-dist/,
/usr/share/texmf-doc/, and /usr/share/texmf-var/.  (The actual xetex and
xelatex executables are under /usr/share/bin/x86-64-linux.)

   Mike Maxwell
   CASL/ U MD