[XeTeX] XeLaTeX aborts without proper notification for large files

[Jonathan Kew]

On 3 Feb 2009, at 13:07, Pander wrote:

> Jonathan Kew wrote:
>> On 30 Jan 2009, at 17:56, Pander wrote:
>>
>>> Peter Dyballa wrote:
>>>> Am 30.01.2009 um 17:39 schrieb Pander:
>>>>
>>>>> If this error is related to some maximum memory sizes of XeTeX,
>>>>> where
>>>>> and how do I change these?
>>>>
>>>> First show us how you manage to define and use 1,000 different  
>>>> fonts!
>>>> This is an impossible task.
>>> Make a python script that iterates over all the fonts and  
>>> generates a
>>> TeX file using all those fonts. It works fine, but only up to a
>>> certain
>>> file size.
>>>
>>> What parameters do I need to tweek in order to be able to  
>>> successfully
>>> run xelatex?
>>
>> There's a font_max parameter (see texmf.cnf) that is probably set to
>> 5000; this is the maximum number of separate \font definitions that
>> TeX can handle in a job.
>
> in /etc/texmf/texmf.cnf is
>
> % Total number of fonts. Must be >= 50 and <= 2000 (without tex.ch  
> changes).
> font_max = 2000
>
> How do I increate this over 2000 since my Ubuntu system does not  
> have a
> tex.ch?

tex.ch is part of the source code; this is a compile-time constant. So  
you'd have to rebuild from source. I'm not sure how far this can be  
increased without encountering other limitations; there might be  
limits to the size of some data structures, but I don't remember  
offhand.

I still think it would be wiser to process the fonts in smaller  
batches. Even if you can create a PDF with several thousand embedded  
fonts, I wouldn't be surprised if some viewing software, printers,  
etc. have problems with it.

JK