clarify use of * prefix

git-svn-id: svn://tug.org/texlive/trunk@11111 c570f23f-e606-0410-a88d-b1316a301751

2 files changed, 8 insertions, 6 deletions

diff --git a/Build/source/texk/tetex/fmtutil b/Build/source/texk/tetex/fmtutil
index f86a06003de..a2d3808b988 100755
--- a/Build/source/texk/tetex/fmtutil
+++ b/Build/source/texk/tetex/fmtutil
@@ -607,15 +607,16 @@ parse_line()
 
   texargs="$@"
 
-  eval lastarg=\$$#
-  inifile=`echo $lastarg | sed 's%^\*%%'`
-
   case "$engine" in
     mpost)           fmtfile="$format.mem";  kpsefmt=mp; texengine=metapost;;
     mf|mfw|mf-nowin) fmtfile="$format.base"; kpsefmt=mf; texengine=metafont;;
     *)               fmtfile="$format.fmt";  kpsefmt=tex; texengine=$engine;;
   esac
 
+  # remove any * for the sake of the kpsewhich lookup.
+  eval lastarg=\$$#
+  inifile=`echo $lastarg | sed 's%^\*%%'`
+
   # See if we can find $inifile for return code:
   kpsewhich -progname=$format -format=$kpsefmt $inifile >/dev/null 2>&1
 }
diff --git a/Master/texmf/fmtutil/fmtutil-hdr.cnf b/Master/texmf/fmtutil/fmtutil-hdr.cnf
index 75e01637a05..2ad632e2a03 100644
--- a/Master/texmf/fmtutil/fmtutil-hdr.cnf
+++ b/Master/texmf/fmtutil/fmtutil-hdr.cnf
@@ -10,9 +10,10 @@
 #
 # format  engine  pattern-file  arguments
 #
-# The last part of "arguments" must be the name of the file to run
-# initex (or another ini-engine) on.  For historical reasons, that
-# filename may be preceded by a *, which is ignored.
+# The last "argument" must be the name of the file on which to run
+# the ini-engine (such as initex).  If the ini-engine is e-TeX, and the
+# e-TeX extensions should be enabled, the filename must be prefixed with
+# a * character.
 # 
 # fmtutil always passes the -ini option to the engine.
 # If no pattern-file is desired, use -.