path: root/Master/texmf-dist/doc/info/kpathsea.info

This is kpathsea.info, produced by makeinfo version 6.1 from
kpathsea.texi.

This file documents the Kpathsea library for path searching.

   Copyright (C) 1996-2016 Karl Berry & Olaf Weber.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the TeX Users Group.
INFO-DIR-SECTION TeX
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Kpathsea: (kpathsea).                       File lookup along search paths.
* kpsewhich: (kpathsea)Invoking kpsewhich.    TeX file searching.
* mktexfmt: (kpathsea)mktex scripts.          Format (fmt/base/mem) generation.
* mktexlsr: (kpathsea)Filename database.      Update ls-R.
* mktexmf: (kpathsea)mktex scripts.           MF source generation.
* mktexpk: (kpathsea)mktex scripts.           PK bitmap generation.
* mktextex: (kpathsea)mktex scripts.          TeX source generation.
* mktextfm: (kpathsea)mktex scripts.          TeX font metric generation.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Introduction,  Up: (dir)

Kpathsea library
****************

This manual documents the Kpathsea library for path searching.  It
corresponds to version 6.2.2, released in Aprile 2016.

* Menu:

* Introduction::             Overview and history.

* unixtex.ftp::              Obtaining TeX software.
* Security::                 Who can write what files, etc.
* TeX directory structure::  Managing the horde of TeX input files.

* Path searching::           How filename lookups work.
* TeX support::              Special support for TeX-related file lookups.

* Programming::              How to use Kpathsea features in your program.

* Reporting bugs::           Where and how to report bugs.
* Index::                    General index.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Introduction,  Next: unixtex.ftp,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

1 Introduction
**************

This manual corresponds to version 6.2.2 of the Kpathsea library,
released in Aprile 2016.

   The library's fundamental purpose is to return a filename from a list
of directories specified by the user, similar to what shells do when
looking up program names to execute.

   The following software, all of which is maintained in parallel, uses
this library:

   * Dviljk (see the 'dvilj' man page)
   * Dvipsk (*note (dvips)::)
   * GNU font utilities (*note (fontu)::)
   * Web2c (*note (web2c)::)
   * Xdvik (see the 'xdvi' man page)

Other software that we do not maintain also uses it.

   Kpathsea is now maintained as part of the TeX Live distribution
(<http://tug.org/texlive>).  For information on configuration, building,
installing, and more, *note (tlbuild)::.

   The library is still actively maintained.  If you have comments or
suggestions, please send along (*note Reporting bugs::).

   The Kpathsea library is distributed under the GNU Library General
Public License (LGPL). In short, this means if you write a program using
the library, you must (offer to) distribute the source to the library,
along with any changes you have made, and allow anyone to modify the
library source and distribute their modifications.  It does not mean you
have to distribute the source to your program, although we hope you
will.  See accompanying files for the text of the GNU licenses, or
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses>.

   If you know enough about TeX to be reading this manual, then you (or
your institution) should consider joining the TeX Users Group (if you're
already a member, thanks!).  TUG produces the periodical 'TUGboat',
sponsors an annual meeting and publishes the proceedings, and arranges
courses on TeX for all levels of users throughout the world.  See
<http://tug.org> for information.

* Menu:

* History::


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: History,  Up: Introduction

1.1 History
===========

This section is for those people who are curious about how the library
came about.  If you like to read historical accounts of software, we
urge you to seek out the GNU Autoconf manual and the "Errors of TeX"
paper by Don Knuth, published in his book 'Digital Typography', among
other places.

   [Karl writes.]  My first ChangeLog entry for Web2c seems to be
February 1990, but I may have done some work before then.  In any case,
Tim Morgan and I were jointly maintaining it for a time.  (I should
mention here that Tim had made Web2c into a real distribution long
before I had ever used it or even heard of it, and Tom Rokicki did the
original implementation.  When I started, I was using 'pxp' and 'pc' on
VAX 11/750's and the hot new Sun 2 machines.)

   It must have been later in 1990 and 1991 that I started working on
'TeX for the Impatient'.  Dvips, Xdvi, Web2c, and the GNU fontutils
(which I was also writing at the time) all used different environment
variables, and, more importantly, had different bugs in their path
searching.  This became extremely painful, as I was stressing everything
to the limit working on the book.  I also desperately wanted to
implement subdirectory searching, since I couldn't stand putting
everything in one big directory, and also couldn't stand having to
explicitly specify 'cm', 'pandora', ... in a path.

   In the first incarnation, I just hacked separately on each
program--that was the original subdirectory searching code in both Xdvi
and Dvips.  That is, I tried to go with the flow in each program, rather
than changing the program's calling sequences to conform to new
routines.

   Then, as bugs inevitably appeared, I found I was fixing the same
thing three times (Web2c and fontutils were already sharing code, since
I maintained both of those--there was no Dvipsk or Xdvik or Dviljk at
this point).  After a while, I finally started sharing source files.
They weren't yet a library, though.  I just kept things up to date with
shell scripts.  (I was developing on a 386 running ISC 2.2 at the time,
and so didn't have symbolic links.  An awful experience.)

   The ChangeLogs for Xdvik and Dvipsk record initial releases of those
distributions in May and June 1992.  I think it was because I was tired
of the different configuration strategies of each program, not so much
because of the path searching.  Autoconf was being developed by David
MacKenzie and others, and I was adapting it to TeX and friends.

   I started to make a separate library that other programs could link
with on my birthday in April 1993, according to the ChangeLog.  I don't
remember exactly why I finally took the time to make it a separate
library; a conversation with david zuhn initiated it.  Just seemed like
it was time.

   Dviljk got started in March 1994 after I bought a Laserjet 4.
(Kpathsea work got suspended while Norm Walsh and I, with Gustaf
Neumann's help, implemented a way for TeX to get at all those neat
builtin LJ4 fonts ... such a treat to have something to typeset in
besides Palatino!)

   By spring of 1995, I had implemented just about all the
path-searching features in Kpathsea that I plan to, driven beyond my
initial goals by Thomas Esser and others.  I then started to integrate
Web2c with Kpathsea.  After the release of a stable Web2c, I hope to be
able to stop development, and turn most of my attention back to making
fonts for GNU. (Always assuming Micros**t hasn't completely obliterated
Unix by then, or that software patents haven't stopped software
development by anybody smaller than a company with a
million-dollar-a-year legal budget.  Which is actually what I think is
likely to happen, but that's another story...)

   [Olaf writes.]  At the end of 1997, Unix is still alive and kicking,
individuals still develop software, and Web2c development still
continues.  Karl had been looking for some time for someone to take up
part of the burden, and I volunteered.

   [Karl writes again.]  Indeed, time goes on.  As of 2006 or so, Olaf's
available time for Kpathsea became rather reduced, and I started taking
overall care of it again, although I did not do any significant new
development.  In 2009, Taco Hoekwater made a major rearrangement to make
the library suitable for use within the MetaPost library (*note
Programming overview::).  Also, for some years now, Peter Breitenlohner
has made many improvements to the infrastructure and kept up-to-date
with respect to the overall TeX Live build, where Kpathsea is now
maintained.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: unixtex.ftp,  Next: Security,  Prev: Introduction,  Up: Top

2 'unixtex.ftp': Obtaining TeX
******************************

This is <ftp://ftp.tug.org/tex/unixtex.ftp>, last updated 13 June 2010.
Also available as <http://www.tug.org/unixtex.ftp>.  Email
<tex-k@tug.org> with comments or questions.

   The principal free TeX distribution for Unix-like systems is TeX
Live, on the web at <http://tug.org/texlive>.  The pages there describe
many ways to acquire and build TeX, over the Internet or on physical
media, both the sources and precompiled binaries for many systems,
either standalone or as part of various operating system distributions.

   Web2C, Kpathsea, Dvips, and Dviljk are no longer released as a
separate packages.  Their sources are now maintained as part of TeX
Live.

   The host ftp.cs.stanford.edu is the original source for the files for
which Donald Knuth is directly responsible: 'tex.web', 'plain.tex', etc.
However, unless you want to undertake the very significant project of
building your TeX installation from scratch, it is far more reliable and
less work to retrieve these files as part of a larger package

   In any case, the Stanford ftp site is not the canonical source for
anything except what was created as part of Knuth's original TeX, so do
not rely on any other files available there being up-to-date.  The best
place to check for up-to-date files is CTAN (the Comprehensive TeX
Archive Network), <http://www.ctan.org>.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Security,  Next: TeX directory structure,  Prev: unixtex.ftp,  Up: Top

3 Security
**********

None of the programs in the TeX system require any special system
privileges, so there's no first-level security concern of people gaining
illegitimate root access.

   A TeX document, however, can write to arbitrary files, e.g.,
'~/.rhosts', and thus an unwitting user who runs TeX on a random
document is vulnerable to a trojan horse attack.  This loophole is
closed by default, but you can be permissive if you so desire in
'texmf.cnf'.  *Note (web2c)tex invocation::.  MetaPost has the same
issue.

   Dvips, Xdvi, and TeX can also execute shell commands under some
circumstances.  To disable this, see the '-R' option in *note
(dvips)Option details::, the xdvi man page, and *note (web2c)tex
invocation::, respectively.

   Another security issue arises because it's very useful--almost
necessary--to make arbitrary fonts on user demand with 'mktexpk' and
friends.  Where do these files get installed?  By default, the 'mktexpk'
distributed with Kpathsea assumes a world-writable '/var/tmp' directory;
this is a simple and convenient approach, but it may not suit your
situation because it means that a local cache of fonts is created on
every machine.

   To avoid this duplication, many people consider a shared, globally
writable font tree desirable, in spite of the potential security
problems.  To do this you should change the value of 'VARTEXFONTS' in
'texmf.cnf' to refer to some globally known directory.  *Note mktex
configuration::.

   The first restriction you can apply is to make newly-created
directories under 'texmf' be append-only with an option in 'mktex.cnf'.
*Note mktex configuration::.

   Another approach is to establish a group (or user) for TeX files,
make the 'texmf' tree writable only to that group (or user), and make
'mktexpk' et al. setgid to that group (or setuid to that user).  Then
users must invoke the scripts to install things.  (If you're worried
about the inevitable security holes in scripts, then you could write a C
wrapper to exec the script.)

   The 'mktex...' scripts install files with the same read and write
permissions as the directory they are installed in.  The executable,
sgid, suid, and sticky bits are always cleared.

   Any directories created by the 'mktex...' scripts have the same
permissions as their parent directory, unless the 'appendonlydir'
feature is used, in which case the sticky bit is always set.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: TeX directory structure,  Next: Path searching,  Prev: Security,  Up: Top

4 TeX directory structure
*************************

This section describes the default installation hierarchy of the
distribution.  It conforms to both the GNU coding standards and the TeX
directory structure (TDS) standard.  For rationale and further
explanation, please see those documents.  The GNU document is available
from <http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards>.  The TDS document is available
from <http://www.mirror.ctan.org/tds> (*note unixtex.ftp::).

   In short, here is a skeleton of the default directory structure,
extracted from the TDS document:

     PREFIX/      installation root ('/usr/local' by default)
      bin/         executables
      man/         man pages
      include/     C header files
      info/        GNU info files
      lib/         libraries ('libkpathsea.*')
      share/       architecture-independent files
       texmf/      TDS root
        bibtex/     BibTeX input files
         bib/        BibTeX databases
          base/       base distribution (e.g., 'xampl.bib')
          misc/       single-file databases
          PKG/       name of a package
         bst/        BibTeX style files
          base/       base distribution (e.g., 'plain.bst', 'acm.bst')
          misc/       single-file styles
          PKG/       name of a package
        doc/         additional documentation
        dvips/       '.pro', '.ps', 'psfonts.map'
        fonts/       font-related files
         TYPE/         file type (e.g., 'tfm', 'pk')
          MODE/          type of output device (types 'pk' and 'gf' only)
           SUPPLIER/       name of a font supplier (e.g., 'public')
            TYPEFACE/        name of a typeface (e.g., 'cm')
             dpiNNN/           font resolution (types 'pk' and 'gf' only)
        metafont/    Metafont (non-font) input files
         base/        base distribution (e.g., 'plain.mf')
         misc/        single-file packages (e.g., 'modes.mf')
         PKG/           name of a package (e.g., 'mfpic')
        metapost/    MetaPost input files
         base/        base distribution (e.g., 'plain.mp')
         misc/        single-file packages
         PKG/           name of a package
         support/     support files for MetaPost-related utilities (e.g., 'trfonts.map')
        mft/         'MFT' inputs (e.g., 'plain.mft')
        tex/         TeX input files
         FORMAT/         name of a format (e.g., 'plain')
          base/        base distribution for FORMAT (e.g., 'plain.tex')
          misc/        single-file packages (e.g., 'webmac.tex')
          local/       local additions to or local configuration files for FORMAT
          PKG/           name of a package (e.g., 'graphics', 'mfnfss')
         generic/     format-independent packages
          hyphen/      hyphenation patterns (e.g., 'hyphen.tex')
          images/      image input files (e.g., Encapsulated PostScript)
          misc/        single-file format-independent packages (e.g., 'null.tex').
          PKG/           name of a package (e.g., 'babel')
        web2c/        implementation-dependent files ('.pool', '.fmt', 'texmf.cnf', etc.)

   Some concrete examples for most file types:

     /usr/local/bin/tex
     /usr/local/man/man1/xdvi.1
     /usr/local/info/kpathsea.info
     /usr/local/lib/libkpathsea.a
     /usr/local/share/texmf/bibtex/bst/base/plain.bst
     /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/pk/ljfour/public/cm/cmr10.600pk
     /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/source/public/pandora/pnr10.mf
     /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/tfm/public/cm/cmr10.tfm
     /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/type1/adobe/utopia/putr.pfa
     /usr/local/share/texmf/metafont/base/plain.mf
     /usr/local/share/texmf/metapost/base/plain.mp
     /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/plain/base/plain.tex
     /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/generic/hyphen/hyphen.tex
     /usr/local/share/texmf/web2c/tex.pool
     /usr/local/share/texmf/web2c/tex.fmt
     /usr/local/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Path searching,  Next: TeX support,  Prev: TeX directory structure,  Up: Top

5 Path searching
****************

This chapter describes the generic path searching mechanism Kpathsea
provides.  For information about searching for particular file types
(e.g., TeX fonts), see the next chapter.

* Menu:

* Searching overview::          Basic scheme for searching.
* Path sources::                Where search paths can be defined.
* Path expansion::              Special constructs in search paths.
* Filename database::           Using an externally-built list to search.
* Invoking kpsewhich::          Standalone path lookup.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Searching overview,  Next: Path sources,  Up: Path searching

5.1 Searching overview
======================

A "search path" is a colon-separated list of "path elements", which are
directory names with a few extra frills.  A search path can come from (a
combination of) many sources; see below.  To look up a file 'foo' along
a path '.:/dir', Kpathsea checks each element of the path in turn: first
'./foo', then '/dir/foo', returning the first match (or possibly all
matches).

   The "colon" and "slash" mentioned here aren't necessarily ':' and '/'
on non-Unix systems.  Kpathsea tries to adapt to other operating
systems' conventions.

   To check a particular path element E, Kpathsea first sees if a
prebuilt database (*note Filename database::) applies to E, i.e., if the
database is in a directory that is a prefix of E.  If so, the path
specification is matched against the contents of the database.

   If the database does not exist, or does not apply to this path
element, or contains no matches, the filesystem is searched (if this was
not forbidden by the specification with '!!' and if the file being
searched for must exist).  Kpathsea constructs the list of directories
that correspond to this path element, and then checks in each for the
file being searched for.  (To help speed future lookups of files in the
same directory, the directory in which a file is found is floated to the
top of the directory list.)

   The "file must exist" condition comes into play with VF files and
input files read by the TeX '\openin' command.  These files might very
well not exist (consider 'cmr10.vf'), and so it would be wrong to search
the disk for them.  Therefore, if you fail to update 'ls-R' when you
install a new VF file, it will not be found.

   Each path element is checked in turn: first the database, then the
disk.  If a match is found, the search stops and the result is returned.
This avoids possibly-expensive processing of path specifications that
are never needed on a particular run.  (Unless the search explicitly
requested all matches.)

   Although the simplest and most common path element is a directory
name, Kpathsea supports additional features in search paths: layered
default values, environment variable names, config file values, users'
home directories, and recursive subdirectory searching.  Thus, we say
that Kpathsea "expands" a path element, meaning transforming all the
magic specifications into the basic directory name or names.  This
process is described in the sections below.  It happens in the same
order as the sections.

   Exception to all of the above: If the filename being searched for is
absolute or explicitly relative, i.e., starts with '/' or './' or '../',
Kpathsea simply checks if that file exists.

   Ordinarily, if Kpathsea tries to access a file or directory that
cannot be read, it gives a warning.  This is so you will be alerted to
directories or files that accidentally lack any read permission (for
example, a 'lost+found' directory).  If you prefer not to see these
warnings, include the value 'readable' in the 'TEX_HUSH' environment
variable or config file value.

   This generic path searching algorithm is implemented in
'kpathsea/pathsearch.c'.  It is employed by a higher-level algorithm
when searching for a file of a particular type (*note File lookup::, and
*note Glyph lookup::).


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Path sources,  Next: Path expansion,  Prev: Searching overview,  Up: Path searching

5.2 Path sources
================

A search path can come from many sources.  In the order in which
Kpathsea uses them:

  1. A user-set environment variable, e.g., 'TEXINPUTS'.  Environment
     variables with an underscore and the program name appended
     override; for example, 'TEXINPUTS_latex' overrides 'TEXINPUTS' if
     the program being run is named 'latex'.

  2. A program-specific configuration file, e.g., an 'S /a:/b' line in
     Dvips' 'config.ps' (*note (dvips)Config files::).

  3. A line in a Kpathsea configuration file 'texmf.cnf', e.g.,
     'TEXINPUTS=/c:/d' (see below).

  4. The compile-time default (specified in 'kpathsea/paths.h').

   You can see each of these values for a given search path by using the
debugging options (*note Debugging::).

   These sources may be combined via default expansion (*note Default
expansion::).

* Menu:

* Config files::        Kpathsea's runtime config files (texmf.cnf).


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Config files,  Up: Path sources

5.2.1 Config files
------------------

As mentioned above, Kpathsea reads "runtime configuration files" named
'texmf.cnf' for search path and other definitions.  The search path used
to look for these configuration files is named 'TEXMFCNF', and is
constructed in the usual way, as described above, except that
configuration files cannot be used to define the path, naturally; also,
an 'ls-R' database is not used to search for them.

   Kpathsea reads _all_ 'texmf.cnf' files in the search path, not just
the first one found; definitions in earlier files override those in
later files.  Thus, if the search path is '.:$TEXMF', values from
'./texmf.cnf' override those from '$TEXMF/texmf.cnf'.

   If Kpathsea cannot find any 'texmf.cnf' file, it reports a warning
including all the directories it checked.  If you don't want to see this
warning, set the environment variable 'KPATHSEA_WARNING' to the single
character '0' (zero, not oh).

   While (or instead of) reading this description, you may find it
helpful to look at the distributed 'texmf.cnf', which uses or at least
mentions most features.  The format of 'texmf.cnf' files follows:

   * Comments start with '%', either at the beginning of a line or
     preceded by whitespace, and continue to the end of the line.  That
     is, as with most shells, a '%' in the "middle" of a value does not
     start a comment.  Examples:

          % this is a comment
          var = a%b  % but the value of var will be "a%b".

   * Blank lines are ignored.

   * A '\' at the end of a line acts as a continuation character, i.e.,
     the next line is appended.  Whitespace at the beginning of
     continuation lines is not ignored.

   * Each remaining line must look like

          VARIABLE [. PROGNAME] [=] VALUE

     where the '=' and surrounding whitespace is optional.

   * The VARIABLE name may contain any character other than whitespace,
     '=', or '.', but sticking to 'A-Za-z_' is safest.

   * If '.PROGNAME' is present, the definition only applies if the
     program that is running is named (i.e., the last component of
     'argv[0]' is) PROGNAME or 'PROGNAME.{exe,bat,cmd,...}'.  Most
     notably, this allows different flavors of TeX to have different
     search paths.

   * VALUE may contain any characters except '%' and '@'.  (These
     restrictions are only necessary because of the processing done on
     'texmf.cnf' at build time, so you can stick those characters in
     after installation if you have to.)  The '$VAR.PROG' feature is not
     available on the right-hand side; instead, you must use an
     additional variable (see below for example).  A ';' in VALUE is
     translated to ':' if running under Unix; this is useful to write a
     single 'texmf.cnf' which can be used under both Unix and Windows.

   * All definitions are read before anything is expanded, so you can
     use variables before they are defined (like Make, unlike most other
     programs).

Here is a configuration file fragment illustrating most of these points:

     % TeX input files -- i.e., anything to be found by \input or \openin ...
     latex209_inputs = .:$TEXMF/tex/latex209//:$TEXMF/tex//
     latex2e_inputs = .:$TEXMF/tex/latex//:$TEXMF/tex//
     TEXINPUTS = .:$TEXMF/tex//
     TEXINPUTS.latex209 = $latex209_inputs
     TEXINPUTS.latex2e = $latex2e_inputs
     TEXINPUTS.latex = $latex2e_inputs

   This format has obvious similarities to Bourne shell scripts--change
the comment character to '#', disallow spaces around the '=', and get
rid of the '.NAME' convention, and it could be run through the shell.
However, there seemed little advantage in this, since all the
information would have to passed back to Kpathsea and parsed there
anyway, since the 'sh' process couldn't affect its parent's environment.

   The implementation of all this is in 'kpathsea/cnf.c'.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Path expansion,  Next: Filename database,  Prev: Path sources,  Up: Path searching

5.3 Path expansion
==================

Kpathsea recognizes certain special characters and constructions in
search paths, similar to that in shells.  As a general example:
'~$USER/{foo,bar}//baz' expands to all subdirectories under directories
'foo' and 'bar' in $USER's home directory that contain a directory or
file 'baz'.  These expansions are explained in the sections below.

* Menu:

* Default expansion::           a: or :a or a::b expands to a default.
* Variable expansion::          $foo and ${foo} expand to environment values.
* Tilde expansion::             ~ and ~user expand to home directories.
* Brace expansion::             a{foo,bar}b expands to afoob abarb.
* KPSE_DOT expansion::          . is replaced with $KPSE_DOT if it is defined.
* Subdirectory expansion::      a// and a//b recursively expand to subdirs.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Default expansion,  Next: Variable expansion,  Up: Path expansion

5.3.1 Default expansion
-----------------------

If the highest-priority search path (*note Path sources::) contains an
"extra colon" (i.e., leading, trailing, or doubled), Kpathsea inserts at
that point the next-highest-priority search path that is defined.  If
that inserted path has an extra colon, the same happens with the
next-highest.  (An extra colon in the compile-time default value has
unpredictable results, so installers beware.)

   For example, given an environment variable setting

     setenv TEXINPUTS /home/karl:

and a 'TEXINPUTS' value from 'texmf.cnf' of

     .:$TEXMF//tex

then the final value used for searching will be:

     /home/karl:.:$TEXMF//tex

   Put another way, default expansion works on "formats" (search paths),
and not directly on environment variables.  Example, showing the
trailing ':' ignored in the first case and expanded in the second:

     $ env TTFONTS=/tmp: kpsewhich --expand-path '$TTFONTS'
     /tmp
     $ env TTFONTS=/tmp: kpsewhich --show-path=.ttf
     /tmp:.:/home/olaf/texmf/fonts/truetype//:...

   Since Kpathsea looks for multiple configuration files, it would be
natural to expect that (for example) an extra colon in './texmf.cnf'
would expand to the path in '$TEXMF/texmf.cnf'.  Or, with Dvips'
configuration files, that an extra colon in 'config.$PRINTER' would
expand to the path in 'config.ps'.  This doesn't happen.  It's not clear
this would be desirable in all cases, and trying to devise a way to
specify the path to which the extra colon should expand seemed truly
baroque.

   Technicality: Since it would be useless to insert the default value
in more than one place, Kpathsea changes only one extra ':' and leaves
any others in place (they will eventually be ignored).  Kpathsea checks
first for a leading ':', then a trailing ':', then a doubled ':'.

   You can trace this by debugging "paths" (*note Debugging::).  Default
expansion is implemented in the source file 'kpathsea/kdefault.c'.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Variable expansion,  Next: Tilde expansion,  Prev: Default expansion,  Up: Path expansion

5.3.2 Variable expansion
------------------------

'$foo' or '${foo}' in a path element is replaced by (1) the value of an
environment variable 'foo' (if defined); (2) the value of 'foo' from
'texmf.cnf' (if defined); (3) the empty string.

   If the character after the '$' is alphanumeric or '_', the variable
name consists of all consecutive such characters.  If the character
after the '$' is a '{', the variable name consists of everything up to
the next '}' (braces may not be nested around variable names).
Otherwise, Kpathsea gives a warning and ignores the '$' and its
following character.

   You must quote the $'s and braces as necessary for your shell.
_Shell_ variable values cannot be seen by Kpathsea, i.e., ones defined
by 'set' in C shells and without 'export' in Bourne shells.

   For example, given
     setenv tex /home/texmf
     setenv TEXINPUTS .:$tex:${tex}prev
the final 'TEXINPUTS' path is the three directories:
     .:/home/texmf:/home/texmfprev

   The '.PROGNAME' suffix on variables and '_PROGNAME' on environment
variable names are not implemented for general variable expansions.
These are only recognized when search paths are initialized (*note Path
sources::).

   Variable expansion is implemented in the source file
'kpathsea/variable.c'.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Tilde expansion,  Next: Brace expansion,  Prev: Variable expansion,  Up: Path expansion

5.3.3 Tilde expansion
---------------------

A leading '~' in a path element is replaced by the value of the
environment variable 'HOME', or '.' if 'HOME' is not set.  On Windows,
the environment variable 'USERPROFILE' is checked instead of 'HOME'.

   A leading '~USER' in a path element is replaced by USER's home
directory from the system 'passwd' database.

   For example,
     setenv TEXINPUTS ~/mymacros:

will prepend a directory 'mymacros' in your home directory to the
default path.

   As a special case, if a home directory ends in '/', the trailing
slash is dropped, to avoid inadvertently creating a '//' construct in
the path.  For example, if the home directory of the user 'root' is '/',
the path element '~root/mymacros' expands to just '/mymacros', not
'//mymacros'.

   Tilde expansion is implemented in the source file 'kpathsea/tilde.c'.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Brace expansion,  Next: KPSE_DOT expansion,  Prev: Tilde expansion,  Up: Path expansion

5.3.4 Brace expansion
---------------------

'x{A,B}y' expands to 'xAy:xBy'.  For example:

     foo/{1,2}/baz

expands to 'foo/1/baz:foo/2/baz'.  ':' is the path separator on the
current system; e.g., on a DOS system, it's ';'.

   Braces can be nested; for example, 'x{A,B{1,2}}y' expands to
'xAy:xB1y:xB2y'.

   Multiple non-nested braces are expanded from right to left; for
example, 'x{A,B}{1,2}y' expands to 'x{A,B}1y:x{A,B}2y', which expands to
'xA1y:xB1y:xA2y:xB2y'.

   This feature can be used to implement multiple TeX hierarchies, by
assigning a brace list to '$TEXMF', as mentioned in 'texmf.in'.

   You can also use the path separator instead of the comma.  The last
example could have been written 'x{A:B}{1:2}y'.

   Brace expansion is implemented in the source file
'kpathsea/expand.c'.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: KPSE_DOT expansion,  Next: Subdirectory expansion,  Prev: Brace expansion,  Up: Path expansion

5.3.5 'KPSE_DOT' expansion
--------------------------

When 'KPSE_DOT' is defined in the environment, it names a directory that
should be considered the current directory for the purpose of looking up
files in the search paths.  This feature is needed by the 'mktex...'
scripts *note mktex scripts::, because these change the working
directory.  You should not ever define it yourself.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Subdirectory expansion,  Prev: KPSE_DOT expansion,  Up: Path expansion

5.3.6 Subdirectory expansion
----------------------------

Two or more consecutive slashes in a path element following a directory
D is replaced by all subdirectories of D: first those subdirectories
directly under D, then the subsubdirectories under those, and so on.  At
each level, the order in which the directories are searched is
unspecified.  (It's "directory order", and definitely not alphabetical.)

   If you specify any filename components after the '//', only
subdirectories which match those components are included.  For example,
'/a//b' would expand into directories '/a/1/b', '/a/2/b', '/a/1/1/b',
and so on, but not '/a/b/c' or '/a/1'.

   You can include multiple '//' constructs in the path.

   '//' at the beginning of a path is ignored; you didn't really want to
search every directory on the system, did you?

   I should mention one related implementation trick, which I took from
GNU find.  Matthew Farwell suggested it, and David MacKenzie implemented
it.

   The trick is that in every real Unix implementation (as opposed to
the POSIX specification), a directory which contains no subdirectories
will have exactly two links (namely, one for '.' and one for '..').
That is to say, the 'st_nlink' field in the 'stat' structure will be
two.  Thus, we don't have to stat everything in the bottom-level (leaf)
directories--we can just check 'st_nlink', notice it's two, and do no
more work.

   But if you have a directory that contains a single subdirectory and
500 regular files, 'st_nlink' will be 3, and Kpathsea has to stat every
one of those 501 entries.  Therein lies slowness.

   You can disable the trick by undefining 'ST_NLINK_TRICK' in
'kpathsea/config.h'.  (It is undefined by default except under Unix.)

   Unfortunately, in some cases files in leaf directories are 'stat''d:
if the path specification is, say, '$TEXMF/fonts//pk//', then files in a
subdirectory '.../pk', even if it is a leaf, are checked.  The reason
cannot be explained without reference to the implementation, so read
'kpathsea/elt-dirs.c' (search for 'may descend') if you are curious.
And if you can find a way to _solve_ the problem, please let me know.

   Subdirectory expansion is implemented in the source file
'kpathsea/elt-dirs.c'.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Filename database,  Next: Invoking kpsewhich,  Prev: Path expansion,  Up: Path searching

5.4 Filename database ('ls-R')
==============================

Kpathsea goes to some lengths to minimize disk accesses for searches
(*note Subdirectory expansion::).  Nevertheless, in practice searching
each possible directory in typical TeX installations takes an
excessively long time.

   Therefore, Kpathsea can use an externally-built "filename database"
file named 'ls-R' that maps files to directories, thus avoiding the need
to exhaustively search the disk.

   A second database file 'aliases' allows you to give additional names
to the files listed in 'ls-R'.  This can be helpful to adapt to "8.3"
filename conventions in source files.

   The 'ls-R' and 'aliases' features are implemented in the source file
'kpathsea/db.c'.

* Menu:

* ls-R::                        The main filename database.
* Filename aliases::            Aliases for those names.
* Database format::             Syntax details of the database file.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: ls-R,  Next: Filename aliases,  Up: Filename database

5.4.1 'ls-R'
------------

As mentioned above, you must name the main filename database 'ls-R'.
You can put one at the root of each TeX installation hierarchy you wish
to search ('$TEXMF' by default); most sites have only one hierarchy.
Kpathsea looks for 'ls-R' files along the 'TEXMFDBS' path, so that
should presumably match the list of hierarchies.

   The recommended way to create and maintain 'ls-R' is to run the
'mktexlsr' script, which is installed in '$(bindir)' ('/usr/local/bin'
by default).  That script goes to some trouble to follow symbolic links
as necessary, etc.  It's also invoked by the distributed 'mktex...'
scripts.

   At its simplest, though, you can build 'ls-R' with the command
     cd /YOUR/TEXMF/ROOT && ls -LAR ./ >ls-R

presuming your 'ls' produces the right output format (see the section
below).  GNU 'ls', for example, outputs in this format.  Also presuming
your 'ls' hasn't been aliased in a system file (e.g., '/etc/profile') to
something problematic, e.g., 'ls --color=tty'.  In that case, you will
have to disable the alias before generating 'ls-R'.  For the precise
definition of the file format, see *note Database format::.

   Regardless of whether you use the supplied script or your own, you
will almost certainly want to invoke it via 'cron', so when you make
changes in the installed files (say if you install a new LaTeX package),
'ls-R' will be automatically updated.

   The '-A' option to 'ls' includes files beginning with '.' (except for
'.' and '..'), such as the file '.tex' included with the LaTeX tools
package.  (On the other hand, _directories_ whose names begin with '.'
are always ignored.)

   If your system does not support symbolic links, omit the '-L'.

   'ls -LAR /YOUR/TEXMF/ROOT' will also work.  But using './' avoids
embedding absolute pathnames, so the hierarchy can be easily
transported.  It also avoids possible trouble with automounters or other
network filesystem conventions.

   Kpathsea warns you if it finds an 'ls-R' file, but the file does not
contain any usable entries.  The usual culprit is running plain 'ls -R'
instead of 'ls -LR ./' or 'ls -R /YOUR/TEXMF/ROOT'.  Another possibility
is some system directory name starting with a '.' (perhaps if you are
using AFS); Kpathsea ignores everything under such directories.

   Because the database may be out-of-date for a particular run, if a
file is not found in the database, by default Kpathsea goes ahead and
searches the disk.  If a particular path element begins with '!!',
however, _only_ the database will be searched for that element, never
the disk.  If the database does not exist, nothing will be searched.
Because this can surprise users ("I see the font 'foo.tfm' when I do an
'ls'; why can't Dvips find it?"), it is not in any of the default search
paths.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Filename aliases,  Next: Database format,  Prev: ls-R,  Up: Filename database

5.4.2 Filename aliases
----------------------

In some circumstances, you may wish to find a file under several names.
For example, suppose a TeX document was created using a DOS system and
tries to read 'longtabl.sty'.  But now it's being run on a Unix system,
and the file has its original name, 'longtable.sty'.  The file won't be
found.  You need to give the actual file 'longtable.sty' an alias
'longtabl.sty'.

   You can handle this by creating a file 'aliases' as a companion to
the 'ls-R' for the hierarchy containing the file in question.  (You must
have an 'ls-R' for the alias feature to work.)

   The format of 'aliases' is simple: two whitespace-separated words per
line; the first is the real name 'longtable.sty', and second is the
alias ('longtabl.sty').  These must be base filenames, with no directory
components.  'longtable.sty' must be in the sibling 'ls-R'.

   Also, blank lines and lines starting with '%' or '#' are ignored in
'aliases', to allow for comments.

   If a real file 'longtabl.sty' exists, it is used regardless of any
aliases.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Database format,  Prev: Filename aliases,  Up: Filename database

5.4.3 Database format
---------------------

The "database" read by Kpathsea is a line-oriented file of plain text.
The format is that generated by GNU (and most other) 'ls' programs given
the '-R' option, as follows.

   * Blank lines are ignored.

   * If a line begins with '/' or './' or '../' and ends with a colon,
     it's the name of a directory.  ('../' lines aren't useful, however,
     and should not be generated.)

   * All other lines define entries in the most recently seen directory.
     /'s in such lines will produce possibly-strange results.

   * Files with no preceding directory line are ignored.

   For example, here's the first few lines of 'ls-R' (which totals about
30K bytes) on my system:

     bibtex
     dvips
     fonts
     ls-R
     metafont
     metapost
     tex
     web2c

     ./bibtex:
     bib
     bst
     doc

     ./bibtex/bib:
     asi.bib
     btxdoc.bib
     ...


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Invoking kpsewhich,  Prev: Filename database,  Up: Path searching

5.5 'kpsewhich': Standalone path searching
==========================================

The Kpsewhich program exercises the path searching functionality
independent of any particular application.  This can also be useful as a
sort of 'find' program to locate files in your TeX hierarchies, perhaps
in administrative scripts.  It is used heavily in the distributed
'mktex...' scripts.

   Synopsis:

     kpsewhich OPTION... FILENAME...

   The options and filename(s) to look up can be intermixed.  Options
can start with either '-' or '--', and any unambiguous abbreviation is
accepted.

* Menu:

* Path searching options::      Changing the mode, resolution, etc.
* Specially-recognized files::  Default formats for texmf.cnf, etc.
* Auxiliary tasks::             Path and variable expansion, etc.
* Standard options::            '--help' and '--version'.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Path searching options,  Next: Specially-recognized files,  Up: Invoking kpsewhich

5.5.1 Path searching options
----------------------------

Kpsewhich looks up each non-option argument on the command line as a
filename, and returns the first file found.

   Various options alter the path searching behavior:

'--all'
     Report all matches found, one per line.  By default, if there is
     more than one match, just one will be reported (chosen effectively
     at random).

'--dpi=NUM'
     Set the resolution to NUM; this only affects 'gf' and 'pk' lookups.
     '-D' is a synonym, for compatibility with Dvips.  Default is 600.

'--engine=NAME'
     Set the engine name to NAME.  By default it is not set.  The engine
     name is used in some search paths to allow files with the same name
     but used by different engines to coexist.

     In particular, since the memory dump files ('.fmt'/'.base'/'.mem')
     are now stored in subdirectories named for the engine ('tex',
     'pdftex', 'xetex', etc.), you must specify an engine name in order
     to find them.  For example, 'cont-en.fmt' typically exists for both
     'pdftex' and 'xetex'.  With the default path settings, you can use
     '--engine=/' to look for any dump file, regardless of engine; if a
     dump file exists for more than one engine, it's indeterminate which
     one is returned.  (The '/' ends up specifying a normal recursive
     search along the path where the dumps are stored, namely
     '$TEXMF/web2c{/$engine,}'.)

'--format=NAME'
     Set the format for lookup to NAME.  By default, the format is
     guessed from the filename, with 'tex' being used if nothing else
     fits.  The recognized filename extensions (including any leading
     '.') are also allowable NAMEs.

     All formats also have a name, which is the only way to specify
     formats with no associated suffix.  For example, for Dvips
     configuration files you can use '--format="dvips config"'.  (The
     quotes are for the sake of the shell.)

     Here's the current list of recognized names and the associated
     suffixes.  *Note Supported file formats::, for more information on
     each of these.

     The strings in parentheses are abbreviations recognized only by
     'kpsewhich' (not the underlying library calls).  They are provided
     when it would otherwise require an argument containing a space to
     specify the format, to simplify quoting of calls from shells.

          gf: gf
          pk: pk
          bitmap font (bitmapfont):
          tfm: .tfm
          afm: .afm
          base: .base
          bib: .bib
          bst: .bst
          cnf: .cnf
          ls-R: ls-R ls-r
          fmt: .fmt
          map: .map
          mem: .mem
          mf: .mf
          mfpool: .pool
          mft: .mft
          mp: .mp
          mppool: .pool
          MetaPost support (mpsupport):
          ocp: .ocp
          ofm: .ofm .tfm
          opl: .opl  .pl
          otp: .otp
          ovf: .ovf .vf
          ovp: .ovp  .vpl
          graphic/figure:  .eps .epsi
          tex: .tex  .sty .cls .fd .aux .bbl .def .clo .ldf
          TeX system documentation (doc):
          texpool: .pool
          TeX system sources (source):  .dtx .ins
          PostScript header:  .pro
          Troff fonts (trofffont):
          type1 fonts: .pfa .pfb
          vf: .vf
          dvips config (dvipsconfig):
          ist: .ist
          truetype fonts: .ttf .ttc .TTF .TTC .dfont
          type42 fonts: .t42 .T42
          web2c files (web2c):
          other text files (othertext):
          other binary files (otherbin):
          misc fonts (miscfont):
          web: .web  .ch
          cweb: .w .web  .ch
          enc files: .enc
          cmap files (cmap):
          subfont definition files: .sfd
          opentype fonts: .otf
          pdftex config (pdftexconfig):
          lig files: .lig
          texmfscripts:
          lua: .lua .luatex .luc .luctex .texlua .texluc .tlu
          font feature files: .fea
          cid maps: .cid .cidmap
          mlbib: .mlbib .bib
          mlbst: .mlbst .bst
          clua: .dll .so
          ris: .ris
          bltxml: .bltxml

     This option and '--path' are mutually exclusive.

'--interactive'
     After processing the command line, read additional filenames to
     look up from standard input.

'--mktex=FILETYPE'
'--no-mktex=FILETYPE'
     Turn on or off the 'mktex' script associated with FILETYPE.  Usual
     values for FILETYPE are 'pk', 'mf', 'tex', and 'tfm'.  By default,
     all are off in Kpsewhich, even if they are enabled for TeX.  This
     option implies setting '--must-exist'.  *Note mktex scripts::.

'--mode=STRING'
     Set the mode name to STRING; this also only affects 'gf' and 'pk'
     lookups.  No default: any mode will be found.  *Note mktex script
     arguments::.

'--must-exist'
     Do everything possible to find the files, notably including
     searching the disk and running the 'mktex' scripts.  By default,
     only the 'ls-R' database is checked, in the interest of efficiency.

'--path=STRING'
     Search along the path STRING (colon-separated as usual), instead of
     guessing the search path from the filename.  '//' and all the usual
     expansions are supported (*note Path expansion::).  This option and
     '--format' are mutually exclusive.  To output the complete
     directory expansion of a path, instead of doing a one-shot lookup,
     see '--expand-path' and '--show-path' in the following section.

'--progname=NAME'
     Set the program name to NAME; default is 'kpsewhich'.  This can
     affect the search paths via the '.PROGNAM' feature in configuration
     files (*note Config files::).

'--subdir=STRING'
     Report only those matches whose directory part _ends_ with STRING
     (compared literally, except case is ignored on a case-insensitive
     operating system).  For example, suppose there are two matches for
     a given name:

          kpsewhich foo.sty
          => /some/where/foo.sty
          /another/place/foo.sty

     Then we can narrow the result to what we are interested in with
     '--subdir':

          kpsewhich --subdir=where foo.sty
          => /some/where/foo.sty

          kpsewhich --subdir=place foo.sty
          => /another/place/foo.sty

     The string to match must be at the end of the directory part of the
     match, and it is taken literally, with no pattern matching:

          kpsewhich --subdir=another foo.sty
          =>

     The string to match may cross directory components:

          kpsewhich --subdir=some/where foo.sty
          => /some/where/foo.sty

     '--subdir' implies '--all'; if there is more than one match, they
     will all be reported (in our example, both 'where' and 'place' end
     in 'e'):

          kpsewhich --subdir=e
          => /some/where/foo.sty
          /another/place/foo.sty

     Because of the above rules, the presence of a leading '/' is
     important, since it "anchors" the match to a full component name:

          kpsewhich --subdir=/lace foo.sty
          =>

     However, a trailing '/' is immaterial (and ignored), since the
     match always takes place at the end of the directory part:

          kpsewhich --subdir=lace/ foo.sty
          => /another/place/foo.sty

     The purpose of these rules is to make it convenient to find results
     only within a particular area of the tree.  For instance, a given
     script named 'foo.lua' might exist within both
     'texmf-dist/scripts/pkg1/' and 'texmf-dist/scripts/pkg2/'.  By
     specifying, say, '--subdir=/pkg1', you can be sure of getting the
     one you are interested in.

     We only match at the end because a site might happen to install TeX
     in '/some/coincidental/pkg1/path/', and we wouldn't want to match
     'texmf-dist/scripts/pkg2/' that when searching for '/pkg1'.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Specially-recognized files,  Next: Auxiliary tasks,  Prev: Path searching options,  Up: Invoking kpsewhich

5.5.2 Specially-recognized files for 'kpsewhich'
------------------------------------------------

'kpsewhich' recognizes a few special filenames on the command line and
defaults to using the 'known' file formats for them, merely to save the
time and trouble of specifying the format.  This is only a feature of
'kpsewhich'; when using the Kpathsea library itself, none of these
special filenames are recognized, and it's still up to the caller to
specify the desired format.

   Here is the list of special filenames to 'kpsewhich', along with
their corresponding format:

'config.ps'
     'dvips config'

'dvipdfmx.cfg'
     'other text files'

'fmtutil.cnf'
     'web2c files'

'glyphlist.txt'
     'map'

'mktex.cnf'
     'web2c files'

'pdfglyphlist.txt'
     'map'

'pdftex.cfg'
     'pdftex config' (although 'pdftex.cfg' is not used any more; look
     for the file 'pdftexconfig.tex' instead.)

'texmf.cnf'
     'cnf'

'XDvi'
     'other text files'

   A user-specified format will override the above defaults.

   Another useful configuration file in this regard is 'tcfmgr.map',
found in 'texmf/texconfig/tcfmgr.map', which records various information
about the above configuration files (among others).


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Auxiliary tasks,  Next: Standard options,  Prev: Specially-recognized files,  Up: Invoking kpsewhich

5.5.3 Auxiliary tasks
---------------------

Kpsewhich provides some features in addition to path lookup as such:

'--debug=NUM'
     Set debugging options to NUM.  *Note Debugging::.

'--expand-braces=STRING'
     Output variable and brace expansion of STRING.  *Note Path
     expansion::.

'--expand-path=STRING'
     Output the complete expansion of STRING, with each element
     separated by the usual path separator on the current system (';' on
     Windows, ':' otherwise).  This may be useful to construct a custom
     search path for a format not otherwise supported.  To retrieve the
     search path for a format that is already supported, see
     '--show-path'.

     Nonexistent directories are culled from the output:

          $ kpsewhich --expand-path '/tmp'
          => /tmp
          $ kpsewhich --expand-path '/nonesuch'
          =>

     For one-shot uses of an arbitrary (not built in to Kpathsea) path,
     see '--path' (*note Path searching options::)

'--expand-var=STRING'
     Output the variable and tilde expansion of STRING the 'mktex...'
     scripts run 'kpsewhich --expand-var='$TEXMF'' to find the root of
     the TeX system hierarchy.  *Note Path expansion::.

'--help-formats'
     Output information about each supported format (*note Supported
     file formats::), including the names and abbreviations, variables
     looked for, and the original path.

'--safe-in-name=NAME'
'--safe-out-name=NAME'
     Exit successfully if NAME is safe to open for reading or writing,
     respectively, else unsuccessfully.  No output is written.  These
     tests take account of the related Kpathsea configuration settings
     (*note Calling sequence::).

'--show-path=NAME'
     Show the path that would be used for file lookups of file type
     NAME.  Either a filename extension ('pk', '.vf', etc.)  or an
     integer can be used, just as with '--format', described in the
     previous section.

'--var-value=VARIABLE'
     Outputs the value of VARIABLE (a simple identifier like 'TEXMF',
     with no '$' or other constructs), expanding '$' (*note Variable
     expansion:: and '~' (*note Tilde expansion::) constructs, but not
     performing other expansions.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Standard options,  Prev: Auxiliary tasks,  Up: Invoking kpsewhich

5.5.4 Standard options
----------------------

Kpsewhich accepts the standard GNU options:

   * '--help' prints a help message on standard output and exits
     successfully.

   * '--version' prints the Kpathsea version number and exits
     successfully.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: TeX support,  Next: Programming,  Prev: Path searching,  Up: Top

6 TeX support
*************

Although the basic features in Kpathsea can be used for any type of path
searching, it came about (like all libraries) with a specific
application in mind: I wrote Kpathsea specifically for TeX system
programs.  I had been struggling with the programs I was using (Dvips,
Xdvi, and TeX itself) having slightly different notions of how to
specify paths; and debugging was painful, since no code was shared.

   Therefore, Kpathsea provides some TeX-specific formats and features.
Indeed, many of the supposedly generic path searching features were
provided because they seemed useful in that conTeXt (font lookup,
particularly).

   Kpathsea provides a standard way to search for files of any of the
supported file types; glyph fonts are a bit different than all the rest.
Searches are based solely on filenames, not file contents--if a GF file
is named 'cmr10.600pk', it will be found as a PK file.

* Menu:

* Supported file formats::      File types Kpathsea knows about.
* File lookup::                 Searching for most kinds of files.
* Glyph lookup::                Searching for bitmap fonts.
* Suppressing warnings::        Avoiding warnings via TEX_HUSH.
* mktex scripts::               Generating files at runtime.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Supported file formats,  Next: File lookup,  Up: TeX support

6.1 Supported file formats
==========================

Kpathsea has support for a number of file types.  Each file type has a
list of environment and config file variables that are checked to define
the search path, and most have a default suffix that plays a role in
finding files (see the next section).  Some also define additional
suffixes, and/or a program to be run to create missing files on the fly.

   Since environment variables containing periods, such as
'TEXINPUTS.latex', are not allowed on some systems, Kpathsea looks for
environment variables with an underscore, e.g., 'TEXINPUTS_latex' (*note
Config files::).

   The following table lists the above information.  You can also get
the list by giving the '--help-formats' option to 'kpsewhich' (*note
Auxiliary tasks::).

'afm'
     (Adobe font metrics, *note (dvips)Metric files::) 'AFMFONTS';
     suffix '.afm'.

'base'
     (Metafont memory dump, *note (web2c)Memory dumps::) 'MFBASES',
     'TEXMFINI'; suffix '.base'.

'bib'
     (BibTeX bibliography source, *note (web2c)bibtex invocation::)
     'BIBINPUTS', 'TEXBIB'; suffix '.bib'.

'bltxml'
     (BibLaTeXML bibliography files for Biber,
     <http://ctan.org/pkg/biber>) 'BLTXMLINPUTS' suffix '.bltxml'.

'bst'
     (BibTeX style, *note Basic BibTeX style files: (web2c)Basic BibTeX
     style files.) 'BSTINPUTS'; suffix '.bst'.

'clua'
     (dynamic libraries for Lua, <http://ctan.org/pkg/luatex>)
     'CLUAINPUTS' suffixes '.dll' and '.so'.

'cmap'
     (character map files) 'CMAPFONTS'; suffix '.cmap'.

'cnf'
     (Runtime configuration files, *note Config files::) 'TEXMFCNF';
     suffix '.cnf'.

'cweb'
     (CWEB input files) 'CWEBINPUTS'; suffixes '.w', '.web'; additional
     suffix '.ch'.

'dvips config'
     (Dvips 'config.*' files, such as 'config.ps', *note (dvips)Config
     files::) 'TEXCONFIG'.

'enc files'
     (encoding vectors) 'ENCFONTS'; suffix '.enc'.

'fmt'
     (TeX memory dump, *note (web2c)Memory dumps::) 'TEXFORMATS',
     'TEXMFINI'; suffix '.fmt'.

'font cid map'
     (CJK mapping) 'FONTCIDMAPS' suffix '.cid'.

'font feature files'
     (primarily for OpenType font features) 'FONTFEATURES' suffix
     '.fea'.

'gf'
     (generic font bitmap, *note (dvips)Glyph files::) 'PROGRAMFONTS',
     'GFFONTS', 'GLYPHFONTS', 'TEXFONTS'; suffix 'gf'.

'graphic/figure'
     (Encapsulated PostScript figures, *note (dvips)PostScript
     figures::) 'TEXPICTS', 'TEXINPUTS'; additional suffixes: '.eps',
     '.epsi'.

'ist'
     (makeindex style files) 'TEXINDEXSTYLE', 'INDEXSTYLE'; suffix
     '.ist'.

'lig files'
     (ligature definition files) 'LIGFONTS'; suffix '.lig'.

'ls-R'
     (Filename databases, *note Filename database::) 'TEXMFDBS'.

'map'
     (Fontmaps, *note Fontmap::) 'TEXFONTMAPS'; suffix '.map'.

'mem'
     (MetaPost memory dump, *note (web2c)Memory dumps::) 'MPMEMS',
     'TEXMFINI'; suffix '.mem'.

'MetaPost support'
     (MetaPost support files, used by DMP; *note (web2c)dmp
     invocation::) 'MPSUPPORT'.

'mf'
     (Metafont source, *note (web2c)mf invocation::) 'MFINPUTS'; suffix
     '.mf'; dynamic creation program: 'mktexmf'.

'mfpool'
     (Metafont program strings, *note (web2c)pooltype invocation::)
     'MFPOOL', 'TEXMFINI'; suffix '.pool'.

'mft'
     ('MFT' style file, *note (web2c)mft invocation::) 'MFTINPUTS';
     suffix '.mft'.

'misc fonts'
     (font-related files that don't fit the other categories)
     'MISCFONTS'

'mlbib'
     (MlBibTeX bibliography source) 'MLBIBINPUTS', 'BIBINPUTS',
     'TEXBIB'; suffixes '.mlbib', '.mlbib'.

'mlbst'
     (MlBibTeX style) 'MLBSTINPUTS', 'BSTINPUTS'; suffixes '.mlbst',
     '.bst'.

'mp'
     (MetaPost source, *note (web2c)mpost invocation::) 'MPINPUTS';
     suffix '.mp'.

'mppool'
     (MetaPost program strings, *note (web2c)pooltype invocation::)
     'MPPOOL', 'TEXMFINI'; suffix '.pool'.

'ocp'
     (Omega compiled process files) 'OCPINPUTS';
     suffix '.ocp'; dynamic creation program: 'MakeOmegaOCP'.

'ofm'
     (Omega font metrics) 'OFMFONTS', 'TEXFONTS';
     suffixes '.ofm', '.tfm'; dynamic creation program: 'MakeOmegaOFM'.

'opentype fonts'
     (OpenType fonts) 'OPENTYPEFONTS'.

'opl'
     (Omega property lists) 'OPLFONTS', 'TEXFONTS'; suffix '.opl'.

'otp'
     (Omega translation process files) 'OTPINPUTS'; suffix '.otp'.

'ovf'
     (Omega virtual fonts) 'OVFFONTS', 'TEXFONTS'; suffix '.ovf'.

'ovp'
     (Omega virtual property lists) 'OVPFONTS', 'TEXFONTS'; suffix
     '.ovp'.

'pdftex config'
     (PDFTeX-specific configuration files) 'PDFTEXCONFIG'.

'pk'
     (packed bitmap fonts, *note (dvips)Glyph files::) 'PROGRAMFONTS'
     (PROGRAM being 'XDVI', etc.), 'PKFONTS', 'TEXPKS', 'GLYPHFONTS',
     'TEXFONTS'; suffix 'pk'; dynamic creation program: 'mktexpk'.

'PostScript header'
     (downloadable PostScript, *note (dvips)Header files::)
     'TEXPSHEADERS', 'PSHEADERS'; additional suffix '.pro'.

'ris'
     (RIS bibliography files, primarily for Biber,
     <http://ctan.org/pkg/biber>) 'RISINPUTS' suffix '.ris'.

'subfont definition files'
     (subfont definition files) 'SFDFONTS' suffix '.sfd'.

'tex'
     (TeX source, *note (web2c)tex invocation::) 'TEXINPUTS'; suffix
     '.tex'; additional suffixes: none, because such a list cannot be
     complete; dynamic creation program: 'mktextex'.

'TeX system documentation'
     (Documentation files for the TeX system) 'TEXDOCS'.

'TeX system sources'
     (Source files for the TeX system) 'TEXSOURCES'.

'texmfscripts'
     (Architecture-independent executables distributed in the texmf
     trees) 'TEXMFSCRIPTS'.

'texpool'
     (TeX program strings, *note (web2c)pooltype invocation::)
     'TEXPOOL', 'TEXMFINI'; suffix '.pool'.

'tfm'
     (TeX font metrics, *note (dvips)Metric files::) 'TFMFONTS',
     'TEXFONTS'; suffix '.tfm'; dynamic creation program: 'mktextfm'.

'Troff fonts'
     (Troff fonts, used by DMP; *note (web2c)DMP invocation::)
     'TRFONTS'.

'truetype fonts'
     (TrueType outline fonts) 'TTFONTS'; suffixes '.ttf' and '.TTF',
     '.ttc' and '.TTC', '.dfont'.

'type1 fonts'
     (Type 1 PostScript outline fonts, *note (dvips)Glyph files::)
     'T1FONTS', 'T1INPUTS', 'TEXPSHEADERS', 'DVIPSHEADERS'; suffixes
     '.pfa', '.pfb'.

'type42 fonts'
     (Type 42 PostScript outline fonts) 'T42FONTS'.

'vf'
     (virtual fonts, *note (dvips)Virtual fonts::) 'VFFONTS',
     'TEXFONTS'; suffix '.vf'.

'web'
     (WEB input files) 'WEBINPUTS'; suffix '.web'; additional suffix
     '.ch'.

'web2c files'
     (files specific to the web2c implementation) 'WEB2C'.

   There are two special cases, because the paths and environment
variables always depend on the name of the program: the variable name is
constructed by converting the program name to upper case, and then
appending 'INPUTS'.  Assuming the program is called 'foo', this gives us
the following table.

'other text files'
     (text files used by 'foo') 'FOOINPUTS'.

'other binary files'
     (binary files used by 'foo') 'FOOINPUTS'.

   If an environment variable by these names are set, the corresponding
'texmf.cnf' definition won't be looked at (unless, as usual, the
environment variable value has an extra ':').  *Note Default
expansion::.

   For the font variables, the intent is that:
   * 'TEXFONTS' is the default for everything.

   * 'GLYPHFONTS' is the default for bitmap (or, more precisely,
     non-metric) files.

   * Each font format has a variable of its own.

   * Each program has its own font override path as well; e.g.,
     'DVIPSFONTS' for Dvipsk.  Again, this is for bitmaps, not metrics.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: File lookup,  Next: Glyph lookup,  Prev: Supported file formats,  Up: TeX support

6.2 File lookup
===============

This section describes how Kpathsea searches for most files (bitmap font
searches are the exception, as described in the next section).

   Here is the search strategy for a file NAME:

  1. If the file format defines default suffixes, and the suffix of NAME
     name is not already a known suffix for that format, try the name
     with each default appended, and use alternative names found in the
     fontmaps if necessary.  Example: given 'foo.bar', look for
     'foo.bar.tex'.

  2. Search for NAME, and if necessary for alternative names found in
     the fontmaps.  Example: given 'foo.bar', we also look for
     'foo.bar'.

  3. If the file format defines a program to invoke to create missing
     files, run it (*note mktex scripts::).

   The order in which we search for "suffixed" name (item 1) or the
"as-is" name (item 2) is controlled by the 'try_std_extension_first'
configuration value.  The default set in 'texmf.cnf' is true, since
common suffixes are already recognized: 'babel.sty' will only look for
'babel.sty', not 'babel.sty.tex', regardless of this setting.

   When the suffix is unknown (e.g., 'foo.bar'), both names are always
tried; the difference is the order in which they are tried.

   'try_std_extension_first' only affects names being looked up which
*already* have an extension.  A name without an extension (e.g., 'tex
story') will always have an extension added first.

   This algorithm is implemented in the function 'kpathsea_find_file' in
the source file 'kpathsea/tex-file.c'.  You can watch it in action with
the debugging options (*note Debugging::).


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Glyph lookup,  Next: Suppressing warnings,  Prev: File lookup,  Up: TeX support

6.3 Glyph lookup
================

This section describes how Kpathsea searches for a bitmap font in GF or
PK format (or either) given a font name (e.g., 'cmr10') and a resolution
(e.g., 600).

   Here is an outline of the search strategy (details in the sections
below) for a file NAME at resolution DPI.  The search stops at the first
successful lookup.

  1. Look for an existing file NAME.DPIFORMAT in the specified
     format(s).

  2. If NAME is an alias for a file F in the fontmap file
     'texfonts.map', look for F.DPI.

  3. Run an external program (typically named 'mktexpk') to generate the
     font (*note mktex scripts::)

  4. Look for FALLBACK.DPI, where FALLBACK is some last-resort font
     (typically 'cmr10').

   This is implemented in 'kpathsea_find_glyph' in
'kpathsea/tex-glyph.c'.

* Menu:

* Basic glyph lookup::          Features common to all glyph lookups.
* Fontmap::                     Aliases for fonts.
* Fallback font::               Resolutions and fonts of last resort.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Basic glyph lookup,  Next: Fontmap,  Up: Glyph lookup

6.3.1 Basic glyph lookup
------------------------

When Kpathsea looks for a bitmap font NAME at resolution DPI in a format
FORMAT, it first checks each directory in the search path for a file
'NAME.DPIFORMAT'; for example, 'cmr10.600pk'.  Kpathsea looks for a PK
file first, then a GF file.

   If that fails, Kpathsea looks for 'dpiDPI/NAME.FORMAT'; for example,
'dpi600/cmr10.pk'.  This is how fonts are typically stored on
filesystems (such as DOS) that permit only three-character extensions.

   If that fails, Kpathsea looks for a font with a close-enough DPI.
"Close enough" is defined by the macro 'KPSE_BITMAP_TOLERANCE' in
'kpathsea/tex-glyph.h' to be 'DPI / 500 + 1'.  This is slightly more
than the 0.2% minimum allowed by the DVI standard
(<CTAN:/dviware/driv-standard/level-0>).


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Fontmap,  Next: Fallback font,  Prev: Basic glyph lookup,  Up: Glyph lookup

6.3.2 Fontmap
-------------

If a bitmap font or metric file is not found with the original name (see
the previous section), Kpathsea looks through any "fontmap" files for an
"alias" for the original font name.  These files are named
'texfonts.map' and searched for along the 'TEXFONTMAPS'
environment/config file variable.  All 'texfonts.map' files that are
found are read; earlier definitions override later ones.

   This feature is intended to help in two respects:

  1. An alias name is limited in length only by available memory, not by
     your filesystem.  Therefore, if you want to ask for 'Times-Roman'
     instead of 'ptmr', you can (you get 'ptmr8r').

  2. A few fonts have historically had multiple names: specifically,
     LaTeX's "circle font" has variously been known as 'circle10',
     'lcircle10', and 'lcirc10'.  Aliases can make all the names
     equivalent, so that it no longer matters what the name of the
     installed file is; TeX documents will find their favorite name.

   The format of fontmap files is straightforward:

   * Comments start with '%' and continue to the end of the line.
   * Blank lines are ignored.
   * Each nonblank line is broken up into a series of "words": a
     sequence of non-whitespace characters.
   * If the first word is 'include', the second word is used as a
     filename, and it is searched for and read.
   * Otherwise, the first word on each line is the true filename;
   * the second word is the alias;
   * subsequent words are ignored.

   If an alias has an extension, it matches only those files with that
extension; otherwise, it matches anything with the same root, regardless
of extension.  For example, an alias 'foo.tfm' matches only when
'foo.tfm' is being searched for; but an alias 'foo' matches 'foo.vf',
'foo.600pk', etc.

   As an example, here is an excerpt from the 'texfonts.map' in the
Web2c distribution.  It makes the old and new names of the LaTeX circle
fonts equivalent.

     circle10        lcircle10
     circle10        lcirc10
     lcircle10       circle10
     lcircle10       lcirc10
     lcirc10         circle10
     lcirc10         lcircle10
     ...

   Fontmaps are implemented in the file 'kpathsea/fontmap.c'.  The
Fontname distribution has much more information on font naming (*note
(fontname)::).


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Fallback font,  Prev: Fontmap,  Up: Glyph lookup

6.3.3 Fallback font
-------------------

If a bitmap font cannot be found or created at the requested size,
Kpathsea looks for the font at a set of "fallback resolutions".  You
specify these resolutions as a colon-separated list (like search paths).
Kpathsea looks first for a program-specific environment variable (e.g.,
'DVIPSSIZES' for Dvipsk), then the environment variable 'TEXSIZES', then
a default specified at compilation time (the Make variable
'default_texsizes').  You can set this list to be empty if you prefer to
find fonts at their stated size or not at all.

   Finally, if the font cannot be found even at the fallback
resolutions, Kpathsea looks for a fallback font, typically 'cmr10'.
Programs must enable this feature by calling 'kpathsea_init_prog' (*note
Calling sequence::); the default is no fallback font.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Suppressing warnings,  Next: mktex scripts,  Prev: Glyph lookup,  Up: TeX support

6.4 Suppressing warnings
========================

Kpathsea provides a way to suppress selected usually-harmless warnings;
this is useful at large sites where most users are not administrators,
and thus the warnings are merely a source of confusion, not a help.  To
do this, you set the environment variable or configuration file value
'TEX_HUSH' to a colon-separated list of values.  Here are the
possibilities:

'all'
     Suppress everything possible.

'checksum'
     Suppress mismatched font checksum warnings.

'lostchar'
     Suppress warnings when a character is missing from a font that a
     DVI or VF file tries to typeset.

'none'
     Don't suppress any warnings.

'readable'
     Suppress warnings about attempts to access a file whose permissions
     render it unreadable.

'special'
     Suppresses warnings about an unimplemented or unparsable '\special'
     command.

'tex-hush.c' defines the function that checks the variable value.  Each
driver implements its own checks where appropriate.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: mktex scripts,  Prev: Suppressing warnings,  Up: TeX support

6.5 'mktex' scripts
===================

If Kpathsea cannot otherwise find a file, for some file types it is
configured by default to invoke an external program to create it
dynamically (*note mktex configuration::).  These are collectively known
as "'mktex' scripts", since most of them are named 'mktex...'.

   For example, this is useful for fonts (bitmaps, TFM's, and
arbitrarily-sizable Metafont sources such as the Sauter and EC fonts),
since any given document can use fonts never before referenced.
Building all fonts in advance is therefore impractical, if not
impossible.

   It is also useful for the TeX '.fmt' (and Metafont '.base' and
Metapost '.mem' files, *note (Web2c)Memory dumps::), where
pre-generating every format consumes a lot of both time and space.

   The script is passed the name of the file to create and possibly
other arguments, as explained below.  It must echo the full pathname of
the file it created (and nothing else) to standard output; it can write
diagnostics to standard error.

* Menu:

* config: mktex configuration.
* names: mktex script names.
* args: mktex script arguments.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: mktex configuration,  Next: mktex script names,  Up: mktex scripts

6.5.1 'mktex' configuration
---------------------------

The list of file types and program names that can run an external
program to create missing files is listed in the next section.  In the
absence of 'configure' options specifying otherwise, everything but
'mktextex' will be enabled by default.  The 'configure' options to
change the defaults are:

     --without-mktexfmt-default
     --without-mktexmf-default
     --without-mktexocp-default
     --without-mktexofm-default
     --without-mktexpk-default
     --without-mktextfm-default
     --with-mktextex-default

   The 'configure' setting is overridden if the environment variable or
configuration file value named for the script is set; e.g., 'MKTEXPK'
(*note mktex script arguments::).

   'mktexfmt' reads a file 'fmtutil.cnf', typically located in
'texmf/web2c/' to glean its configuration information.  The rest of the
files and features in this section are primarily intended for the font
generation scripts.

   As distributed, all the scripts source a file 'texmf/web2c/mktex.cnf'
if it exists, so you can override various defaults.  See 'mktex.opt',
for instance, which defines the default mode, resolution, some special
directory names, etc.  If you prefer not to change the distributed
scripts, you can simply create 'mktex.cnf' with the appropriate
definitions (you do not need to create it if you have nothing to put in
it).  'mktex.cnf' has no special syntax; it's an arbitrary Bourne shell
script.  The distribution contains a sample 'mktex.cnf' for you to copy
and modify as you please (it is not installed anywhere).

   In addition, you can configure a number of features with the
'MT_FEATURES' variable, which you can define:

   * in 'mktex.opt', as just mentioned;

   * by editing the file 'mktex.opt', either before 'make install' (in
     the source hierarchy) or after (in the installed hierarchy);

   * or in the environment.

   If none of the options below are enabled, 'mktexpk', 'mktextfm', and
'mktexmf' follow the following procedure to decide where fonts should be
installed.  Find the tree where the font's sources are, and test the
permissions of the 'fonts' directory of that tree to determine whether
it is writable.  If it is, put the files in the tree in appropriate
locations.  If it isn't writable, see whether the tree is a system tree
(named in 'SYSTEXMF').  If so, the 'VARTEXFONTS' tree is used.  In all
other cases the working directory is used.

   The 'appendonlydir' option is enabled by default.

'appendonlydir'
     Tell 'mktexdir' to create directories append-only, i.e., set their
     sticky bit (*note (coreutils)Mode Structure::).  This feature is
     silently ignored on non-Unix platforms (e.g.  Windows/NT and
     MS-DOS) which don't support similar functionality.  This feature is
     enabled by default.

'dosnames'
     Use 8.3 names; e.g., 'dpi600/cmr10.pk' instead of 'cmr10.600pk'.
     Note that this feature only affects filenames that would otherwise
     clash with other TeX-related filenames; 'mktex' scripts do nothing
     about filenames which exceed the 8+3 MS-DOS limits but remain
     unique when truncated (by the OS) to these limits, and nether do
     the scripts care about possible clashes with files which aren't
     related with TeX. For example, 'cmr10.600pk' would clash with
     'cmr10.600gf' and is therefore changed when 'dosnames' is in
     effect, but 'mf.pool' and 'mp.base' don't clash with any
     TeX-related files and are therefore unchanged.

     This feature is turned on by default on MS-DOS. If you do not wish
     'dosnames' to be set on an MS-DOS platform, you need to set the
     'MT_FEATURES' environment variable to a value that doesn't include
     'dosnames'.  You can also change the default setting by editing
     'mktex.opt', but only if you use the 'mktex' shell scripts; the
     emulation programs don't consult 'mktex.opt'.

'fontmaps'
     Instead of deriving the location of a font in the destination tree
     from the location of the sources, the aliases and directory names
     from the Fontname distribution are used.  (*note Introduction:
     (fontname)Top.).

'nomfdrivers'
     Let mktexpk and mktextfm create metafont driver files in a
     temporary directory.  These will be used for just one metafont run
     and not installed permanently.

'nomode'
     Omit the directory level for the mode name; this is fine as long as
     you generate fonts for only one mode.

'stripsupplier'
     Omit the font supplier name directory level.

'striptypeface'
     Omit the font typeface name directory level.

'strip'
     Omit the font supplier and typeface name directory levels.  This
     feature is deprecated in favour of 'stripsupplier' and
     'striptypeface'.

'varfonts'
     When this option is enabled, fonts that would otherwise be written
     in system texmf tree go to the 'VARTEXFONTS' tree instead.  The
     default value in 'kpathsea/Makefile.in' is '/var/tmp/texfonts'.
     The 'Linux File System Standard' recommends '/var/tex/fonts'.

     The 'varfonts' setting in 'MT_FEATURES' is overridden by the
     'USE_VARTEXFONTS' environment variable: if set to '1', the feature
     is enabled, and if set to '0', the feature is disabled.

'texmfvar'
     Force generated files that would go into a system tree (as defined
     by 'SYSTEXMF') into 'TEXMFVAR'.  Starting with teTeX-3.0, the
     variable 'TEXMFVAR' is always set.  The 'varfonts' feature takes
     precedence if also set.

     The 'texmfvar' setting in 'MT_FEATURES' is overridden by the
     'USE_TEXMFVAR' environment variable: if set to '1', the feature is
     enabled, and if set to '0', the feature is disabled.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: mktex script names,  Next: mktex script arguments,  Prev: mktex configuration,  Up: mktex scripts

6.5.2 'mktex' script names
--------------------------

The following table shows the default name of the script for each of the
file types which support runtime generation.

'mktexfmt'
     ('.fmt', '.base', '.mem') TeX/Metafont/MetaPost formats.  This
     script is also named 'fmtutil', and reads 'fmtutil.cnf' for
     configuration information.

'mktexmf'
     ('.mf') Metafont input files.

'mkocp'
     ('.ocp') Omega compiled process files.

'mkofm'
     ('.ofm') Omega font metric files.

'mktexpk'
     ('pk') Glyph fonts.

'mktextex'
     ('.tex') TeX input files (disabled by default).

'mktextfm'
     ('.tfm') TFM files.

These names can be overridden by an environment variable specific to the
program--for example, 'DVIPSMAKEPK' for Dvipsk.

   If a 'mktex...' script fails, the invocation is appended to a file
'missfont.log' (by default) in the current directory.  You can then
execute the log file to create the missing files after fixing the
problem.

   If the current directory is not writable and the environment variable
or configuration file value 'TEXMFOUTPUT' is set, its value is used.
Otherwise, nothing is written.  The name 'missfont.log' is overridden by
the 'MISSFONT_LOG' environment variable or configuration file value.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: mktex script arguments,  Prev: mktex script names,  Up: mktex scripts

6.5.3 'mktex' script arguments
------------------------------

The first argument to a 'mktex' script is always the name of the file to
be created.

   In the default 'mktexpk' implementation, additional arguments may
also be passed:

'--dpi NUM'
     Sets the resolution of the generated font to NUM.
'--mfmode NAME'
     Sets the Metafont mode to NAME.
'--bdpi NUM'
     Sets the "base dpi" for the font.  This must match the mode being
     used.
'--mag STRING'
     A "magstep" string suitable for the Metafont 'mag' variable.  This
     must match the combination of BDPI and DPI being used.
'--destdir STRING'
     A directory name.  If the directory is absolute, it is used as-is.
     Otherwise, it is appended to the root destination directory set in
     the script.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Programming,  Next: Reporting bugs,  Prev: TeX support,  Up: Top

7 Programming
*************

This chapter is for programmers who wish to use Kpathsea.  *Note
Introduction::, for the conditions under which you may do so.

* Menu:

* Overview: Programming overview.         Introduction.
* Calling sequence::                      Specifics of what to call.
* Program-specific files::                How to handle these.
* Config: Programming with config files.  Getting info from texmf.cnf.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Programming overview,  Next: Calling sequence,  Up: Programming

7.1 Programming overview
========================

Aside from this manual, your best source of information is the source to
the programs that use Kpathsea (*note Introduction::).  Of those, Dviljk
is probably the simplest, and hence a good place to start.  Xdvik adds
VF support and the complication of X resources.  Dvipsk adds the
complication of its own config files.  Web2c is source code I also
maintain, so it uses Kpathsea rather straightforwardly, but is of course
complicated by the Web to C translation.  Finally, Kpsewhich is a small
utility program whose sole purpose is to exercise the main
path-searching functionality.

   When looking at these program sources, you should know that previous
versions of the library had a different programming interface, to
support re-entrancy.  In that interface the library function names were
prefixed with 'kpse_' instead of 'kpathsea_', and they did not need an
instance variable as first argument.  This change was made in 2009.
Some of the programs mentioned above may still be using the previous
interface.

   Beyond these examples, the '.h' files in the Kpathsea source describe
the interfaces and functionality (and of course the '.c' files define
the actual routines, which are the ultimate documentation).
'pathsearch.h' declares the basic searching routine.  'tex-file.h' and
'tex-glyph.h' define the interfaces for looking up particular kinds of
files.  In view of the way the headers depend on each other, it is
recommended to use '#include <kpathsea/kpathsea.h>', which includes
every Kpathsea header.

   If you want to include only specific headers, you should still
consider including 'kpathsea/config.h' before including any other
Kpathsea header, as it provides symbols used in the other headers.  Note
that 'kpathsea/config.h' includes 'kpathsea/c-auto.h', which is
generated by Autoconf.

   The library provides no way for an external program to register new
file types: 'tex-file.[ch]' must be modified to do this.  For example,
Kpathsea has support for looking up Dvips config files, even though no
program other than Dvips will likely ever want to do so.  I felt this
was acceptable, since along with new file types should also come new
defaults in 'texmf.cnf' (and its descendant 'paths.h'), since it's
simplest for users if they can modify one configuration file for all
kinds of paths.

   Kpathsea does not parse any formats itself; it barely opens any
files.  Its primary purpose is to return filenames.  The GNU font
utilities does contain libraries to read TFM, GF, and PK files, as do
the programs above, of course.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Calling sequence,  Next: Program-specific files,  Prev: Programming overview,  Up: Programming

7.2 Calling sequence
====================

The typical way to use Kpathsea in your program goes something like
this:

  1. Call 'kpathsea_new' to create a new library instance.  This
     variable must be passed as the first argument to all the following
     library functions.  The rest of this manual will be using 'kpse' as
     a placeholder for the name of this variable.

  2. Call 'kpathsea_set_program_name' with 'argv[0]' as the second
     argument; the third argument is a string or 'NULL'.  The third
     argument is used by Kpathsea as the program name for the '.PROGRAM'
     feature of config files (*note Config files::).  If the third
     argument is 'NULL', the value of the second argument is used.  This
     function must be called before any other use of the Kpathsea
     library.

     'kpathsea_set_program_name' always sets the variables
     'kpse->invocation_name' and 'kpse->invocation_short_name'.  These
     variables are used in the error message macros defined in
     'kpathsea/lib.h'.  It sets the variable 'kpse->program_name' to the
     program name it uses.

     It also initializes debugging options based on the environment
     variable 'KPATHSEA_DEBUG' (if that is set).

     Finally, it sets the environment variables 'SELFAUTOLOC',
     'SELFAUTODIR' and 'SELFAUTOPARENT' to the location, parent and
     grandparent directory of the executable, removing '.' and '..' path
     elements and resolving symbolic links.  These are used in the
     default configuration file to allow people to invoke TeX from
     anywhere.  You can use 'kpsewhich --expand-var=\$SELFAUTOLOC',
     etc., to see the values.

  3. Set debugging options.  *Note Debugging::.  If your program doesn't
     have a debugging option already, you can define one and set
     'kpse->debug' to the number that the user supplies (as in Dviljk
     and Web2c), or you can just omit this altogether (people can always
     set 'KPATHSEA_DEBUG').  If you do have runtime debugging already,
     you need to merge Kpathsea's options with yours (as in Dvipsk and
     Xdvik).

  4. If your program has its own configuration files that can define
     search paths, you should assign those paths to the 'client_path'
     member in the appropriate element of the 'kpse->format_info' array.
     (This array is indexed by file type; see 'tex-file.h'.)  See
     'resident.c' in Dvipsk for an example.

  5. Call 'kpathsea_init_prog' (see 'proginit.c').  It's useful for the
     DVI drivers, at least, but for other programs it may be simpler to
     extract the parts of it that actually apply.  This does not
     initialize any paths, it just looks for (and sets) certain
     environment variables and other random information.  (A search path
     is always initialized at the first call to find a file of that
     type; this eliminates much useless work, e.g., initializing the
     BibTeX search paths in a DVI driver.)

  6. The routine to actually find a file of type FORMAT is
     'kpathsea_find_file'.  You can call 'kpathsea_find_file' after
     doing only the first and second of the initialization steps
     above--Kpathsea automatically reads the 'texmf.cnf' generic config
     files, looks for environment variables, and does expansions at the
     first lookup.

  7. To find PK and/or GF bitmap fonts, the routine is
     'kpathsea_find_glyph', defined in 'tex-glyph.h'.  This returns a
     structure in addition to the resultant filename, because fonts can
     be found in so many ways.  See the documentation in the source.

  8. To actually open a file, not just return a filename, call
     'kpathsea_open_file'.  This function takes the name to look up and
     a Kpathsea file format as arguments, and returns the usual 'FILE
     *'.  It always assumes the file must exist, and thus will search
     the disk if necessary (unless the search path specified '!!',
     etc.).  In other words, if you are looking up a VF or some other
     file that need not exist, don't use this.

  9. TeX can write output files, via the '\openout' primitive; this
     opens a security hole vulnerable to Trojan horse attack: an
     unwitting user could run a TeX program that overwrites, say,
     '~/.rhosts'.  Analogous security holes exist for many other
     programs.  To alleviate this, there is a configuration variable
     'openout_any', which selects one of three levels of security.  When
     it is set to 'a' (for "any"), no restrictions are imposed.  When it
     is set to 'r' (for "restricted"), filenames beginning with '.' are
     disallowed (except '.tex' because LaTeX needs it).  When it is set
     to 'p' (for "paranoid") additional restrictions are imposed: an
     absolute filename must refer to a file in (a subdirectory) of
     'TEXMFOUTPUT', and any attempt to go up a directory level is
     forbidden (that is, paths may not contain a '..' component).  The
     paranoid setting is the default.  (For backwards compatibility, 'y'
     and '1' are synonyms of 'a', while 'n' and '0' are synonyms for
     'r'.)  The function 'kpathsea_out_name_ok', with a filename as
     second argument, returns 'true' if that filename is acceptable to
     be opend for output or 'false' otherwise.

  10. Similarly, the function 'kpathsea_in_name_ok', with a filename as
     second argument, returns 'true' if that filename is acceptable to
     be opend for input or 'false' otherwise, depending on the value of
     the configuration variable 'openin_any' (with 'a' as default).

  11. To close the kpathsea library instance you are using, call
     'kpathsea_finish'.  This function closes any open log files and
     frees the memory used by the instance.

   Kpathsea also provides many utility routines.  Some are generic: hash
tables, memory allocation, string concatenation and copying, string
lists, reading input lines of arbitrary length, etc.  Others are
filename-related: default path, tilde, and variable expansion, 'stat'
calls, etc.  (Perhaps someday I'll move the former to a separate
library.)

   The 'c-*.h' header files can also help your program adapt to many
different systems.  You will almost certainly want to use Autoconf and
probably Automake for configuring and building your software if you use
Kpathsea; I strongly recommend using Autoconf and Automake regardless.
They are available from <http://www.gnu.org/software>.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Program-specific files,  Next: Programming with config files,  Prev: Calling sequence,  Up: Programming

7.3 Program-specific files
==========================

Many programs will need to find some configuration files.  Kpathsea
contains some support to make it easy to place them in their own
directories.  The Standard TeX directory structure (*note Introduction:
(tds)Top.), specifies that such files should go into a subdirectory
named after the program, like 'texmf/ttf2pk'.

   Two formats, 'kpse_program_text_format' and
'kpse_program_binary_format', use '.:$TEXMF/PROGRAM//' as their
compiled-in search path.  To override this default, you can use the
variable 'PROGRAMINPUTS' in the environment and/or 'texmf.cnf'.  That is
to say, the name of the variable is constructed by converting the name
of the program to upper case, and appending 'INPUTS'.

   The only difference between these two formats is whether
'kpathsea_open_file' will open the files it finds in text or binary
mode.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Programming with config files,  Prev: Program-specific files,  Up: Programming

7.4 Programming with config files
=================================

You can (and probably should) use the same 'texmf.cnf' configuration
file that Kpathsea uses for your program.  This helps installers by
keeping all configuration in one place.

   To retrieve a value VAR from config files, the best way is to call
'kpathsea_var_value' on the string 'VAR'.  This will look first for an
environment variable VAR, then a config file value.  The result will be
the value found or 'NULL'.  This function is declared in
'kpathsea/variable.h'.  For an example, see the 'shell_escape' code in
'web2c/lib/texmfmp.c'.

   The routine to do variable expansion in the context of a search path
(as opposed to simply retrieving a value) is 'kpathsea_var_expand', also
declared in 'kpathsea/variable.h'.  It's generally only necessary to set
the search path structure components as explained in the previous
section, rather than using this yourself.

   If for some reason you want to retrieve a value _only_ from a config
file, not automatically looking for a corresponding environment
variable, call 'kpathsea_cnf_get' (declared in 'kpathsea/cnf.h') with
the string VAR.

   No initialization calls are needed.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Reporting bugs,  Next: Index,  Prev: Programming,  Up: Top

8 Reporting bugs
****************

If you have problems or suggestions, please report them to
<tex-k@tug.org> using the bug checklist below.

   Please report bugs in the documentation; not only factual errors or
inconsistent behavior, but unclear or incomplete explanations, typos,
wrong fonts, ...

* Menu:

* Bug checklist::       What to include in a good bug report.
* Mailing lists::       Joining the bugs or announcements mailing lists.
* Debugging::           Analyzing runtime problems.
* Logging::             Recording searches.
* Common problems::     When things go wrong.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Bug checklist,  Next: Mailing lists,  Up: Reporting bugs

8.1 Bug checklist
=================

Before reporting a bug, please check below to be sure it isn't already
known (*note Common problems::).

   Bug reports should be sent via electronic mail to <tex-k@tug.org>.

   The general principle is that a good bug report includes all the
information necessary for reproduction.  Therefore, to enable
investigation, your report should include the following:

   * The version number(s) of the program(s) involved, and of Kpathsea
     itself.  You can get the former by giving a sole option '--version'
     to the program, and the latter by running 'kpsewhich --version'.
     The 'NEWS' and 'ChangeLog' files also contain the version number.

   * The hardware, operating system (including version), compiler, and
     'make' program you are using (the output of 'uname -a' is a start
     on the first two, though incomplete).

   * Any options you gave to 'configure'.  This is recorded in the
     'config.status' files.

     If you are reporting a bug in 'configure' itself, it's probably
     system-dependent, and it will be unlikely the maintainers can do
     anything useful if you merely report that thus-and-such is broken.
     Therefore, you need to do some additional work: for some bugs, you
     can look in the file 'config.log' where the test that failed should
     appear, along with the compiler invocation and source program in
     question.  You can then compile it yourself by hand, and discover
     why the test failed.  Other 'configure' bugs do not involve the
     compiler; in that case, the only recourse is to inspect the
     'configure' shell script itself, or the Autoconf macros that
     generated 'configure'.

   * The log of all debugging output, if the bug is in path searching.
     You can get this by setting the environment variable
     'KPATHSEA_DEBUG' to '-1' before running the program.  Please look
     at the log yourself to make sure the behavior is really a bug
     before reporting it; perhaps "old" environment variable settings
     are causing files not to be found, for example.

   * The contents of any input files necessary to reproduce the bug.
     For bugs in DVI-reading programs, for example, this generally means
     a DVI file (and any EPS or other files it uses)--TeX source files
     are helpful, but the DVI file is required, because that's the
     actual program input.

   * If you are sending a patch (do so if you can!), please do so in the
     form of a context diff ('diff -c') against the original
     distribution source.  Any other form of diff is either not as
     complete or harder for me to understand.  Please also include a
     'ChangeLog' entry.

   * If the bug involved is an actual crash (i.e., core dump), it is
     easy and useful to include a stack trace from a debugger (I
     recommend the GNU debugger GDB (<http://www.gnu.org/software/gdb>).
     If the cause is apparent (a 'NULL' value being dereferenced, for
     example), please send the details along.  If the program involved
     is TeX or Metafont, and the crash is happening at apparently-sound
     code, however, the bug may well be in the compiler, rather than in
     the program or the library (*note TeX or Metafont failing: TeX or
     Metafont failing.).

   * Any additional information that will be helpful in reproducing,
     diagnosing, or fixing the bug.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Mailing lists,  Next: Debugging,  Prev: Bug checklist,  Up: Reporting bugs

8.2 Mailing lists
=================

Web2c and Kpathsea in general are discussed on the mailing list
<tex-k@tug.org>.  You can subscribe and peruse the archives on the web
<http://lists.tug.org/tex-k>.

   You do not need to join to submit a report, nor will it affect
whether you get a response.  Be aware that large data files are
sometimes included in bug reports.  If this is a problem for you, do not
join the list.

   If you are looking for general TeX help, such as how to install a
full TeX system or how to use LaTeX, please see
<http://tug.org/begin.html>.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Debugging,  Next: Logging,  Prev: Mailing lists,  Up: Reporting bugs

8.3 Debugging
=============

Kpathsea provides a number of runtime debugging options, detailed below
by their names and corresponding numeric values.  When the files you
expect aren't being found, the thing to do is enable these options and
examine the output.

   You can set these with some runtime argument (e.g., '-d') to the
program; in that case, you should use the numeric values described in
the program's documentation (which, for Dvipsk and Xdvik, are different
than those below).  It's best to give the '-d' (or whatever) option
first, for maximal output.  Dvipsk and Xdvik have additional
program-specific debugging options as well.

   You can also set the environment variable 'KPATHSEA_DEBUG'; in this
case, you should use the numbers below.  If you run the program under a
debugger and set the instance variable 'kpse->debug', also use the
numbers below.

   In any case, by far the simplest value to use is '-1', which will
turn on all debugging output.  This is usually better than guessing
which particular values will yield the output you need.

   Debugging output always goes to standard error, so you can redirect
it easily.  For example, in Bourne-compatible shells:
     dvips -d -1 ... 2>/tmp/debug

   It is sometimes helpful to run the standalone Kpsewhich utility
(*note Invoking kpsewhich::), instead of the original program.

   In any case, you cannot use the names below; you must always use
somebody's numbers.  (Sorry.)  To set more than one option, just sum the
corresponding numbers.

'KPSE_DEBUG_STAT (1)'
     Report 'stat'(2) calls.  This is useful for verifying that your
     directory structure is not forcing Kpathsea to do many additional
     file tests (*note Slow path searching::, and *note Subdirectory
     expansion::).  If you are using an up-to-date 'ls-R' database
     (*note Filename database::), this should produce no output unless a
     nonexistent file that must exist is searched for.

'KPSE_DEBUG_HASH (2)'
     Report lookups in all hash tables: 'ls-R' and 'aliases' (*note
     Filename database::); font aliases (*note Fontmap::); and config
     file values (*note Config files::).  Useful when expected values
     are not being found, e.g.., file searches are looking at the disk
     instead of using 'ls-R'.

'KPSE_DEBUG_FOPEN (4)'
     Report file openings and closings.  Especially useful when your
     system's file table is full, for seeing which files have been
     opened but never closed.  In case you want to set breakpoints in a
     debugger: this works by redefining 'fopen' ('fclose') to be
     'kpse_fopen_trace' ('kpse_fclose_trace').

'KPSE_DEBUG_PATHS (8)'
     Report general path information for each file type Kpathsea is
     asked to search.  This is useful when you are trying to track down
     how a particular path got defined--from 'texmf.cnf', 'config.ps',
     an environment variable, the compile-time default, etc.  This is
     the contents of the 'kpse_format_info_type' structure defined in
     'tex-file.h'.

'KPSE_DEBUG_EXPAND (16)'
     Report the directory list corresponding to each path element
     Kpathsea searches.  This is only relevant when Kpathsea searches
     the disk, since 'ls-R' searches don't look through directory lists
     in this way.

'KPSE_DEBUG_SEARCH (32)'
     Report on each file search: the name of the file searched for, the
     path searched in, whether or not the file must exist (when drivers
     search for 'cmr10.vf', it need not exist), and whether or not we
     are collecting all occurrences of the file in the path (as with,
     e.g., 'texmf.cnf' and 'texfonts.map'), or just the first (as with
     most lookups).  This can help you correlate what Kpathsea is doing
     with what is in your input file.

'KPSE_DEBUG_VARS (64)'
     Report the value of each variable Kpathsea looks up.  This is
     useful for verifying that variables do indeed obtain their correct
     values.

'GSFTOPK_DEBUG (128)'
     Activates debugging printout specific to 'gsftopk' program.

'MAKETEX_DEBUG (512)'
     If you use the optional 'mktex' programs instead of the traditional
     shell scripts, this will report the name of the site file
     ('mktex.cnf' by default) which is read, directories created by
     'mktexdir', the full path of the 'ls-R' database built by
     'mktexlsr', font map searches, 'MT_FEATURES' in effect, parameters
     from 'mktexnam', filenames added by 'mktexupd', and some subsidiary
     commands run by the programs.

'MAKETEX_FINE_DEBUG (1024)'
     When the optional 'mktex' programs are used, this will print
     additional debugging info from functions internal to these
     programs.

   Debugging output from Kpathsea is always written to standard error,
and begins with the string 'kdebug:'.  (Except for hash table buckets,
which just start with the number, but you can only get that output
running under a debugger.  See comments at the 'hash_summary_only'
variable in 'kpathsea/db.c'.)


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Logging,  Next: Common problems,  Prev: Debugging,  Up: Reporting bugs

8.4 Logging
===========

Kpathsea can record the time and filename found for each successful
search.  This may be useful in finding good candidates for deletion when
your filesystem is full, or in discovering usage patterns at your site.

   To do this, define the environment or config file variable
'TEXMFLOG'.  The value is the name of the file to append the information
to.  The file is created if it doesn't exist, and appended to if it
does.

   Each successful search turns into one line in the log file: two words
separated by a space.  The first word is the time of the search, as the
integer number of seconds since "the epoch", i.e., UTC midnight 1
January 1970 (more precisely, the result of the 'time' system call).
The second word is the filename.

   For example, after 'setenv TEXMFLOG /tmp/log', running Dvips on
'story.dvi' appends the following lines:

     774455887 /usr/local/share/texmf/dvips/config.ps
     774455887 /usr/local/share/texmf/dvips/psfonts.map
     774455888 /usr/local/share/texmf/dvips/texc.pro
     774455888 /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/pk/ljfour/public/cm/cmbx10.600pk
     774455889 /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/pk/ljfour/public/cm/cmsl10.600pk
     774455889 /usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/pk/ljfour/public/cm/cmr10.600pk
     774455889 /usr/local/share/texmf/dvips/texc.pro

Only filenames that are absolute are recorded, to preserve some
semblance of privacy.

   In addition to this Kpathsea-specific logging, 'pdftex' provides an
option '-recorder' to write the names of all files accessed during a run
to the file 'BASEFILE.fls'.

   Finally, most systems provide a general tool to output each system
call, thus including opening and closing files.  It might be named
'strace', 'truss', 'struss', or something else.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Common problems,  Prev: Logging,  Up: Reporting bugs

8.5 Common problems
===================

Here are some common problems with configuration, compilation, linking,
execution, ...

* Menu:

* Unable to find files::        If your program can't find fonts (or whatever).
* Slow path searching::         If it takes forever to find anything.
* Unable to generate fonts::    If mktexpk fails.
* TeX or Metafont failing::     Likely compiler bugs.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Unable to find files,  Next: Slow path searching,  Up: Common problems

8.5.1 Unable to find files
--------------------------

If a program complains it cannot find fonts (or other input files), any
of several things might be wrong.  In any case, you may find the
debugging options helpful.  *Note Debugging::.

   * Perhaps you simply haven't installed all the necessary files; the
     basic fonts and input files are distributed separately from the
     programs.  *Note unixtex.ftp::.

   * You have (perhaps unknowingly) told Kpathsea to use search paths
     that don't reflect where the files actually are.  One common cause
     is having environment variables set from a previous installation,
     thus overriding what you carefully set in 'texmf.cnf' (*note
     Supported file formats::).  System '/etc/profile' or other files
     such may be the culprit.

   * Your files reside in a directory that is only pointed to via a
     symbolic link, in a leaf directory and is not listed in 'ls-R'.

     Unfortunately, Kpathsea's subdirectory searching has an
     irremediable deficiency: If a directory D being searched for
     subdirectories contains plain files and symbolic links to other
     directories, but no true subdirectories, D will be considered a
     leaf directory, i.e., the symbolic links will not be followed.
     *Note Subdirectory expansion::.

     You can work around this problem by creating an empty dummy
     subdirectory in D.  Then D will no longer be a leaf, and the
     symlinks will be followed.

     The directory immediately followed by the '//' in the path
     specification, however, is always searched for subdirectories, even
     if it is a leaf.  Presumably you would not have asked for the
     directory to be searched for subdirectories if you didn't want it
     to be.

   * If the fonts (or whatever) don't already exist, 'mktexpk' (or
     'mktexmf' or 'mktextfm') will try to create them.  If these rather
     complicated shell scripts fail, you'll eventually get an error
     message saying something like 'Can't find font FONTNAME'.  The best
     solution is to fix (or at least report) the bug in 'mktexpk'; the
     workaround is to generate the necessary fonts by hand with
     Metafont, or to grab them from a CTAN site (*note unixtex.ftp::).

   * There is a bug in the library.  *Note Reporting bugs::.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Slow path searching,  Next: Unable to generate fonts,  Prev: Unable to find files,  Up: Common problems

8.5.2 Slow path searching
-------------------------

If your program takes an excessively long time to find fonts or other
input files, but does eventually succeed, here are some possible
culprits:

   * Most likely, you just have a lot of directories to search, and that
     takes a noticeable time.  The solution is to create and maintain a
     separate 'ls-R' file that lists all the files in your main TeX
     hierarchy.  *Note Filename database::.  Kpathsea always uses 'ls-R'
     if it's present; there's no need to recompile or reconfigure any of
     the programs.

   * Your recursively-searched directories (e.g.,
     '/usr/local/share/texmf/fonts//'), contain a mixture of files and
     directories.  This prevents Kpathsea from using a useful
     optimization (*note Subdirectory expansion::).

     It is best to have only directories (and perhaps a 'README') in the
     upper levels of the directory structure, and it's very important to
     have _only_ files, and no subdirectories, in the leaf directories
     where the dozens of TFM, PK, or whatever files reside.

   In any case, you may find the debugging options helpful in
determining precisely when the disk or network is being pounded.  *Note
Debugging::.


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: Unable to generate fonts,  Next: TeX or Metafont failing,  Prev: Slow path searching,  Up: Common problems

8.5.3 Unable to generate fonts
------------------------------

Metafont outputs fonts in bitmap format, tuned for a particular device
at a particular resolution, in order to allow for the highest-possible
quality of output.  Some DVI-to-whatever programs, such as Dvips, try to
generate these on the fly when they are needed, but this generation may
fail in several cases.

   If 'mktexpk' runs, but fails with this error:
     mktexpk: Can't guess mode for NNN dpi devices.
     mktexpk: Use a config file to specify the mode, or update me.
   you need to ensure the resolution and mode match; just specifying the
resolution, as in '-D 360', is not enough.

   You can specify the mode name with the '-mode' option on the Dvips
command line, or in a Dvips configuration file (*note (dvips)Config
files::), such as 'config.ps' in your document directory, '~/.dvipsrc'
in your home directory, or in a system directory (again named
'config.ps').  (Other drivers use other files, naturally.)

   For example, if you need 360dpi fonts, you could include this in a
configuration file:
     D 360
     M lqmed

   If Metafont runs, but generates fonts at the wrong resolution or for
the wrong device, most likely 'mktexpk''s built-in guess for the mode is
wrong, and you should override it as above.

   See <http://ctan.org/pkg/modes> for a list of resolutions and mode
names for most devices (additional submissions are welcome).

   If Metafont runs but generates fonts at a resolution of 2602dpi (and
prints out the name of each character as well as just a character
number, and maybe tries to display the characters), then your Metafont
base file probably hasn't been made properly.  (It's using the default
'proof' mode, instead of an actual device mode.)  To make a proper
'plain.base', assuming the local mode definitions are contained in a
file 'modes.mf', run the following command (assuming Unix):

     inimf "plain; input modes; dump"

Then copy the 'plain.base' file from the current directory to where the
base files are stored on your system ('/usr/local/share/texmf/web2c' by
default), and make a link (either hard or soft) from 'plain.base' to
'mf.base' in that directory.  *Note (web2c)inimf invocation::.

   If 'mf' is a command not found at all by 'mktexpk', then you need to
install Metafont (*note unixtex.ftp::).


File: kpathsea.info,  Node: TeX or Metafont failing,  Prev: Unable to generate fonts,  Up: Common problems

8.5.4 TeX or Metafont failing
-----------------------------

If TeX or Metafont get a segmentation fault or otherwise fail while
running a normal input file, the problem is usually a compiler bug
(unlikely as that may sound).  Even if the trip and trap tests are
passed, problems may lurk.  Optimization occasionally causes trouble in
programs other than TeX and Metafont themselves, too.

   Insufficient swap space may also cause core dumps or other erratic
behavior.

   For a workaround, if you enabled any optimization flags, it's best to
omit optimization entirely.  In any case, the way to find the facts is
to run the program under the debugger and see where it's failing.

   Also, if you have trouble with a system C compiler, I advise trying
the GNU C compiler.  And vice versa, unfortunately; but in that case I
also recommend reporting a bug to the GCC mailing list; see *note
(gcc)Bugs::.

   To report compiler bugs effectively requires perseverance and
perspicacity: you must find the miscompiled line, and that usually
involves delving backwards in time from the point of error, checking
through TeX's (or whatever program's) data structures.  Things are not
helped by all-too-common bugs in the debugger itself.  Good luck.


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