I'm using Ubuntu 6.10, so context_2006.12.27-1_all.deb wouldn't install without a --force-conflicts,overwrite,depends given to dpkg (Ubuntu still uses tetex 3.0). With that caveat, which may explain the buglet I saw, it mostly worked fine. The buglet: The context formats that the package installed in /var/lib/texmf/web2c/pdfetex are not found. For example, "pdfetex '&cont-en'" tries to run mktexfmt. So I made a symlink from /var/lib/texmf/web2c/pdfetex to /var/lib/texmf/web2c/pdftex and then 'texexec' worked fine on my current document (a 50-page mathematics textbooklet). I'm pretty sure the problem arose because I now use pdftex 1.40.0, which (I think) sets the engine to pdftex, even when it is called as pdfetex. Not sure what the best solution is. The symlink is a bit of a hack. In the long run, it's good to get rid of the pdfetex/pdftex distinction and put the context formats in web2c/pdftex/. But that'll break the current context distribution, because it uses pdfetex as the engine. So until all surrounding programs are taught to use pdftex as the engine, this problem will occur and maybe the symlink is the solution. Before I did the dpkg --force..., I was trying to simulate its effect in a custom script. So I looked through the ctxfmtutil script and was surprised to find that this texexec command (on line 38) worked: texexec --fast --make --$1 $2 where $1 is the engine and $2 is the format. A more official syntax would be "texexec --fast --engine=$1 --make $2" but Hans can (might have to) correct me on that. -Sanjoy `Not all those who wander are lost.' (J.R.R. Tolkien)