Hans Hagen wrote:
context itself (the tex file) is recent, while your formats are old did you run texexec --make --all
I had run 'texexec --make' (following the directions at http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Debian_installation). I just ran 'texexec --make --all' but the version info looks the same: $ texexec --version ... context : ver: 2006.03.25 13:21 cont-en : ver: 2005.01.31 fmt: 2006.3.28 mes: english With the help of 'texexec --verbose --version' I think I tracked down the reason. On March 28th a friend told me that a paper we were writing was coming out in A4 format, which would be fine for everyone outside the Homeland. So I ran 'texconfig' and set the default paper to letter. That created a ~/.texmf-var directory and generated lots of formats: $ pwd /home/sanjoy/.texmf-var/web2c $ ls -lt *.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 3070069 2006-03-28 10:31 pdfjadetex.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 3100416 2006-03-28 10:31 jadetex.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 225933 2006-03-28 10:31 mptopdf.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 5308842 2006-03-28 10:31 cont-en.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 420822 2006-03-28 10:30 amstex.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 896740 2006-03-28 10:30 lamed.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 344826 2006-03-28 10:30 aleph.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 4024948 2006-03-28 10:30 lambda.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 1189914 2006-03-28 10:30 omega.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 290204 2006-03-28 10:30 pdfetex.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 1980649 2006-03-28 10:30 pdflatex.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 290170 2006-03-28 10:30 etex.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 260766 2006-03-28 10:30 pdftex.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 1980614 2006-03-28 10:30 latex.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 247167 2006-03-28 10:30 tex.fmt When I install the latest context with, say, 'texexec --make --all', it creates these three formats: $ pwd /home/sanjoy/.texmf-var/web2c $ ls -lt `find -mindepth 2 -name '*.fmt'` -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 229571 2006-04-06 10:26 ./pdfetex/mptopdf.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 6486671 2006-04-06 10:26 ./pdfetex/cont-nl.fmt -rw-r--r-- 1 sanjoy sanjoy 6407346 2006-04-06 10:26 ./pdfetex/cont-en.fmt However, the web2c/{mptopdf,cont-en}.fmt formats created by texconfig shadow these formats: $ (cd ; kpsewhich --format=fmt cont-en ) /home/sanjoy/.texmf-var/web2c/cont-en.fmt I can easily fix it by deleting the cont-en and mptopdf formats made by texconfig, but that is a hack -- a symptom of its hack nature being that the next time I run texconfig, the shadowing formats will return to web2c/. Perhaps others have been bitten by this search-path trouble? Is there a clean solution? I'm using tetex-3.0 on a Debian testing/unstable system. The /etc/texmf/texmf.cnf has this, which is the default: TEXFORMATS = .;$TEXMF/web2c with nothing special for pdfetex (e.g. no TEXFORMATS.pdfetex), so I think texconfig was right to put formats in the web2c/. directory, and texexec shouldn't put its formats in a web2c/pdfetex/ subdirectory. This is the relevant piece from the 'texexec --verbose --make --all': assuming engine : pdfetex located formatpath (1) : .:/home/sanjoy/.texmf-config/web2c:/home/sanjoy/.texmf-var/web2c:/home/sanjoy/texmf/web2c:/etc/texmf/web2c:!!/var/lib/texmf/web2c:!!/usr/local/share/texmf/web2c:!!/usr/share/texmf/web2c:!!/usr/share/texmf-tetex/web2c:!!/usr/share/texmf-texlive/web2c located formatpath (2) : .:/home/sanjoy/.texmf-config/web2c:/home/sanjoy/.texmf-var/web2c:/home/sanjoy/texmf/web2c:/etc/texmf/web2c:!!/var/lib/texmf/web2c:!!/usr/local/share/texmf/web2c:!!/usr/share/texmf/web2c:!!/usr/share/texmf-tetex/web2c:!!/usr/share/texmf-texlive/web2c located formatpath (3) : /home/sanjoy/.texmf-var/web2c using formatpath : /home/sanjoy/.texmf-var/web2c/pdfetex/ (appears three times, once for each format) It's the 'using formatpath' line that worries me. -Sanjoy `Never underestimate the evil of which men of power are capable.' --Bertrand Russell, _War Crimes in Vietnam_, chapter 1.