I thought I'd see if I could use ConTeXt. Here is my first try, hello.tex. \starttext \input header Hello, World!\startlua a = 1.5 b = 1.8 c = a * b tex.print(c) \stoplua plus1. \stoptext Didn't work because the file header.tex could not be found, even though kpsewhich can find it. (hello.tex publications : loading formatting style from bxml-apa (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/bxml-apa.mkiv) ConTeXt ver: 2010.06.23 12:45 MKIV fmt: 2011.12.24 int: english/english system : cont-new loaded (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/cont-new.tex systems : beware: some patches loaded from cont-new.tex (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/cont-new.mkiv)) system : cont-fil loaded (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/cont-fil.tex loading : ConTeXt File Synonyms ) system : cont-sys.rme loaded (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/user/cont-sys.rme (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-def.mkiv) (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-lua.mkiv) (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-siz.mkiv) (/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/tex/context/base/type-otf.mkiv)) system : hello.top loaded % % begin of optionfile % % % runtime options files (command line driven) % \unprotect % % feedback and basic job control % % handy for special styles % \startluacode % document = document or { } % document.arguments={ % } % document.files={ % "hello", % } % \stopluacode % % process info % \setupsystem[inputfile=hello] % \setupsystem[\c!n=1,\c!m=1] % % modes % % options (not that important) % \startsetups *runtime:options % \setupoutput[pdftex] % \stopsetups % % styles and modules % \startsetups *runtime:modules % \stopsetups % % done % \protect \endinput % % end of optionfile % (hello.top) fonts : preloading latin modern fonts {/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf/fonts/map/dvips/lm/lm-math.map}{/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf/fonts/map/dvips/lm/lm-rm.map}{/usr/local/libexec/ConTeXt/tex/texmf-context/fonts/map/pdftex/context/mkiv-base.map} bodyfont : 12pt rm is loaded language : language en is active systems : begin file hello at line 1 ! I can't find file `header'. l.2 \input header Please type another input file name: ! Emergency stop. l.2 \input header End of file on the terminal! ! ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!