NAME

       update-language, update-fmtutil, update-fmtlang - update various TeX-related configuration
       files

SYNOPSIS

       update-language [options]
       update-fmtutil [options]

DESCRIPTION

       This manual page explains briefly the usage of the three TeX configuration update programs
       update-language and update-fmtutil.

       The  update-fontlang  script should not be called directly, but only via the two described
       links.  For a more in-depth  description,  please  see  the  document  TeX  on  Debian  in
       /usr/share/doc/tex-common/TeX-on-Debian.txt.gz (also available as HTML and PDF).

       The  programs  update-language and update-fmtutil create or update the configuration files
       language.dat and fmtutil.cnf, respectively.  These files define the  hyphenation  patterns
       to  be loaded into LaTeX-related TeX formats (language.dat), and the list of formats to be
       created (fmtutil.cnf).

       These programs can be used either in system-wide mode if called by root,  or  in  a  user-
       specific mode if called by a user without super-user privileges.

OPTIONS

       -c DIR, --conf-dir=DIR
              directory  where  the  user-specific  configuration  files  are looked for in user-
              specific   mode   (default   TEXMFCONFIG/language.d   for    update-language    and
              TEXMFCONFIG/fmt.d  for  update-fmtutil,  where TEXMFCONFIG is usually $HOME/.texmf-
              config).

       -o FILE, --output-file=FILE
              file to write the output to. Per  default,  in  system-wide  mode,  update-language
              writes  to /var/lib/texmf/tex/generic/config/language.dat and update-fmtutil writes
              to /var/lib/texmf/web2c/fmtutil.cnf.

       --checks
              perform sanity checks on the generated config file. Don't use  this  in  maintainer
              scripts.

       --quiet
              don't write anything to the standard output during normal operation

       --help print a summary of the command-line usage and exit

       --version
              output version information and exit

USAGE

       In  system-wide  mode,  both  programs merge those files ("configuration snippets") with a
       specific extension in the respective configuration directories to produce the final  file.
       These  configuration  directories  and  extensions  are  language.d  and  .cnf for update-
       language, and fmt.d and .cnf for update-fmtutil.  In system-wide mode,  these  directories
       are  those  under  /etc/texmf/.  Both TeX add-on packages and local administrators can add
       files to these directories.

       If a package that provides such snippets is removed but not purged, including the  snippet
       will likely break the system.  To prevent the inclusion in these cases, snippets installed
       by packages have to contain a magic header:


       # -_- DebPkgProvidedMaps -_-
       which local administrators should not remove.  From the files with a  magic  header,  only
       those files which are also listed in one of the files in /var/lib/tex-common/language-cnf/
       for update-language, and /var/lib/tex-common/fmtutil-cnf/ for update-fmtutil, are actually
       included  into  the final output file. This way, local changes to the configuration can be
       preserved while the package is in state 'rc' (that is, the package  is  removed,  but  its
       configuration  files  are  still  present).   For  details  about  this mechanism, package
       maintainers should consult the Debian TeX Policy.   As  a  special  case,  the  files  for
       JadeTeX  and xmlTeX are only included if there is already a file for the LaTeX format (see
       TeX on Debian for details).

       The user-specific mode provides a  way  for  a  non-admin  user  to  override  system-wide
       settings.         In        this        mode,        update-language       writes       to
       TEXMFVAR/tex/generic/config/language.dat,      and      update-fmtutil      writes      to
       TEXMFVAR/web2c/fmtutil.cnf,  where  TEXMFVAR  is  usually  $HOME/.texmf-var.  Furthermore,
       files present within the user-specific configuration directories are included in  addition
       to  the  files  present  in  the  system-wide configuration directories.  In case the same
       filename  exists  in  the  system-wide  configuration  directory  and  the   user-specific
       configuration  directory,  the  user-specific file is used instead of the system-wide one.
       The user-specific configuration directories are TEXMFCONFIG/language.d for update-language
       and  TEXMFCONFIG/fmt.d  for  update-fmtutil,  where  TEXMFCONFIG  is usually $HOME/.texmf-
       config. The system-wide configuration directories have the same names, but are located  in
       /etc/texmf/ instead of TEXMFCONFIG.

       Note  that  changes  introduced  by  updates  of packages are not propagated to the user's
       configuration files. This has to be done by hand.

FILES

       /var/lib/texmf/tex/generic/config/language.dat
              This file is generated or  updated  by  update-language  in  system-wide  mode  and
              contains  a  list  of  the  hyphenation patterns loaded into LaTeX-based formats by
              fmtutil-sys.

       /var/lib/texmf/web2c/fmtutil.cnf
              This file is generated  or  updated  by  update-fmtutil  in  system-wide  mode  and
              contains a list of formats to be generated by fmtutil-sys.

       /etc/texmf/language.d/name.cnf
              Input files for update-language

       /etc/texmf/fmt.d/name.cnf
              Input files for update-fmtutil

       /var/lib/tex-common/language-cnf/package.list
              Lists the file(s) installed by package in /etc/texmf/language.d/.

       /var/lib/tex-common/fmtutil-cnf/package.list
              Lists the file(s) installed by package in /etc/texmf/fmt.d/.

SEE ALSO

       fmtutil(1), fmtutil-sys(1)
              The  programs  actually  using  the generated configuration files (language.dat and
              fmtutil.cnf).

       TeX on Debian Documentation
              to be found in /usr/share/doc/tex-common/TeX-on-Debian.txt.gz  (also  available  as
              HTML  and PDF), describing in more detail how to setup and maintain a TeX system in
              Debian. It also includes details on user-specific configuration.

       Debian TeX Policy
              to be found in /usr/share/doc/tex-common/Debian-TeX-Policy.txt.gz  (also  available
              as  HTML  and  PDF), describing the internals and the TeX Policy established on the
              Debian TeX mailing-list (debian-tex-maint@lists.debian.org). Intended  audience  is
              mainly developers packaging TeX-related resources for Debian.

       dh_installtex(1)
              a debhelper-like script for managing the installation of files into the system-wide
              configuration directories; this script helps to write  Debian  packages  containing
              TeX-related resources that conform to the Debian TeX Policy.

AUTHOR

       This  manual  page  was  written  by Norbert Preining <preining@debian.org> for the Debian
       distribution (and may be  used  by  others).  It  was  later  updated  by  Florent  Rougon
       <f.rougon@free.fr>.