This is Info file web2c.info, produced by Makeinfo version 1.67 from the input file web2c.texi. INFO-DIR-SECTION TeX START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * Web2c: (web2c). TeX, Metafont, and companion programs. * bibtex: (web2c)bibtex invocation. Maintaining bibliographies. * dmp: (web2c)dmp invocation. Troff->MPX (MetaPost pictures). * dvicopy: (web2c)dvicopy invocation. Virtual font expansion * dvitomp: (web2c)dvitomp invocation. DVI to MPX (MetaPost pictures). * dvitype: (web2c)dvitype invocation. DVI to human-readable text. * gftodvi: (web2c)gftodvi invocation. Generic font proofsheets. * gftopk: (web2c)gftopk invocation. Generic to packed fonts. * gftype: (web2c)gftype invocation. GF to human-readable text. * inimf: (web2c)inimf invocation. Initial Metafont. * inimpost: (web2c)inimpost invocation. Initial MetaPost. * initex: (web2c)initex invocation. Initial TeX. * makempx: (web2c)makempx invocation. MetaPost label typesetting. * mf: (web2c)mf invocation. Creating typeface families. * mft: (web2c)mft invocation. Prettyprinting Metafont source. * mltex: (web2c)MLTeX. Multi-lingual TeX. * mpost: (web2c)mpost invocation. Creating technical diagrams. * mpto: (web2c)mpto invocation. MetaPost label extraction. * newer: (web2c)newer invocation. Compare modification times. * patgen: (web2c)patgen invocation. Creating hyphenation patterns. * pktogf: (web2c)pktogf invocation. Packed to generic fonts. * pktype: (web2c)pktype invocation. PK to human-readable text. * pltotf: (web2c)pltotf invocation. Property list to TFM. * pooltype: (web2c)pooltype invocation. Display WEB pool files. * tangle: (web2c)tangle invocation. WEB to Pascal. * tex: (web2c)tex invocation. Typesetting. * tftopl: (web2c)tftopl invocation. TFM -> property list. * vftovp: (web2c)vftovp invocation. Virtual font -> virtual pl. * virmf: (web2c)virmf invocation. Virgin Metafont. * virmpost: (web2c)virmpost invocation. Virgin MetaPost. * virtex: (web2c)virtex invocation. Virgin TeX. * vptovf: (web2c)vptovf invocation. Virtual pl -> virtual font. * weave: (web2c)weave invocation. WEB to TeX. END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY This file documents the installation and use of the programs in Web2c, an implementation of Donald Knuth's TeX system. Copyright (C) 1996, 97 K. Berry. 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  File: web2c.info, Node: Top, Next: Introduction, Up: (dir) Web2c ***** This document describes how to install and use the programs in the Web2c implementation of the TeX system, especially for Unix systems. It corresponds to Web2c version 7.0, released in February 1997. * Menu: * Introduction:: A brief introduction. * Installation:: How to compile and install Web2c. * Commonalities:: Option syntax, standard options, memory dumps. * TeX:: Typesetting. * Metafont:: Typeface design. * MetaPost:: Technical illustrations. * BibTeX:: Reusable bibliographies. * WEB:: Literate programming. * DVI utilities:: DVI expansion. * Font utilities:: Font format conversion. * Legalisms:: Blah blah blah. * References:: Books and such. * Index:: General index.  File: web2c.info, Node: Introduction, Next: Installation, Prev: Top, Up: Top Introduction ************ This manual corresponds to version 7.0 of Web2c, released in February 1997. "Web2c" is the name of a TeX implementation, originally for Unix, but now also running under DOS, Amiga, and other operating systems. By "TeX implementation", we mean all of the standard programs developed by the Stanford TeX project directed by Donald E. Knuth: Metafont, DVItype, GFtoDVI, BibTeX, Tangle, etc., as well as TeX itself. Other programs are also included: DVIcopy, written by Peter Breitenlohner, MetaPost and its utilities (derived from Metafont), by John Hobby, etc. General strategy: Web2c works, as its name implies, by translating the WEB source in which TeX is written into C source code. Its output is not self-contained, however; it makes extensive use of many macros and functions in a library (the `web2c/lib' directory in the sources). Therefore, it will not work without change on an arbitrary WEB program. Availability: All of Web2c is freely available--"free" both in the sense of no cost (free ice cream) and of having the source code to modify and/or redistribute (free speech). (*Note unixtex.ftp: (kpathsea)unixtex.ftp, for the practical details of how to obtain Web2c.) Different parts of the Web2c distribution have different licensing terms, however, reflecting the different circumstances of their creation; consult each source file for exact details. The main practical implication for redistributors of Web2c is that the executables are covered by the GNU Public License, and therefore anyone who gets a binary distribution must also get the sources, as explained by the terms of the GPL (*note Copying: (kpathsea)Copying.). The GPL covers the Web2c executables, including `tex', because the Free Software Foundation sponsored the initial development of the Kpathsea library that Web2c uses. The basic source files from Stanford, however, have their own copyright terms or are in the public domain, and are not covered by the GPL. History: Tomas Rokicki originated the TeX-to-C system in 1987, working from the first change files for TeX under Unix, which were done primarily by Howard Trickey and Pavel Curtis. Tim Morgan then took over development and maintenance for a number of years; the name changed to Web-to-C somewhere in there. In 1990, I became the maintainer and have unfortunately inflicted much pain and suffering on the original sources, and started using the shorter name Web2c. Dozens of other people have contributed; their names are listed in the `ChangeLog' files. Other acknowledgements: The University of Massachusetts at Boston (particularly Rick Martin and Bob Morris) has provided computers and ftp access to me for many years. Richard Stallman at the Free Software Foundation employed me while I wrote the original path searching library (for the GNU font utilities). (rms also gave us Emacs, GDB, and GCC, without which I cannot imagine developing Web2c.) And, of course, TeX would not exist in the first place without Donald E. Knuth. Further reading: *Note References::.  File: web2c.info, Node: Installation, Next: Commonalities, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top Installation ************ (A copy of this chapter is in the distribution file `web2c/INSTALL'.) Installing Web2c is mostly the same as installing any other Kpathsea-using program. Therefore, for the basic steps involved, *note Installation: (kpathsea)Installation.. (A copy is in the file `kpathsea/INSTALL'.) One peculiarity to Web2c is that the source distribution comes in two files: `web.tar.gz' and `web2c.tar.gz'. You must retrieve and unpack them both. (We have two because the former archive contains the very large and seldom-changing original WEB source files.) *Note unixtex.ftp: (kpathsea)unixtex.ftp. Another peculiarity is the MetaPost program. Although it has been installed previously as `mp', as of Web2c 7.0 the installed name is now `mpost', to avoid conflict with the `mp' program that does prettyprinting. This approach was recommended by the MetaPost author, John Hobby. If you as the TeX administrator wish to make it available under its shorter name as well, you will have to set up a link or some such yourself. And of course individual users can do the same. For solutions to common installation problems and information on how to report a bug, see the file `kpathsea/BUGS' (*note Bugs: (kpathsea)Bugs.). See also the Web2c home page, `http://www.tug.org/web2c'. Points worth repeating: * Before starting the standard compilation and installation you must install the basic fonts, macros, and other library files. *Note Installation: (kpathsea)Installation. * If you do not wish to use the standard file locations, see *Note Changing search paths: (kpathsea)Changing search paths. * Some Web2c features are enabled or disabled at `configure' time, as described in the first section below. * Menu: * configure options:: Especially -with and -enable. * Compile-time options:: Unusual -D's. * Additional targets:: Breaking down the task. * Triptrap:: Running the torture tests. * Runtime options:: Array sizes and the like.  File: web2c.info, Node: configure options, Next: Compile-time options, Up: Installation `configure' options =================== This section gives pointers to descriptions of the `--with' and `--enable' `configure' arguments that Web2c accepts. Some are specific to Web2c, others are generic to all Kpathsea-using programs. For a list of all the options `configure' accepts, run `configure --help'. The generic options are listed first, and the package-specific options come last. For a description of the generic options (which mainly allow you to specify installation directories) and basic `configure' usage, *note Running `configure' scripts: (autoconf)Invoking configure. (a copy is in the file `kpathsea/CONFIGURE'). `--disable-dump-share' Do not make fmt/base/mem files sharable across different endian architectures. *Note Hardware and memory dumps::. `--without-maketexmf-default' `--without-maketexpk-default' `--without-maketextfm-default' `--with-maketextex-default' Enable or disable the dynamic generation programs. *Note MakeTeX configuration: (kpathsea)MakeTeX configuration. The defaults are the inverse of the options, i.e., everything is enabled except `MakeTeXTeX'. `--enable-auto-core' Dump `core' if the input file is `HackyInputFileNameForCoreDump.tex'. *Note Preloaded executables::. `--enable-shared' Build Kpathsea as a shared library. *Note Shared library: (kpathsea)Shared library. `--with-editor=CMD' Change the default editor invoked by the `e' interactive command. *Note Editor invocation::. `--with-hp2627win' `--with-mftalkwin' `--with-nextwin' `--with-regiswin' `--with-suntoolswin' `--with-tektronixwin' `--with-unitermwin' `--with-x' `--with-x-toolkit=KIT' `--with-x11win' `--with-x11' Define Metafont graphics support; by default, no graphics support is enabled. *Note Online Metafont graphics::. `--x-includes=DIR' `--x-libraries=DIR' Define the locations of the X11 include files and libraries; by default, `configure' does its best to guess). *Note Optional Features: (autoconf)Optional Features. A copy is in `kpathsea/CONFIGURE'.  File: web2c.info, Node: Compile-time options, Next: Additional targets, Prev: configure options, Up: Installation Compile-time options ==================== In addition to the `configure' options listed in the previous section, there are a few things that can be affected at compile-time with C definitions, rather than with `configure'. Using any of these is unusual. To specify extra compiler flags (`-DNAME' in this case), the simplest thing to do is: make XCFLAGS="CCOPTIONS" You can also set the `CFLAGS' environment variable before running `configure'. *Note configure environment: (kpathsea)configure environment. Anyway, here are the possibilities: `-DFIXPT' `-DNO_MF_ASM' Use the original WEB fixed-point routines for Metafont and MetaPost arithmetic calculations regarding fractions. By default, assembly-language routines are used on x86 hardware with GNU C (unless `NO_MF_ASM' is defined), and floating-point routines are used otherwise. `-DIPC_DEBUG' Report on various interprocess communication activities. *Note IPC and TeX: IPC and TeX.  File: web2c.info, Node: Additional targets, Next: Triptrap, Prev: Compile-time options, Up: Installation Additional targets ================== Web2c has several Make targets besides the standard ones. You can invoke these either in the top level directory of the source distribution (the one containing `kpathsea/' and `web2c/'), or in the `web2c/' directory. `c-sources' Make only the C files, translated from the Web sources, presumably because you want to take them to a non-Unix machine. `formats' `install-formats' Make or install all the memory dumps (*note Memory dumps::.). By default, the standard plain formats plus `latex.fmt' are made. You can add other formats by redefining the `fmts', `bases', and `mems' variables. See the top of `web2c/Makefile' for the possibilities. `fmts' `install-fmts' Make or install the TeX `.fmt' files. *Note initex invocation::. `bases' `install-bases' Make or install the Metafont `.base' files. *Note inimf invocation::. `mems' `install-mems' Make or install the MetaPost `.mem' files. *Note inimpost invocation::. `triptrap' `trip' `trap' `mptrap' To run the torture tests for TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost (respectively). See the next section.  File: web2c.info, Node: Triptrap, Next: Runtime options, Prev: Additional targets, Up: Installation Trip, trap, and mptrap: Torture tests ===================================== To validate your TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost executables, run `make triptrap'. This runs the trip, trap, and mptrap "torture tests". See the files `triptrap/tripman.tex', `triptrap/trapman.tex', and `triptrap/mptrap.readme' for detailed information and background on the tests. The differences between your executables' behavior and the standard values will show up on your terminal. The usual differences (these are all acceptable) are: * string usage and table sizes; * glue set ratios; * `down4', `right4', and `y4' commands in DVItype output; * dates and times. Any other differences are trouble. The most common culprit in the past has been compiler bugs, especially when optimizing. *Note TeX or Metafont failing: (kpathsea)TeX or Metafont failing. The files `trip.diffs', `mftrap.diffs', and `mptrap.diffs' in the `triptrap' directory show the standard diffs against the original output. If you diff your diffs against these files, you should come up clean. For example make trip >&mytrip.diffs diff triptrap/trip.diffs mytrip.diffs To run the tests separately, use the targets `trip', `trap', and `mptrap'. To run simple tests for all the programs as well as the torture tests, run `make check'. You can compare the output to the distributed file `tests/check.log' if you like.  File: web2c.info, Node: Runtime options, Prev: Triptrap, Up: Installation Runtime options =============== Besides the configure- and compile-time options described in the previous sections, you can control a number of parameters (in particular, array sizes) in the `texmf.cnf' runtime file read by Kpathsea (*note Config files: (kpathsea)Config files.). Rather than exhaustively listing them here, please see the last section of the distributed `kpathsea/texmf.cnf'. Some of the more interesting values: `main_memory' Total words of memory available, for TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost. Must remake the format file after changing. `extra_mem_bot' Extra space for "large" TeX data structures: boxes, glue, breakpoints, et al. If you use PiCTeX, you may well want to set this. `font_mem_size' Words of font info available for TeX; this is approximately the total size of all TFM files read. `hash_extra' Additional space for the hash table of control sequence names. Approximately 10,000 control sequences can be stored in the main hash table; if you have a large book with numerous cross-references, this might not be enough, and thus you will want to set `hash_extra'. Of course, ideally all arrays would be dynamically expanded as necessary, so the only limiting factor would be the amount of swap space available. Unfortunately, implementing this is extremely difficult, as the fixed size of arrays is assumed in many places throughout the source code. These runtime limits are a practical compromise between the compile-time limits in previous versions, and truly dynamic arrays. (On the other hand, the Web2c BibTeX implementation does do dynamic reallocation of some arrays.)  File: web2c.info, Node: Commonalities, Next: TeX, Prev: Installation, Up: Top Commonalities ************* Many aspects of the TeX system are the same among more than one program, so we describe all those pieces together, here. * Menu: * Option conventions:: Order doesn't matter, - or -, = or ` ' for values. * Common options:: -help -version -verbose, and TeX/MF/MP options. * Path searching:: Features of the common path searching library. * Output file location:: TEXMFOUTPUT allows output in places other than `.'. * Three programs:: TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost have a lot in common.  File: web2c.info, Node: Option conventions, Next: Common options, Up: Commonalities Option conventions ================== To provide a clean and consistent behavior, we chose to have all these programs use the GNU function `getopt_long_only' to parse command lines. As a result, you can: * give the options in any order, interspersed as you wish with non-option arguments; * use `-' or `--' to start an option name; * use any unambiguous abbreviation for an option name; * separate option names and values with either `=' or one or more spaces; * use filenames that would otherwise look like options by putting them after an option `--'. By convention, non-option arguments, if specified, generally define the name of an input file, as documented for each program. If a particular option with a value is given more than once, it is the last value that counts. For example, the following command line specifies the options `foo', `bar', and `verbose'; gives the value `baz' to the `abc' option, and the value `xyz' to the `quux' option; and specifies the filename `-myfile-'. -foo --bar -verb -abc=baz -quux karl --quux xyz -- -myfile-  File: web2c.info, Node: Common options, Next: Path searching, Prev: Option conventions, Up: Commonalities Common options ============== All of these programs accept the standard GNU `--help' and `--version' options, and several programs accept `--verbose'. Rather than writing identical descriptions in every node, they are described here. `--help' Print a usage message listing basic usage and all available options to standard output, then exit successfully. `--verbose' Print progress reports to standard output. `--version' Print the version number to standard output, then exit successfully. TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost have additional options in common: `-kpathsea-debug=NUMBER' Set path searching debugging flags according to the bits of NUMBER (*note Debugging: (kpathsea)Debugging.). You can also specify this in `KPATHSEA_DEBUG' environment variable (for all Web2c programs). (The command line value overrides.) The most useful value is `-1', to get all available output. `-ini' Enable the "initial" form of the program (*note Initial and virgin::.). This is implicitly set if the program name is `initex' resp. `inimf' resp. `inimpost'. `-fmt=DUMPNAME' `-base=DUMPNAME' `-mem=DUMPNAME' Use DUMPNAME instead of the program name or a `%&' line to determine the name of the memory dump file read (`fmt' for TeX, `base' for Metafont, `mem' for MetaPost). *Note Memory dumps::. Also set the program name to DUMPNAME. `-progname=STRING' Set program (and memory dump) name to STRING. This may affect the search paths and other values used (*note Config files: (kpathsea)Config files.). Using this option is equivalent to making a link named STRING to the binary and then invoking the binary under that name. *Note Memory dumps::.  File: web2c.info, Node: Path searching, Next: Output file location, Prev: Common options, Up: Commonalities Path searching ============== All of the Web2c programs, including TeX, which do path searching use the Kpathsea routines to do so. The precise names of the environment and configuration file variables which get searched for particular file formatted are therefore documented in the Kpathsea manual (*note Supported file formats: (kpathsea)Supported file formats.). Reading `texmf.cnf' (*note Config files: (kpathsea)Config files.), invoking `MakeTeX...' scripts (*note MakeTeX scripts: (kpathsea)MakeTeX scripts.), and so on are all handled by Kpathsea. The programs which read fonts make use of another Kpathsea feature: `texfonts.map', which allows arbitrary aliases for the actual names of font files; for example, `Times-Roman' for `ptmr8r.tfm'. The distributed (and installed by default) `texfonts.map' includes aliases for many widely available PostScript fonts by their PostScript names.  File: web2c.info, Node: Output file location, Next: Three programs, Prev: Path searching, Up: Commonalities Output file location ==================== All the programs generally follow the usual convention for output files. Namely, they are placed in the directory current when the program is run, regardless of any input file location; or, in a few cases, output is to standard output. For example, if you run `tex /tmp/foo', for example, the output will be in `./foo.dvi' and `./foo.log', not `/tmp/foo.dvi' and `/tmp/foo.log'. However, if the current directory is not writable, the main programs (TeX, Metafont, MetaPost, and BibTeX) make an exception: if the environment variable or config file value `TEXMFOUTPUT' is set (it is not by default), output files are written to the directory specified. This is useful when you are in some read-only distribution directory, perhaps on a CD-ROM, and want to TeX some documentation, for example.  File: web2c.info, Node: Three programs, Prev: Output file location, Up: Commonalities Three programs: Metafont, MetaPost, and TeX =========================================== TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost have a number of features in common. Besides the ones here, the common command-line options are described in the previous section. The configuration file options that let you control some array sizes and other features are described in *Note Runtime options::. * Menu: * Initial and virgin:: Making memory dumps vs. production runs. * Memory dumps:: .fmt/.base/.mem files for fast startup. * Editor invocation:: The `e' response at errors. * \input filenames:: ~ and $ expansion in TeX/MF/MP.  File: web2c.info, Node: Initial and virgin, Next: Memory dumps, Up: Three programs Initial and virgin ------------------ The TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost programs each have two main variants, called initial and virgin. As of Web2c 7, one executable suffices for both variants. The initial form is enabled if: 1. the `-ini' option was specified; or 2. the program name is `initex' resp. `inimf' resp. `inimpost'; or 3. the first line of the main input file is `%&ini'; otherwise, the virgin form is used. The "virgin" form is the one generally invoked for production use. The first thing it does is read a memory dump (*note Determining the memory dump to use::.), and then proceeds on with the main job. The "initial" form is generally used only to create memory dumps (see the next section). It starts up more slowly than the virgin form, because it must do lengthy initializations that are encapsulated in the memory dump file. In the past, there was a third form, "preloaded" executables. This is no longer recommended or widely used; but see the section below if you're interested anyway. In this case, the memory dump file was read in to the virgin form, a core dump of the running executable was done, and the `undump' program run to create a new binary. Nowadays, reading memory dumps is fast enough that this is generally no longer worth the cost in disk space and unshared executables. * Menu: * Preloaded executables::  File: web2c.info, Node: Preloaded executables, Up: Initial and virgin Preloaded executables ..................... Specifying `--enable-auto-core' to `configure' tells TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost to suicide with a `SIGQUIT' on an input filename of `HackyInputFileNameForCoreDump.tex' (all three programs use the `.tex' suffix). This produces a memory dump of the running executable in a file `core'. (This is unrelated to the standard memory dump feature in these programs; *note Memory dumps::.). You don't actually need to do this to produce a core dump. Just typing your quit character (usually ) when the program is waiting for input (at `**') will have the same result. But a few sites want to reliably generate a core dump without human intervention; that's what `--enable-auto-core' is for. With the program `undump', you can use `core' to reconstitute a "preloaded" executable, which does not need to read a `.fmt' file to get started. Although preloaded executables save startup time, they have a big disadvantage: neither the disk space to store them nor their code segments (at runtime) can be shared. Therefore, if both `tex' and `latex' are running, twice as much memory will be consumed, to the general detriment of performance. The `undump' program is not part of the Web2c distribution, but you can get it from the CTAN archives as `CTAN:/support/undump', and it is included in several TeX distributions (*note unixtex.ftp: (kpathsea)unixtex.ftp.).  File: web2c.info, Node: Memory dumps, Next: Editor invocation, Prev: Initial and virgin, Up: Three programs Memory dumps ------------ In typical use, TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost require a large number of macros to be predefined; therefore, they support "memory dump" files, which can be read much more efficiently than ordinary source code. * Menu: * Creating memory dumps:: * Determining the memory dump to use:: * Hardware and memory dumps::  File: web2c.info, Node: Creating memory dumps, Next: Determining the memory dump to use, Up: Memory dumps Creating memory dumps ..................... The programs all create memory dumps in slightly idiosyncratic (thought substantially similar) way, so we describe the details in separate sections (references below). The basic idea is to run the initial version of the program (*note Initial and virgin::.), read the source file to define the macros, and then execute the `\dump' primitive. Also, each program uses a different filename extension for its memory dumps, since although they are completely analogous they are not interchangeable (TeX cannot read a Metafont memory dump, for example). Here is a list of filename extensions with references to examples of creating memory dumps: TeX (`.fmt') *Note initex invocation::. Metafont (`.base') *Note inimf invocation::. MetaPost (`.mem') *Note inimpost invocation::. When making memory dumps, the programs read environment variables and configuration files for path searching and other values as usual. If you are making a new installation and have environment variables pointing to an old one, for example, you will probably run into difficulties.  File: web2c.info, Node: Determining the memory dump to use, Next: Hardware and memory dumps, Prev: Creating memory dumps, Up: Memory dumps Determining the memory dump to use .................................. The virgin form (*note Initial and virgin::.) of each program always reads a memory dump before processing normal source input. All three programs determine the memory dump to use in the same way: 1. If the first non-option command-line argument begins with `&', the program uses the remainder of that argument as the memory dump name. For example, running `tex \&super' reads `super.fmt'. (The backslash protects the `&' against interpretation by the shell.) 2. If the `-fmt' resp. `-base' resp. `-mem' option is specified, its value is used. 3. If the `-progname' option is specified, its value is used. 4. If the first line of the main input file (which must be specified on the command line, not in response to `**') is `%&DUMP', and DUMP is an existing memory dump of the appropriate type, DUMP is used. As a special case, `%&ini' means the initial form of the program (*note Initial and virgin::.). 5. Otherwise, the program uses the program invocation name, most commonly `tex' resp. `mf' resp. `mpost'. For example, if `latex' is a link to `tex', and the user runs `latex foo', `latex.fmt' will be used.  File: web2c.info, Node: Hardware and memory dumps, Prev: Determining the memory dump to use, Up: Memory dumps Hardware and memory dumps ......................... By default, memory dump files are generally sharable between architectures of different types; specifically, on machines of different endianness (*note Byte order: (libc)Byte order.). (This is a feature of the Web2c implementation, and is not true of all TeX implementations.) If you specify `--disable-dump-share' to `configure', however, memory dumps will be endian-dependent. The reason to do this is speed. To achieve endian-independence, the reading of memory dumps on LittleEndian architectures, such as PC's and DEC architectures, is somewhat slowed (all the multibyte values have to be swapped). Usually, this is not noticeable, and the advantage of being able to share memory dumps across all platforms at a site far outweighs the speed loss. But if you're installing Web2c for use on LittleEndian machines only, perhaps on a PC being used only by you, you may wish to get maximum speed. TeXnically, even without `--disable-dump-share', sharing of `.fmt' files cannot be guaranteed to work. Floating-point values are always written in native format, and hence will generally not be readable across platforms. Fortunately, TeX uses floating point only to represent glue ratios, and all common formats (plain, LaTeX, AMSTeX, ...) do not do any glue setting at `.fmt'-creation time. Metafont and MetaPost do not use floating point in any dumped value at all. Incidentally, different memory dump files will never compare equal byte-for-byte, because the program always dumps the current date and time. So don't be alarmed by just a few bytes difference. If you don't know what endianness your machine is, and you're curious, here is a little C program to tell you. (The `configure' script contains a similar program.) This is from the book `C: A Reference Manual', by Samuel P. Harbison and Guy L. Steele Jr. (*note References::.). main () { /* Are we little or big endian? From Harbison&Steele. */ union { long l; char c[sizeof (long)]; } u; u.l = 1; if (u.c[0] == 1) printf ("LittleEndian\n"); else if (u.c[sizeof (long) - 1] == 1) printf ("BigEndian\n"); else printf ("unknownEndian"); exit (u.c[sizeof (long) - 1] == 1); }  File: web2c.info, Node: Editor invocation, Next: \input filenames, Prev: Memory dumps, Up: Three programs Editor invocation ----------------- TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost all (by default) stop and ask for user intervention at an error. If the user responds with `e' or `E', the program invokes an editor. Specifying `--with-editor=CMD' to `configure' sets the default editor command string to CMD. The environment variables/configuration values `TEXEDIT', `MFEDIT', and `MPEDIT' (respectively) override this. If `--with-editor' is not specified, the default is `vi +%d %s'. In this string, `%d' is replaced by the line number of the error, and `%s' is replaced by the name of the current input file.  File: web2c.info, Node: \input filenames, Prev: Editor invocation, Up: Three programs `\input' filenames ------------------ TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost source programs can all read other source files with the `\input' (TeX) and `input' (MF and MP) primitives: \input NAME % in TeX The file NAME can always be terminated with whitespace; for Metafont and MetaPost, the statement terminator `;' also works. (LaTeX and other macro packages provide other interfaces to `\input' that allow different notation; here we are concerned only with the primitive operation.) This means that `\input' filenames cannot directly contain whitespace, even though Unix has no trouble. Sorry. On the other hand, various C library routines and Unix itself use the null byte (character code zero, ASCII NUL) to terminate strings. So filenames in Web2c cannot contain nulls, even though TeX itself does not treat NUL specially. Furthermore, some older Unix variants do not allow eight-bit characters (codes 128-255) in filenames. For maximal portability of your document across systems, use only the characters `a'-`z', `0'-`9', and `.', and restrict your filenames to at most eight characters (not including the extension), and at most a three-character extension. Do not use anything but simple filenames, since directory separators vary among systems; instead, add the necessary directories to the appropriate search path. Finally, the present Web2c implementation does `~' and `$' expansion on NAME, unlike Knuth's original implementation and older versions of Web2c. Thus: \input ~jsmith/$foo.bar will dereference the environment variable or Kpathsea config file value `foo' and read that file extended with `.bar' in user `jsmith''s home directory. (You can also use braces, as in `${foo}bar' if you want to follow the variable name with a letter, numeral, or `_'.) (So you could define an environment variable value including whitespace and get the program to read such a filename that way, if you need to.) In all the common TeX formats (plain TeX, LaTeX, AMSTeX), the characters `~' and `~' have special category codes, so to actually use these in a document you have to change their catcodes or use `\string'. (The result is unportable anyway, see the suggestions above.) The place where they are most likely to be useful is when typing interactively.  File: web2c.info, Node: TeX, Next: Metafont, Prev: Commonalities, Up: Top TeX: Typesetting **************** TeX is a typesetting system: it was especially designed to handle complex mathematics, as well as most ordinary text typesetting. TeX is a batch language, like C or Pascal, and not an interactive "word processor": you compile a TeX input file into a corresponding device-independent (DVI) file (and then translate the DVI file to the commands for a particular output device). This approach has both considerable disadvantages and considerable advantages. For a complete description of the TeX language, see `The TeXbook' (*note References::.). Many other books on TeX, introductory and otherwise, are available. * Menu: * tex invocation:: Invoking TeX. * initex invocation:: Initial TeX. * virtex invocation:: Virgin TeX. * Formats:: Major TeX macro packages. * Languages and hyphenation:: TeX supports many human languages. * IPC and TeX:: DVI output to a socket. * TeX extensions:: Changes to the TeX language.  File: web2c.info, Node: tex invocation, Next: initex invocation, Up: TeX `tex' invocation ================ TeX (usually invoked as `tex') formats the given text and commands, and outputs a corresponding device-independent representation of the typeset document. This section merely describes the options available in the Web2c implementation. For a complete description of the TeX typesetting language, see `The TeXbook' (*note References::.). TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost process the command line (described here) and determine their memory dump (fmt) file in the same way (*note Memory dumps::.). Synopses: tex [OPTION]... [TEXNAME[.tex]] [TEX-COMMANDS] tex [OPTION]... \FIRST-LINE tex [OPTION]... &FMT ARGS TeX searches the usual places for the main input file TEXNAME (*note Supported file formats: (kpathsea)Supported file formats.), extending TEXNAME with `.tex' if necessary. To see all the relevant paths, set the environment variable `KPATHSEA_DEBUG' to `-1' before running the program. After TEXNAME is read, TeX processes any remaining TEX-COMMANDS on the command line as regular TeX input. Also, if the first non-option argument begins with a TeX escape character (usually <\>), TeX processes all non-option command-line arguments as a line of regular TeX input. If no arguments or options are specified, TeX prompts for an input file name with `**'. TeX writes the main DVI output to the file `BASETEXNAME.dvi', where BASETEXNAME is the basename of TEXNAME, or `texput' if no input file was specified. A DVI file is a device-independent binary representation of your TeX document. The idea is that after running TeX, you translate the DVI file using a separate program to the commands for a particular output device, such as a PostScript printer (*note Introduction: (dvipsk)Top.) or an X Window System display (see xdvi(1)). TeX also reads TFM files for any fonts you load in your document with the `\font' primitive. By default, it runs an external program named `MakeTeXTFM' to create any nonexistent TFM files. You can disable this at configure-time or runtime (*note MakeTeX configuration: (kpathsea)MakeTeX configuration.). This is enabled mostly for the sake of the DC fonts, which can be generated at any size. 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'. (MetaPost has a `write' primitive with similar implication). To alleviate this, there is a configuration variable `openout_any'; by default, this is set to `0', which disallows writing to any filename beginning with `.' except `.tex' (for the sake of the LaTeX distribution). If set to `1', any file can be written. In any case, all `\openout' filenames are recorded in the log file, except those opened on the first line of input, which is processed when the log file has not yet been opened. (If you as a TeX administrator wish to implement more stringent rules on `\openout', modifying the function `openoutnameok' in `web2c/lib/texmfmp.c' is intended to suffice.) The program accepts the following options, as well as the standard `-help' and `-version' (*note Common options::.): `-kpathsea-debug=NUMBER' `-ini' `-fmt=FMTNAME' `-progname=STRING' These options are common to TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost. *Note Common options::. `-extend-jobname=WORD' Determine how TeX constructs the name of its output files (`.dvi', `.log', `.fmt'). WORD is one of `never', `maybe' (the default), or `always': `maybe' (default) If the input filename ends in one of these extensions: .drv .dtx .ins .ltx .tex .texi .texinfo .txi then TeX strips the extension; thus, `foo.tex' produces `foo.dvi', but `foo.bar.tex' produces `foo.bar.dvi'. `never' Never strip the extension: `foo.tex' produces `foo.tex.dvi'. `always' Always strip the extension: `foo.bar' produces `foo.dvi'. (This is the behavior of the original TeX program.) `-ipc' `-ipc-start' With either option, TeX writes its DVI output to a socket as well as to the usual `.dvi' file. With `-ipc-start', TeX also opens a server program at the other end to read the output. *Note IPC and TeX: IPC and TeX. These options are available only if the `--enable-ipc' option was specified to `configure' during installation of Web2c. `-maketex=FILETYPE' `-no-maketex=FILETYPE' Turn on or off the `MakeTeX' script associated with FILETYPE. The only values that make sense for FILETYPE are `tex' and `tfm', `-mltex' If `INITEX' (*note Initial and virgin::.), enable MLTeX extensions such as `\charsubdef'. Implicitly set if the program name is `mltex'. *Note MLTeX: MLTeX. `-output-comment=STRING' Use STRING as the DVI file comment. Ordinarily, this comment records the date and time of the TeX run, but if you are doing regression testing, you may not want the DVI file to have this spurious difference. This is also taken from the environment variable and config file value `output_comment'. `-shell-escape' Enable the `\write18{SHELL-COMMAND}' feature. This is also enabled if the environment variable or config file value `shell_escape' is set to anything non-null that does not start with `n' or `0'. It is disabled by default to avoid security problems. When enabled, the SHELL-COMMAND string (which first undergoes the usual TeX expansions, just as in `\special') is passed to the command shell (via the C library function `system'). The output of SHELL-COMMAND is not diverted anywhere, so it will not appear in the log file. The system call either happens at `\output' time or right away, according to the absence or presence of the `\immediate' prefix, as usual for `\write'. (If you as a TeX administrator wish to implement more stringent rules on what can be executed, you will need to modify `tex.ch'.)  File: web2c.info, Node: initex invocation, Next: virtex invocation, Prev: tex invocation, Up: TeX `initex' invocation =================== `initex' is the "initial" form of TeX, which does lengthy initializations avoided by the "virgin" (`vir') form, so as to be capable of dumping `.fmt' files (*note Memory dumps::.). For a detailed comparison of virgin and initial forms, *note Initial and virgin::.. For a list of options and other information, *note tex invocation::.. Unlike Metafont and MetaPost, many format files are commonly used with TeX. The standard one implementing the features described in the `TeXbook' is `plain.fmt', also known as `tex.fmt' (again, *note Memory dumps::.). It is created by default during installation, but you can also do so by hand if necessary (e.g., if an update to `plain.tex' is issued): initex '\input plain \dump' (The quotes prevent interpretation of the backslashes from the shell.) Then install the resulting `plain.fmt' in `$(fmtdir)' (`/usr/local/share/texmf/web2c' by default), and link `tex.fmt' to it. The necessary invocation for generating a format file differs for each format, so instructions that come with the format should explain. The top-level `web2c' Makefile has targets for making most common formats: plain latex amstex texinfo eplain. *Note Formats::, for more details on TeX formats.  File: web2c.info, Node: virtex invocation, Next: Formats, Prev: initex invocation, Up: TeX `virtex' invocation =================== `virtex' is the "virgin" form of TeX, which avoids the lengthy initializations done by the "initial" (`ini') form, and is thus what is generally used for production work. For a detailed comparison of virgin and initial forms, *note Initial and virgin::.. For a list of options and other information, *note tex invocation::..  File: web2c.info, Node: Formats, Next: Languages and hyphenation, Prev: virtex invocation, Up: TeX Formats ======= TeX "formats" are large collections of macros, possibly dumped into a `.fmt' file (*note Memory dumps::.) by `initex' (*note initex invocation::.). A number of formats are in reasonably widespread use, and the Web2c Makefile has targets to make the versions current at the time of release. You can change which formats are automatically built by setting the `fmts' Make variable; by default, only the `plain' and `latex' formats are made. You can get the latest versions of most of these formats from the CTAN archives in subdirectories of `CTAN:/macros' (for CTAN info, *note unixtex.ftp: (kpathsea)unixtex.ftp.). The archive `ftp://ftp.tug.org/tex/lib.tar.gz' (also available from CTAN) contains most of these formats (although perhaps not the absolute latest version), among other things. latex The most widely used format. The current release is named `LaTeX 2e'; new versions are released approximately every six months, with patches issued as needed. The old release was called `LaTeX 2.09', and is no longer maintained or supported. LaTeX attempts to provide generic markup instructions, such as "emphasize", instead of specific typesetting instructions, such as "use the 10pt Computer Modern italic font". amstex The official typesetting system of the American Mathematical Society, used to produce nearly all of its publications, e.g., `Mathematical Reviews'. Like LaTeX, it encourages generic markup commands. The AMS also provides a LaTeX package for authors who prefer LaTeX (see the `amslatex' item below). texinfo The documentation system developed and maintained by the Free Software Foundation for their software manuals. It can be automatically converted into plain text, a machine-readable on-line format called `info', HTML, etc. eplain The "expanded plain" format provides various common features (e.g., symbolic cross-referencing, tables of contents, indexing, citations using BibTeX), for those authors who prefer to handle their own high-level formatting. lamstex Augments AMSTeX with LaTeX-like features. amslatex An LaTeX package (see `latex' item above), that augments LaTeX with AMSTeX-like features. slitex An obsolete LaTeX 2.09 format for making slides. It is replaced by the `slides' document class.  File: web2c.info, Node: Languages and hyphenation, Next: IPC and TeX, Prev: Formats, Up: TeX Languages and hyphenation ========================= TeX supports most natural languages. See also *Note TeX extensions: TeX extensions. * Menu: * MLTeX:: Multi-lingual TeX. * patgen invocation:: Creating hyphenation patterns.  File: web2c.info, Node: MLTeX, Next: patgen invocation, Up: Languages and hyphenation MLTeX: Multi-lingual TeX ------------------------ Multi-lingual TeX (`mltex') is an extension of TeX originally written by Michael Ferguson and now updated and maintained by Bernd Raichle. It allows the use of non-existing glyphs in a font by declaring glyph substitutions. These are restricted to substitutions of an accented character glyph, which need not be defined in the current font, by its appropriate `\accent' construction using a base and accent character glyph, which do have to exist in the current font. This substitution is automatically done behind the scenes, if necessary, and thus MLTeX additionally supports hyphenation of words containing an accented character glyph for fonts missing this glyph (e.g., Computer Modern). Standard TeX suppresses hyphenation in this case. MLTeX works at `.fmt'-creation time: the basic idea is to specify the `-mltex' option to TeX when you `\dump' a format. Then, when you subsequently invoke TeX and read that `.fmt' file, the MLTeX features described below will be enabled. Generally, you use special macro files to create an MLTeX `.fmt' file. See: CTAN:/systems/generic/mltex `ftp://ftp.univ-rennes1.fr/pub/GUTenberg/french/' The sections below describe the two new primitives that MLTeX defines. Aside from these, MLTeX is completely compatible with standard TeX. * Menu: * \charsubdef:: Character substitution definitions. * \tracingcharsubdef:: Tracing substitutions.  File: web2c.info, Node: \charsubdef, Next: \tracingcharsubdef, Up: MLTeX `\charsubdef': Character substitutions ...................................... The most important primitive MLTeX adds is `\charsubdef', used in a way reminiscent of `\chardef': \charsubdef COMPOSITE [=] ACCENT BASE Each of COMPOSITE, ACCENT, and BASE are font glyph numbers, expressed in the usual TeX syntax: `\e symbolically, '145 for octal, "65 for hex, 101 for decimal. MLTeX's `\charsubdef' declares how to construct an accented character glyph (not necessarily existing in the current font) using two character glyphs (that do exist). Thus it defines whether a character glyph code, either typed as a single character or using the `\char' primitive, will be mapped to a font glyph or to an `\accent' glyph construction. For example, if you assume glyph code 138 (decimal) for an e-circumflex and you are using the Computer Modern fonts, which have the circumflex accent in position 18 and lowercase `e' in the usual ASCII position 101 decimal, you would use `\charsubdef' as follows: \charsubdef 138 = 18 101 For the plain TeX format to make use of this substitution, you have to redefine the circumflex accent macro `\^' in such a way that if its argument is character `e' the expansion `\char138 ' is used instead of `\accent18 e'. Similar `\charsubdef' declaration and macro redefinitions have to be done for all other accented characters. To disable a previous `\charsubdef C', redefine C as a pair of zeros. For example: \charsubdef '321 = 0 0 % disable N tilde (Octal '321 is the ISO Latin-1 value for the Spanish N tilde.) `\charsubdef' commands should only be given once. Although in principle you can use `\charsubdef' at any time, the result is unspecified. If `\charsubdef' declarations are changed, usually either incorrect character dimensions will be used or MLTeX will output missing character warnings. (The substitution of a `\charsubdef' is used by TeX when appending the character node to the current horizontal list, to compute the width of a horizontal box when the box gets packed, and when building the `\accent' construction at `\shipout'-time. In summary, the substitution is accessed often, so changing it is not desirable, nor generally useful.)  File: web2c.info, Node: \tracingcharsubdef, Prev: \charsubdef, Up: MLTeX `\tracingcharsubdef': Substitution diagnostics .............................................. To help diagnose problems with `\charsubdef', MLTeX provides a new primitive parameter, `\tracingcharsubdef'. If positive, every use of `\charsubdef' will be reported. This can help track down when a character is redefined. In addition, if the TeX parameter `\tracinglostchars' is 100 or more, the character substitutions actually performed at `\shipout'-time will be recorded.  File: web2c.info, Node: patgen invocation, Prev: MLTeX, Up: Languages and hyphenation Patgen: Creating hyphenation patterns ------------------------------------- Patgen creates hyphenation patterns from dictionary files for use with TeX. Synopsis: patgen DICTIONARY PATTERNS OUTPUT TRANSLATE Each argument is a filename. No path searching is done. The output is written to the file OUTPUT. In addition, Patgen prompts interactively for other values. For more information, see `Word hy-phen-a-tion by com-puter' by Frank Liang (*note References::.), and also the `patgen.web' source file. The only options are `-help' and `-version' (*note Common options::.).  File: web2c.info, Node: IPC and TeX, Next: TeX extensions, Prev: Languages and hyphenation, Up: TeX IPC and TeX =========== (Sorry, but I'm not going to write this unless someone actually uses this feature. Let me know.) This functionality is available only if the `--enable-ipc' option was specified to `configure' during installation of Web2c (*note Installation::.). If you define `IPC_DEBUG' before compilation (e.g., with `make XCFLAGS=-DIPC_DEBUG'), TeX will print messages to standard error about its socket operations. This may be helpful if you are, well, debugging.