Re: Specifying language.dat in fmtutil.cnf
Thomas Esser <te@dbs.uni-hannover.de> wrote:
>> could it be that there is a bug in fmtutil, because it simply ignores
>> the hyphenation field in fmtutil.cnf?
>
> A misunderstanding!
>
> You cannot change the behaviour when building the format. Setting
> the third field is just an infrmation to fmtutil what the format uses
> (latex.ltx uses language.dat, etex.src uses language.def). So that it
> changes the right file if you customize the hyphenation or that it can
> rebuild all formats that depend on hyphenation file xyz.
Well, I nearly assumed this. But then, as I wrote, this should be
clearly indicated in the manual page to fmtutil. I suggest to use
something like the attached patch.
Regards, Frank
--- tetex-bin-2.99.9.20050111-beta/texk/tetex/fmtutil.cnf.5.orig Thu Jan 27 16:34:39 2005
+++ tetex-bin-2.99.9.20050111-beta/texk/tetex/fmtutil.cnf.5 Thu Jan 27 16:49:37 2005
@@ -8,25 +8,34 @@
The \fIfmtutil\&.cnf\fP file contains the configuration information
for \fBfmtutil\fP(8)\&. Each line contains the name of the format
(e\&.g\&., ``tex\'\', ``latex\'\', ``omega\'\'), the name of the engine that
-uses that format (e\&.g\&., ``tex\'\', ``etex\'\', ``omega\'\'), the pattern
+is used by that format (e\&.g\&., ``tex\'\', ``etex\'\', ``omega\'\'), the pattern
file (e\&.g\&., \fIlanguage\&.dat\fP, \fIlanguage\&.def\fP), and any
arguments (name of an \fI\&.ini\fP file)\&.
.PP
-Fields are separated by whitespace\&. A ``-\'\' can be used to indicate
-an empty field (only used in practice for the pattern-file field for
-the \fBtex\fP and \fBamstex\fP formats, which cannot be customized in
-this way\&.)\&. Line can be commented out with ``#\'\'\&.
+Fields are separated by whitespace\&. A ``-\'\' can be used to
+indicate an empty field (see \fBNOTES\fP below)\&. A line can be
+commented out with ``#\'\'\&.
+.PP
+The second and forth field, i\&.e\&. the engine and the \fI\&.ini\fP
+file, actually change the way \fBfmtutil\fP creates the format. The
+pattern file specified in the second field only changes the behavior
+of other programs -- for example \fBtexconfig\fP uses it to determine
+which pattern file to edit for a given format --, and the output
+\fBfmtutil\fP gives with the option \fI--showhyphen\fP. The pattern
+file that is actually used is determined in the format definition
+file, e\&.g\&. \fIlatex.ltx\fP for LaTeX.
.PP
.SH "NOTES"
.PP
-The \fBtex\fP(1) and \fBamstex\fP(1) formats load
-\fIhyphen\&.tex\fP\&. No customization is available for these
-formats\&.
+The \fBtex\fP(1) and \fBamstex\fP(1) formats always load
+\fIhyphen\&.tex\fP\&. No customization by a pattern file is available
+for these formats\&. Therefore, the pattern-file field for the
+\fBtex\fP and \fBamstex\fP is usually indicated to be empty (``-\'\')\&.
.PP
You can, however, build customized formats on top of plain
-\fBtex\fP(1) or \fBamstex\fP(1) by using \fIbplain\&.tex\fP
-instead of \fIplain\&.tex\fP (see, for example, the
-\fIbplain\&.ini\fP file for the bplain format)\&.
+\fBtex\fP(1) or \fBamstex\fP(1) by using \fIbplain\&.tex\fP instead of
+\fIplain\&.tex\fP (b for the \fIBabel\fP system). See, for example,
+the \fIbplain\&.ini\fP file for the bplain format)\&.
.PP
\fBetex\fP(1) loads \fIlanguage\&.def\fP, not
\fIlanguage\&.dat\fP\&.
--
Frank Küster
Inst. f. Biochemie der Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer
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