Latex, babel: the role of /usr/share/texmf/fontname/special.map?

[Shaul Karl <shaulka@bezeqint.net>]

Can someone explain and/or give pointers to the role of the 
/usr/share/texmf/fontname/special.map file and the /usr/share/texmf/fontname 
directory?

I am trying to package hebrew-latex. Basically this is a babel extension like 
other (European?) languages have. However it requires me to append some lines 
of the form

    fontname  public  hebrew

to /usr/share/texmf/fontname/special.map. But this is problematic since that 
later file is installed by tetex-base and thus the appended lines will be 
erased once tetex-base is upgraded.

I was told that those lines have no importance at all but still wondering why 
the original author of the package (back in 1998) expressed interest in the 
file in subject.

In the meanwhile I have just moved those appended lines from the special.map 
file to a new file, namely hebrew.map, without making any other modifications. 
What problems can this yield?
-- 

	Shaul Karl <shaulka@bezeqint.net>