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<h1>
Debian-specific information about TeX packages
<br>Chapter 2 - Changing your configuration, file placement
</h1>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-sec-texmf-trees">2.1 Available <var>TEXMF</var> trees for users and system administrators</h2>

<p>
The following <var>TEXMF</var> trees are available.  They are displayed below
in the order they are searched, where earlier ones override later ones.
</p>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFCONFIG</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>$HOME/.texmf-config/</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains user-specific configuration
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFVAR</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>$HOME/.texmf-var/</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains user-specific generated files
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFHOME</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>$HOME/texmf/</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains user-specific static input files, e.g.  new LaTeX packages.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFSYSCONFIG</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>/etc/texmf</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains system-wide configuration
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFSYSVAR</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>/var/lib/texmf/</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains system-wide generated files
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFDEBIAN</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>/usr/share/texmf/</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains files shipped by Debian packages other than the main texlive packages.
This tree contains system-wide, <code>dpkg</code>-managed input files.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFMAIN</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>/usr/share/texlive/texmf/</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains files that are closely related to the binaries and the specific
version, thus this tree has higher priority then <var>TEXMFLOCAL</var> below.
It contains only few system-wide, <code>dpkg</code>-managed input files.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFLOCAL</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>/usr/local/share/texmf/</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains system-wide input files, used for configuration on specific systems.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dt><var>TEXMFDIST</var></dt>
<dd>
<p>
Default location: <code>/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist</code>
</p>

<p>
Contains the binary-independent files that are distributed with TeX Live,
comprising most of the input files, font files etc.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>

<p>
If you want to add files, you should usually use <var>TEXMFLOCAL</var> or
<var>TEXMFHOME</var>, depending on whether you are the system administrator or
a user.  If needed, a system administrator can add additional trees to the
<var>TEXMF</var> variable by copying the definition of <var>TEXMF</var> from
<code>/usr/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf</code> into one file in
<code>/etc/texmf/texmf.d/</code>, for example
<code>/etc/texmf/texmf.d/00local.cnf</code> (earlier entries take precedence).
<var>TEXMFCONFIG</var> and <var>TEXMFVAR</var> are used by the user-specific
<code>texconfig</code>, <code>updmap</code>, and <code>fmtutil</code> commands.
Note that <code>texconfig</code> creates a copy of configuration files from
<var>TEXMFMAIN</var> (or <code>/etc/texmf</code>) at the time it is first
invoked to handle a particular file, and does not track later system-wide
changes, and it does not know about <code>update-*</code> programs (see below
<a href="#s-sec-core-config-files">The files <code>texmf.cnf</code>,
<code>fmtutil.cnf</code>, <code>updmap.cfg</code> and <code>language.*</code>
group, Section 2.4</a>).
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s2.2">2.2 General hints</h2>

<hr>

<h3 id="s2.2.1">2.2.1 System-wide versus user-specific configuration</h3>

<p>
TeX Live supports a complete user-specific configuration setup in the user's
home directory.  System administrators must use the commands
<code>texconfig-sys</code>, <code>fmtutil-sys</code> and
<code>updmap-sys</code> which act on the system-wide configuration files.
Users can invoke their user counterparts <code>texconfig</code>,
<code>fmtutil</code> and <code>updmap</code>.  This will put copies of the
system-wide configuration files into the user's <var>TEXMFCONFIG</var>
directory (by default, <code>$HOME/.texmf-config</code>), modify them and
generate according formats, if applicable.
</p>

<p>
There is no such mechanism for <code>texmf.cnf</code>.  For a way to customize
<code>texmf.cnf</code> as a user, see <a href="#s-sec-user-config-files">Per
user configuration changes, Section 2.4.4</a>.
</p>

<hr>

<h3 id="s2.2.2">2.2.2 Configuration file placement</h3>

<p>
On a TeX system, in principle every TeX input file can be used to <em>change
the behavior of the system</em> and hence could be treated as a configuration
file.  To avoid an inflation of configuration files, those that are used to
control the typeset output - the appearance of documents - are not installed as
configuration files.  It makes more sense to keep changed versions in the
current directory for a certain project, or in <var>TEXMFHOME</var> or
<var>TEXMFCONFIG</var> of a particular user.  However, local admins can take
any file they want from the <var>TEXMFDIST</var>
(<code>/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist</code>) or <var>TEXMFDEBIAN</var>
(<code>/usr/share/texmf</code>) trees and put changed copies into the
respective directories below <code>/etc/texmf</code> (<var>TEXMFSYSCONFIG</var>
which sorts before all other trees) or <code>/usr/local/share/texmf</code>
(<var>TEXMFLOCAL</var> which sorts before the above two trees).
</p>

<p>
Since the package management system does not know whether a file is treated as
a configuration file on a specific system, it is up to the site admin or local
user to check whether one of their changed files has changed in
<var>TEXMFDIST</var> or <var>TEXMFDEBIAN</var>.
</p>

<hr>

<h3 id="s2.2.3">2.2.3 What is configured where?</h3>

<p>
The central system-wide configuration files <code>texmf.cnf</code> (which
controls the basic operation and file search paths for the included programs),
<code>fmtutil.cnf</code> (which specifies the available TeX formats), (several)
<code>updmap.cfg</code> (font configuration) and <code>language.dat</code>,
<code>language.def</code>, <code>language.dat.lua</code> (hyphenation patterns
for latex, etex, lualatex, resp.) are handled through a Debian-specific
mechanism that allows the basic TeX packages, add-on packages and local
administrators to combine their changes (see <a
href="#s-sec-core-config-files">The files <code>texmf.cnf</code>,
<code>fmtutil.cnf</code>, <code>updmap.cfg</code> and <code>language.*</code>
group, Section 2.4</a> below).
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s2.3">2.3 Hyphenation</h2>

<p>
Hyphenation should pretty much work out of the box.  Please note that in
Debian, language.dat, language.def, language.dat.lua are generated files (see
<a href="#s-sec-core-config-files">The files <code>texmf.cnf</code>,
<code>fmtutil.cnf</code>, <code>updmap.cfg</code> and <code>language.*</code>
group, Section 2.4</a>).
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s-sec-core-config-files">2.4 The files <code>texmf.cnf</code>, <code>fmtutil.cnf</code>, <code>updmap.cfg</code> and <code>language.*</code> group</h2>

<p>
In the following we will refer to the three files <code>language.dat</code>,
<code>language.def</code>, <code>language.dat.lua</code>, as
<code>language.*</code>.
</p>

<p>
In the following we describe ways to configure these files for the <em>system
administrator</em>, i.e.  one that has write access to the
<code>/etc/texmf</code> hierachy.  In <a href="#s-sec-user-config-files">Per
user configuration changes, Section 2.4.4</a> we describe a per-user
configuration.
</p>

<p>
The files <code>texmf.cnf</code>, <code>fmtutil.cnf</code>,
<code>updmap.cfg</code> and <code>language.dat</code> contain configuration
options from TeX Live, possibly from you, and from other TeX-related packages.
They are generated by scripts and may not be edited directly.  Rather, you
should work with the source files in the respective directories below
<code>/etc/texmf/</code>.
</p>

<p>
In order to make updates smooth, you should <em>avoid editing</em> system-wide
files as far as possible, and instead <em>add new files</em> to change
settings.  For <code>texmf.cnf</code> snippets, this is particularly easy,
since earlier entries override any later entries.  Only for removing settings
from <code>fmtutil.cnf</code>, or <code>language.*</code> it is necessary to
edit existing files.
</p>

<hr>

<h3 id="s-sec-texmfcnf-and-update-texmf">2.4.1 <code>texmf.cnf</code> and <code>update-texmf</code></h3>

<p>
The TeX binaries are built to look for and merge <code>texmf.cnf</code> files
in various trees.  That means that it is easy to override the default settings
as shipped in <code>/usr/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf</code> by adding entries
in <code>/etc/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf</code>.  The Debian packaging includes a
mechanism for constructing texmf.cnf from a collection of files under
<code>/etc/texmf/texmf.d/</code>.  To customize <code>texmf.cnf</code> while
retaining the Debian-supplied configuration, create an appropriate file (or
files) in <code>/etc/texmf/texmf.d/</code>, or change existing files, and then
run <code>update-texmf</code>.  This will generate the desired
<code>texmf.cnf</code> for you.  By default nothing is shipped in
<code>/etc/texmf/texmf.d/</code> since no adaptions are necessary, but further
addon packages might ship parts.
</p>

<p>
You may not edit the file <code>/etc/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf</code> directly, any
local changes will be overwritten the next time this file is generated.
</p>

<p>
Instead, please edit the files in <code>/etc/texmf/texmf.d</code>, or create an
additional one, and invoke <code>update-texmf</code>.  This will write your
changes into <code>/etc/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf</code>.
</p>

<p>
You should name your customization file something like
<code>40macros.cnf</code>; the leading numerals will decide the order in which
configuration fragments will be assembled by <code>update-texmf</code>, so it
might be important to place your customizations in an appropriate place in the
sequence &mdash; earlier definitions take precedence over later ones.  In
previous versions the extension <samp>.cnf</samp> was not necessary, and all
files in the directory were used.  If you had teTeX installed in woody, you
might still have private files which need the extension to be added.
</p>

<hr>

<h3 id="s2.4.2">2.4.2 <code>fmtutil.cnf</code> and <code>update-fmtutil</code>, <code>language.*</code> and <code>update-language</code></h3>

<p>
These files are also generated files, just as it has been explained above for
<code>texmf.cnf</code>.  The difference to <code>texmf.cnf</code> is that the
system-wide files will be put into <code>/var/lib/texmf/web2c</code>, and any
change made in these files will be <strong>unconditionally overwritten</strong>
by <code>update-fmtutil</code> and <code>update-language</code>, respectively.
Only the files in <code>/etc/texmf/fmt.d/</code> and
<code>/etc/texmf/hyphen.d/</code> will be treated as configuration files.
Furthermore, the files <code>fmtutil.cnf</code> and <code>language.*</code> are
used on a first-found-first-used basis, if there are more than one in the
search path, whereas if there are several <code>texmf.cnf</code> files in the
search path, their settings are combined as described in <a
href="#s-sec-user-config-files">Per user configuration changes, Section
2.4.4</a>.
</p>

<p>
Just as for <code>texmf.cnf</code>, the right way to change settings is to edit
or add files in <code>/etc/texmf/fmt.d/</code> or
<code>/etc/texmf/language.d/</code>.  The details have been described above
(see <a href="#s-sec-texmfcnf-and-update-texmf"><code>texmf.cnf</code> and
<code>update-texmf</code>, Section 2.4.1</a>).
</p>

<hr>

<h3 id="s2.4.3">2.4.3 <code>updmap.cfg</code></h3>

<p>
<code>updmap-sys(8)</code> reads <em>all</em> available <code>updmap.cfg</code>
files found, stacking them on top of each other.  That means that local
configurations can be done by editing/adding a file in
<code>/etc/texmf/web2c/updmap.cfg</code>.
</p>

<p>
<code>updmap-sys(8)</code> provides options for enabling or disabling font map
files.  When enabling a new map file that is not mentioned,
<code>updmap-sys</code> will create or edit
<code>/etc/texmf/web2c/updmap.cfg</code>.  Note that <code>updmap-sys</code>'s
<samp>--edit</samp> and <samp>--syncwithtrees</samp> options cannot be used on
a Debian system.
</p>

<p>
For more details on how to disable map files that are enabled on a higher
level, please see the man page and help output of <code>updmap</code>.
</p>

<hr>

<h3 id="s-sec-user-config-files">2.4.4 Per user configuration changes</h3>

<p>
<code>update-texmf</code> is only available for root; if a user wants to
maintain their own <code>texmf.cnf</code>, they can put it into
<samp><var>TEXMFCONFIG</var>/web2c</samp> and must manually edit it.  However,
in order for it to be found, they need to set an environment variable [<a
href="footnotes.html#f1" name="fr1">1</a>]:
</p>

<pre>
     export TEXMFCNF=$HOME/.texmf-config/web2c:
</pre>

<p>
The final colon includes the system wide default.  Since all
<code>texmf.cnf</code> files are read, with earlier definitions taking
precedence over later ones, it is best to keep only a minimal set of
definitions in the user-specific file.
</p>

<p>
In contrast to the above&mdash;TeX reading and merging all
<code>texmf.cnf</code> files&mdash;the <em>first</em> found occurrence of one
of the files <code>language.dat</code>, <code>fmtutil.cnf</code> is used.
Thus, when called by a user, the other configuration update programs also work
with files in <samp><var>TEXMFCONFIG</var>/fmt.d</samp> or
<samp><var>TEXMFCONFIG</var>/language.d</samp>, where <var>TEXMFCONFIG</var> is
usually <code><var>HOME</var>/.texmf-config</code>.  They combine files in
these directories with the files in the system-wide directories&mdash;naturally
the user-specific ones take precedence if the names are equal (see <a
href="ch4.html#s-sec-user-specific-installation">User-specific installation,
Section 4.4</a>) &mdash;and drop the respective generated file into the user's
<var>TEXMFVAR</var>, effectively overriding the system-wide config files.  Note
that changes to existing configuration file snippets made by package updates
will not be propagated to the user's files.
</p>

<p>
<code>updmap(1)</code> provides the same options for enabling and disabling map
files as <code>updmap-sys(8)</code>, see above.  <code>updmap.cfg</code> is
created or edited in <samp><var>TEXMFCONFIG</var>/web2c/</samp>.
</p>

<hr>

<h2 id="s2.5">2.5 Font caching</h2>

<p>
A TeX system needs to generate new font data (pixel data, metric, sources) on
the fly.  These files can be saved into the TeX font cache and later be reused.
By default, a separate font cache is created for each user in their own
<var>TEXMFVAR</var> directory (<code>$<var>HOME</var>/.texmf-var/</code>).  If
this directory is not writable, e.g.  during automated package building, a
directory called <var>VARTEXFONTS</var>, <code>/tmp/texfonts/</code>, is used
instead, but this directory is cleaned up regularly.
</p>

<p>
On multi-user machines, it might be advisable that the local administrator
enables a site-wide font cache and sets <var>VARTEXFONTS</var> to a persistent
directory, e.g.  <code>/var/cache/fonts</code>.  The variable can be changed by
adding an entry via <code>/etc/texmf/texmf.d</code>, e.g.
<code>/etc/texmf/texmf.d/00local.cnf</code>.  Do not forget to run
<code>update-texmf</code> after making the change.  To enable a side-wide font
caching the admin should edit <code>/etc/texmf/web2c/mktex.cnf</code> and use
'varfonts' instead of 'texmfvar' in <var>MT_FEATURES</var>.  Care should be
taken to specifiy appropriate permissions for the directory containing the font
cache.  Either the local admin should create all available font data and not
allow write access, or else write access should be limited to trusted users.
Yet an other alternative is to bind-mount <code>/var/cache/fonts</code> from a
separate partition, so that users are not able to fill up the <code>/var</code>
partition with font data.
</p>

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Debian-specific information about TeX packages
</p>

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