[metafont] Re: [metapost] TeX and MF: Fast-loading of core image

[Laurence Finston]

On Wed, 5 Jan 2005, Bertram Scharpf wrote:

>
> what's so wrong with _METAFONTbook_, p. 221: execute `inimf'
> and say `dump' instead of `end'?
>
> Maybe I misunderstood your problem.
>

There are two issues involved:  Dumping to create a fast-loading format
file and dumping core in order to avoid costly initialization each time
one starts the program.  These are two different kinds of dumping.
I've never done the first kind with INIMF, but it's no problem with
INITEX.

I didn't consider the fact that it is possible to load the source for a
format before dumping core, although this seems to have been done in
the past, if I've understood what people have said correctly.

Laurence