[tex-live] updmap.cfg query

[Rowland McDonnell]

>Rowland McDonnell <rjmmnet-lists at yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>
>> =============================
>> # Rowland's stuff:
>> Map local_extras.map
>> =============================
>>
>> [...]
>> To which updmap.cfg should I make my addition?
>
>Don't do this by hand. Your changes might be lost after the next
update.

Thank you for your answer.

But I suspect my changes won't be lost.

Two reasons: firstly, I've made careful installation notes and kept
copies of all modified files so that I can reproduce easily every step
of the work involved in installing and setting up MacTeX.

Secondly, I do not intend to update my TeX installation except by
installing the next version of MacTeX as and when it is released because
the TeX live guide does not give me confidence that I could use the
supplied update mechanisms with any success at all.  Nor does the the
file TeX Live Manager.pdf.  My queries relating to that are in a
different email.

(I tried texdoc tlmgr and that was even worse)

>Use
>
>  updmap-sys --enable Map=local_extras.map
>
>instead.

Okay.  But what does that do?  I read from updmap-sys --help that:

  --enable Map=MAPFILE      add MAPFILE as a Map

but that doesn't tell me very much.

I understand that the contents of the file specified as MAPFILE get
added to another file - but which file gets added to?  And is anything
else done?

(I've got a good idea what happens when I add a line to a config file
and then re-run the `Do it!' process, which is why I prefer to do this
job as I've described.  I can reproduce it any time I like since I've
got careful records.)

>> Is it still right to run updmap.sys after making the above 
>> modification?
>
>Should not be necessary in this case.

Righto - thanks.

>> And how could I have found the answer to those two questions myself?
>
>updmap-sys --help

Thanks for the pointer.

I've read the help text generated.  It does not tell *ME* that I should
use:

updmap-sys --enable Map=local_extras.map

for the job I have in mind.  Really it doesn't.

The reason for that is that the very terse help text is suitable only
for people already well-versed in the ways of tex-live and the Unix
command line.  Confused novices[1] like myself need slightly fuller
explanations that explain things clearly.

I realise that people have other priorities than this sort of fiddling
detail.

But I can say confidently that I'm finding it very hard indeed to learn
how to set up and manage MacTeX 2008 mostly because of the excessively
terse, fragmented, and partial documentation[2] - but it's better than
it used to be.

Thanks very much for your answer,
Rowland.

[1]  A novice with tex-live and the Unix command line, that is; I've
been using MacTeX for a few years now but I've never felt that I
understood how to manage the underlying TeX system.  But it's down to me
to learn how because my wife's got other things to worry about.

I'm a Mac user and so I'm slightly useless at the command line due to
being almost completely useless when it comes to understanding
Unix-style documentation.

(To explain the point of view of *this* user more fully: it's worse than
that: I'm pretty bad at working out how to use software from the GUI.  I
need reasonably complete user-friendly documentation, which is almost
entirely extinct these days.  I have been known to write my own
documentation, often with very little success.  I never did figure out
how to use fontinst, for example.)

[2]  Yes, yes, I KNOW I'm banging on about my usual hobby-horse, but
it's a point that needs making, I feel.  What needs most work in
tex-live generally is the documentation to make it more accessible.  Or
so I think.