[XeTeX] XeTeX on Linux: TFM files not found and Type1 fonts not embedded

[Jonathan Kew]

On 5 Jul 2006, at 11:29 pm, Firmicus wrote:
>
> 1. XeTeX systematically fails to load tfm files, even though  
> "kpsewhich
> -progname=xetex cmsy10.tfm" for instance does point to the correct  
> path.
> Whenever TeX metric files are needed I have to circumvent this by
> creating symlinks in the working directory that point to the needed  
> TFMs.

You didn't give details of your Linux distro or how you installed  
xetex (from a binary package, or from source; using an install-xetex  
script or by hand), but one possibility is that you have not  
installed the xetex binary in the same location as other tex-related  
programs. This will affect what texmf.cnf file (if any) it finds when  
it runs, and therefore what search paths it uses.

Note that some Linux distros put tex binaries into something like / 
usr/bin or /usr/local/bin, and others follow a texlive-style  
arrangement with the binaries in a platform-specific directory under  
texmf/bin/.... and then put symlinks into /usr/bin or /usr/local/bin.  
It is important that you install the xetex binary in the same way,  
otherwise it will not find the same configuration.

You can see where binaries such as pdfetex are located by running

	ls -l `which pdfetex`

A simple `which pdfetex` will show what is found in your $PATH, but  
this may actually be a symlink; if so, the ls -l will show where that  
link points.

> 2. When using TeX fonts (mostly for math symbols), xetex, or rather
> xdvipdfmx, generates bitmaps from metafont instead of embedding the
> Type1 version which is actually available to dvips, pdflatex and
> dvipdfm(x). (The output of "kpsewhich -progname=xdvipdfmx t1fonts.map"
> on my system is
> /opt/texlive2005/texmf-var/fonts/map/dvipdfm/updmap/t1fonts.map.) I  
> have
> tried to run xelatex with option -no-pdf to produce the xdv and  
> then run
> xdvipdfmx with option -f pointing to the above mapfile, but to no  
> avail:
> the resulting pdf still contains bitmaps as before. Note that no such
> problem occurs on my system with dvips, dvipdfm or pdflatex.
>
> Can anyone running XeTeX on Linux confirm the above two problems?

The second problem could easily have the same cause as the first. So  
double-check locations of binaries, and if necessary move them to the  
appropriate place and create the necessary symlinks.

(Obviously, the packages I've made try to do this correctly, but if  
they didn't work right, or if you're using a different Linux distro  
and therefore had to build your own, then it's easy to get mixed up.)

HTH,   JK