fmex font not found Texlive 2017 (mac)

Question

On a fresh installation of Texlive 2017 on OSX Sierra I'm getting the error

2017/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmsy9.pfb>
!pdfTeX error: /Library/TeX/texbin/pdflatex (file fmex9.pfb): cannot open Type 
1 font file for reading
 ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!

Here is a minimal example:

\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{amssymb}

\begin{document}

\small

$$\left( 1 + \beta  |o|^2|\right)^{\frac{1}{2}}$$

\end{document}

The error is caused by \usepackage{amssymb} (which I need). Removing \usepackage{amssymb} produces the correct output.

Can anyone help?

Complete transcript:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.18 (TeX Live 2017) (preloaded format=pdflatex 2017.6.8)  19 JUL 2017 03:03
entering extended mode
 restricted \write18 enabled.
 %&-line parsing enabled.
**untitled
(./untitled.tex
LaTeX2e <2017-04-15>
Babel <3.10> and hyphenation patterns for 84 language(s) loaded.
(/usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2014/09/29 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo
File: size10.clo 2014/09/29 v1.4h Standard LaTeX file (size option)
)
\c@part=\count79
\c@section=\count80
\c@subsection=\count81
\c@subsubsection=\count82
\c@paragraph=\count83
\c@subparagraph=\count84
\c@figure=\count85
\c@table=\count86
\abovecaptionskip=\skip41
\belowcaptionskip=\skip42
\bibindent=\dimen102
)
(/usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/tex/latex/amsfonts/amssymb.sty
Package: amssymb 2013/01/14 v3.01 AMS font symbols

(/usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/tex/latex/amsfonts/amsfonts.sty
Package: amsfonts 2013/01/14 v3.01 Basic AMSFonts support
\@emptytoks=\toks14
\symAMSa=\mathgroup4
\symAMSb=\mathgroup5
LaTeX Font Info:    Overwriting math alphabet `\mathfrak' in version `bold'
(Font)                  U/euf/m/n --> U/euf/b/n on input line 106.
))
(./untitled.aux)
\openout1 = `untitled.aux'.

LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OML/cmm/m/it on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for T1/cmr/m/n on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OT1/cmr/m/n on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OMS/cmsy/m/n on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OMX/cmex/m/n on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for U/cmr/m/n on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 5.
LaTeX Font Info:    Try loading font information for U+msa on input line 9.
 (/usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/tex/latex/amsfonts/umsa.fd
File: umsa.fd 2013/01/14 v3.01 AMS symbols A
)
LaTeX Font Info:    Try loading font information for U+msb on input line 9.
 (/usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/tex/latex/amsfonts/umsb.fd
File: umsb.fd 2013/01/14 v3.01 AMS symbols B
) [1

{/Users/mamdg/Library/texmf/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}] (./untitled.au
x) ) 
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
 513 strings out of 492995
 5621 string characters out of 6132705
 54257 words of memory out of 5000000
 4124 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
 7387 words of font info for 29 fonts, out of 8000000 for 9000
 1141 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
 25i,4n,26p,134b,115s stack positions out of 5000i,500n,10000p,200000b,80000s
</usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmmi9.pf
b></usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr10.pfb>
</usr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr5.pfb></u
sr/local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr6.pfb></usr/
local/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr9.pfb></usr/loc
al/texlive/2017/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmsy9.pfb>
!pdfTeX error: pdflatex (file fmex9.pfb): cannot open Type 1 font file for read
ing
 ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!

I don't recognise that font name, it isn't amssymb that is using it — David Carlisle, Jul 18 '17 at 22:17
Searching CTAN for fmex* gives no hit. A minimal example of code is needed. — egreg, Jul 18 '17 at 22:23
How are you compiling this? From an editor or from the command line? What happens if you compile from the command line? — Alan Munn, Jul 18 '17 at 23:05
No, wait: the name of the font should be cmex9, not fmex9. — GuM, Jul 18 '17 at 23:08
Unrelated, but remember never to use $$...$$ in LaTeX: use \[...\] instead. — GuM, Jul 18 '17 at 23:11
@AlunMunn: From TexShop. Amazingly, it compiles ok from the command line, but I really need it to work from TexShop — user139485, Jul 18 '17 at 23:14
@GuM: The output is pasted exactly as in the log. It says "fmex", not "cmex". — user139485, Jul 18 '17 at 23:15
@AlunMunn: Correction: Same error from the command line (I compiled the wrong file, sorry) — user139485, Jul 18 '17 at 23:22
Could you post the full transcript file that you get from your MWE? It should be just 86 lines long. — GuM, Jul 18 '17 at 23:30
I think there's something wrong with your map file. Try from the terminal sudo updmap-sys --syncwithtrees. Have you ever tried to install fonts yourself and used updmap? — Alan Munn, Jul 18 '17 at 23:38
@AlanMunn: Indeed, what I wanted to check in the transcript file was exactly where the pdftex.map file was read from. — GuM, Jul 18 '17 at 23:42
Possibly related: Why shouldn't I use getnonfreefonts to install additional fonts? Why shouldn't I use updmap when installing or removing fonts? — Alan Munn, Jul 18 '17 at 23:43
@AlanMunn: The installation is completely fresh, I have never installed fonts or used updmap. The command you suggested has no effect. I've added the full transcript file to my question. — user139485, Jul 19 '17 at 01:02
Well at some point, you or someone has, since you have a local .map file which is causing the problems (this is what your log file shows). Follow the "If you read this too late" section of the question I linked to above. — Alan Munn, Jul 19 '17 at 01:22
Thank you @AlanMunn - the problem was indeed a local .map file which was seems to have been just copied from my old machine. I guess I ran updmap on the old machine some time in the past. — user139485, Jul 19 '17 at 01:51

Alan Munn · Answer 1 · 2017-07-19T04:24:42.570

The problem is indicative of having a local .map file, and the log file output confirms this:

/Users/mamdg/Library/texmf/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map

This file is in your local texmf folder, and it should not be. A detailed solution to this problem can be found in the "If you read this too late" section of the answer to the following question, which also explains what the problem is in great detail.

Why shouldn't I use getnonfreefonts to install additional fonts? Why shouldn't I use updmap when installing or removing fonts?

fmex font not found Texlive 2017 (mac)

1 Answers1