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I installed LaTex on my computer that runs Parabola which is very similiar to Arch, by the following command: sudo pacman -S texlive-most. During the installation I remember that this error appeared on the screen: error: command failed to execute correctly. To check that LaTex works I created the file test.tex:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}
    dfvlkmdfv
\end{document}

I typed pdflatex test.tex, but that didn't work well. The result was:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.21 (TeX Live 2020/Parabola GNU/Linux-libre) (preloaded format=pdflatex)
 restricted \write18 enabled.

kpathsea: Running mktexfmt pdflatex.fmt
mktexfmt: mktexfmt is using the following fmtutil.cnf files (in precedence order):
mktexfmt: mktexfmt is using the following fmtutil.cnf file for writing changes:
mktexfmt:   /home/michael/.texlive/texmf-config/web2c/fmtutil.cnf
mktexfmt [INFO]: writing formats under /home/michael/.texlive/texmf-var/web2c
mktexfmt [INFO]: did not find entry for byfmt=pdflatex, skipped
mktexfmt [INFO]: Total formats: 0
mktexfmt [INFO]: exiting with status 0
I can't find the format file `pdflatex.fmt'!

I tried to do sudo texconfig rehash, as advised here: Error: I can't find the format file pdflatex.fmt but it didn't work, I got: /usr/bin/texconfig: line 1304: mktexlsr: command not found. So do you have any suggestions?

Michael Novak
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    is /home/michael/.texlive/texmf-config/web2c/fmtutil.cnf new or is it an old config from a previous installation hanging around and messing things up? if you are installing it system wide with sudo I wouldn't expect it to be using ~michael/.texlive at all – David Carlisle Jul 04 '20 at 15:45
  • I don't have /home/michael/.texlive/texmf-config/web2c/fmtutil.cnf. In /home/michael/.texlive, I have only one directory named texmf-var and inside it there's another directory named web2c which is empty. This installation is entirely new, I didn't installed LaTex on this new Parabola install before. – Michael Novak Jul 04 '20 at 15:54
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    I can't help a lot: I haven't used a linux-packaged texlive for some years, with the upstream texlive from tug fmtutil.cnf would be here /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/web2c/fmtutil.cnf in a system wide installation (with most things under /usr/local/texlive/2020) – David Carlisle Jul 04 '20 at 15:57
  • I don't have this /usr/local/texlive directory. Is that normal? – Michael Novak Jul 04 '20 at 16:05
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    yes linux packaged texlive usually ends up in /usr/bin and /usr/lib etc, but an upstream texlive installs in /usr/local/texlive always (then you have to add it to the PATH by hand) but the basic layout below the installation root is usually the same so for me article.cls is /usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls – David Carlisle Jul 04 '20 at 16:18
  • @DavidCarlisle Honestly I don't really understand how texlive works and everything you are saying, I just want it to work. So yeah, if you or someone else have any suggestions on what I should do that would really help me. – Michael Novak Jul 04 '20 at 16:26
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    I haven't used arch-packaged texlive for some time (vanilla is easier) but have you checked that texlive-most should actually contain the file mktexlsr? Maybe check which package does. – TeXnician Jul 04 '20 at 21:27

0 Answers0