"mtxrun --script fonts --reload" hangs when loading "LXGWNeoXiHei.ttf"

Hi Hans,

Someone reported the following issue to the TeX Live list earlier today:

    From: Rolf Niepraschk <[email protected]>
    To: TeX Live <[email protected]>
    Subject: Cannot generate "font names database"
    Date: 2026-03-24 04:51:34 PM
    Message-Id: <[email protected]>

    I installed TeX Live 2026 (schema full). The first lualatex test failed
    to complete the generation of the "Font names database". The subsequent
    command

    luaotfload-tool --update --force -vvv

    stalled (using 100% CPU) at

    ...
    luaotfload | db : Loading font
    /usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-dist/fonts/opentype/public/helmholtz-ellis-ji-notation/HEJI2Text.otfluaotfload
    > db : Invalid names table of font HEJI2Text.otf, using dummies.
    Reported: fontname="nil", fullname="nil".
    luaotfload | db : Loading font
    /usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-dist/fonts/truetype/public/lxgw-fonts/LXGWNeoXiHei.ttf

    After temporarily removing the font files with

    mv /usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-dist/fonts/truetype/public/lxgw-fonts /tmp/

    was the problem resolved. I'm working under Linux (32GB RAM).

I'm seeing the exact same results in ConTeXt too:

    $ mtxrun --script fonts --reload
    fonts           | names | warnings are disabled (tracker 'fonts.warnings')
    fonts           | names | identifying tree font files with suffix 'otf'
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/home/max/texmf' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 0 otf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-var' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 0 otf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/../texmf-local' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 0 otf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-dist' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 2302 otf files checked, 2302 okay
    fonts           | names | identifying tree font files with suffix 'OTF'
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/home/max/texmf' for OTF files
    fonts           | names | 0 OTF files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-var' for OTF files
    fonts           | names | 0 OTF files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/../texmf-local' for OTF files
    fonts           | names | 0 OTF files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-dist' for OTF files
    fonts           | names | 2302 OTF files checked, 2302 okay
    fonts           | names | 4604 tree files identified, 10 skipped, 10 duplicates, 4594 hash entries added, runtime 1.775 seconds
    fonts           | names | identifying tree font files with suffix 'ttf'
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/home/max/texmf' for ttf files
    fonts           | names | 0 ttf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-var' for ttf files
    fonts           | names | 0 ttf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/../texmf-local' for ttf files
    fonts           | names | 0 ttf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-dist' for ttf files
    otf reader      | bad 'vmtx' table in file 'LXGWNeoXiHei.ttf'

I'm also able to reproduce this with the Standalone Distribution:

    $ wget 'https://mirrors.ctan.org/fonts/lxgw-fonts/LXGWNeoXiHei.ttf'
    $ export OSFONTDIR=.
    $ mtxrun --script fonts --reload
    fonts           | names | warnings are disabled (tracker 'fonts.warnings')
    fonts           | names | identifying tree font files with suffix 'otf'
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/home/max/texmf' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 0 otf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/opt/context/tex/texmf-project' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 0 otf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/opt/context/tex/texmf-fonts' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 0 otf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/opt/context/tex/texmf-local' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 0 otf files checked, 0 okay
    fonts           | names | scanning path '/opt/context/tex/texmf-modules' for otf files
    fonts           | names | 12 otf files checked, 12 okay
    [...]
    fonts           | names | identifying system font files with suffix 'otf'
    fonts           | names | variable 'OSFONTDIR' specifies path '.'
    fonts           | names | globbing path './**.otf'
    fonts           | names | identifying system font files with suffix 'OTF'
    fonts           | names | globbing path './**.OTF'
    fonts           | names | 0 system files identified, 0 skipped, 0 duplicates, 0 hash entries added, runtime 0.000 seconds
    fonts           | names | identifying system font files with suffix 'ttf'
    fonts           | names | globbing path './**.ttf'
    otf reader      | bad 'vmtx' table in file 'LXGWNeoXiHei.ttf'

Even if it's the font itself that's buggy/broken, I'd argue that ConTeXt
shouldn't enter an infinite loop when trying to load it.

Thanks,
-- Max
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