Re: ConTeXt on NixOS

On Sat, Jul 18, 2026 at 22:40 (+0200), Hans Hagen wrote:

> On 7/18/2026 9:49 PM, Jim Diamond wrote:


>> so I think your statement "But you can actrually run plain with..." should
>> have been
>>       "But people whose system is configured correctly can actually run..."

> jims brain > mtxrun --script plain --make

---------------------------------------------------------------------

$ PATH=/usr/local/context/tex/texmf-linux-64/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:. 
$ export PATH
$ mtxrun --script plain --make 
resolvers       | globbing | confusing filename, name: blah^3
resolvers       | globbing | confusing filename, name: blah^3
resolvers       | globbing | confusing filename, name: blah^3
mtx-plain       | generating kpse file database
mtx-plain       | running command 'mktexlsr'

sh: line 1: mktexlsr: command not found
mtx-plain       | runtime 0.006 seconds
mtx-plain       | running command 'kpsewhich --var-value=TEXFORMATS --engine=luatex'
sh: line 1: kpsewhich: command not found
mtx-plain       | no valid path reported, trying alternative
mtx-plain       | no valid path reported, falling back to current path
mtx-plain       | running command 'luatex --ini luatex-plain.tex \dump'

warning: (kpathsea) /usr/local/context-mymods/tex/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf:49: (kpathsea) No cnf value on line: OSFONTDIR =.
This is LuaTeX, Version 1.25.9 (TeX Live 2027/dev)  (INITEX)
 system commands enabled.
! I can't find file `luatex-plain.tex'.
<*> luatex-plain.tex 
                     dump
(Press Enter to retry, or Control-D to exit)
Please type another input file name: 
! Emergency stop.
<*> 
    
!  ==> Fatal error occurred, bad output DVI file produced!
No pages of output.
Transcript written on texput.log.
mtx-plain       | runtime 5.041 seconds
mtx-plain       | generating kpse file database
mtx-plain       | running command 'mktexlsr'

sh: line 1: mktexlsr: command not found
mtx-plain       | runtime 5.044 seconds
mtx-plain       | format 'luatex-plain' saved on path '.'

---------------------------------------------------------------------

> but at least you didn't ask some llm,

I'm having too much fun (proof)reading Keith's noisy article to interact
with some annoying LLM.  And the editor gave me a deadline.  :-)

Besides, I have
/usr/local/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/generic/context/luatex/luatex-plain.tex
so I think mtxrun isn't trying hard enough.  If it won't look around, why
should the users?  Don't we have computers to do the heavy lifting for us?
:-)

                                Jim

P.S. Now, you are probably wondering why I didn't just give mtxrun the
location of that file.  But when I did, it said

--------------------------
...
Please type another input file name: /usr/local/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/generic/context/luatex/luatex-plain.tex

(/usr/local/context/tex/texmf-context/tex/generic/context/luatex/luatex-plain.t
ex (/home/zsd/tex/plain.tex Preloading the plain format: codes, registers,
parameters, fonts,
! Font \tenrm=cmr10 not loadable: metric data not found or bad.
<to be read again> 
                   \font 
l.401 \font
           \preloaded=cmr9
? 
--------------------------

and at some point I begin to wonder how deep the rabbit hole is.

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