Re: texworks crashes with a context mkiv example

> On 19 Mar 2026, at 09:04, Max Chernoff <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 2026-03-18 at 14:59 +0100, Bruno Voisin wrote:
> 
>> Thanks Max, after looking at that thread, if I understand correctly, it's:
>> 
>> mtxrun --generate -> create file database for luametatex
>> context --generate --luatex -> create file database for luatex
> 
> Yup. With the added note that tlmgr _used_ to run "context --generate
> --luatex", until I told Karl to switch to (the incorrect) "mtxrun
> --luatex --generate" a month ago.
> 
>> context --make -> create ltmx cont-en format
>> context --make --luatex -> create mkiv cont-en format
> 
> Also correct, but ConTeXt generally handles remaking its formats
> whenever needed, so you'll usually only need to manually run these
> commands if you've patched some core ConTeXt files or to fix a weird
> bug.
> 
>> And you've modified the tl scripts already to take that into account,
>> so the update should be offered by tlmgr tomorrow?
> 
> Karl beat me to answering this one, but correct again.


Hi Max (and Karl),

Many thanks. Everything works OK now (with one reservation about SyncTeX, see next message).

I've tested that by erasing my tl2026 setup, then reinstalling with the updated install-tl-20260319. Setup is the standard TL setup for macOS

TEXDIR = /usr/local/texlive/2026
TEXMFLOCAL = /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local
TEXMFSYSVAR = /usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-var
TEXMFSYSCONFIG = /usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-config
TEXMFVAR = ~/Library/texlive/2026/texmf-var
TEXMFCONFIG = ~/Library/texlive/2026/texmf-config
TEXMFHOME = ~/Library/texmf

Prior to the install, I deleted /usr/local/texlive/2026 and ~/Library/texlive/2026 (but let ~/Library/texlive into place, which contains a 2025 subdir for TL 2025).

install-tl installed everything in 35 minutes, running

setting up ConTeXt caches:
[09:36:10] running mtxrun --generate ...done
[09:36:16] running context --generate --luatex ...done

at the end, which created file databases in

/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-var/luametatex-cache
/usr/local/texlive/2026/texmf-var/luatex-cache

The output was tested using identical files example-lmtx.tex and example-mkiv.tex, containing Luigi Scarso's example

%%
\setuppapersize[A5][A4,landscape]
\setuparranging[2UP]
\starttext
\dorecurse{4}{
\input knuth
\page
}
\stoptext
%%

Running "context --luatex example-mkiv.tex" created file databases and cont-en.fmt in ~/Library/texlive/2026/texmf-var/luatex-cache, and produced example-mkiv.pdf with

mkiv lua stats  > used config file: selfautoparent:/texmfcnf.lua;selfautoparent:/texmf-dist/web2c/texmfcnf.lua
mkiv lua stats  > used cache path: readable+writable: '/Users/brunovoisin/Library/texlive/2026/texmf-var/luatex-cache/context/a86c089b384a3076dc514ba966a1fac9'
mkiv lua stats  > resource resolver: loadtime 0.076 seconds, 1 scans with scantime 0.000 seconds, 0 shared scans, 18 found files, scanned paths: /Users/brunovoisin/Library/texmf
mkiv lua stats  > stored bytecode data: 459 modules (0.169 sec), 96 tables (0.006 sec), 555 chunks (0.176 sec)
mkiv lua stats  > traced context lua functions: maxstack: 1442, freed: 0, unreachable: 1442
mkiv lua stats  > cleaned up reserved nodes: 58 nodes, 9 lists of 442
mkiv lua stats  > node memory usage: 17 attribute, 6 attribute_list, 2 glue, 51 glue_spec, 3 kern, 4 penalty, 2 temp, 2 user_defined
mkiv lua stats  > node list callback tasks: 8 unique task lists, 7 instances (re)created, 262 calls
mkiv lua stats  > used backend: pdf (backend for directly generating pdf output)
mkiv lua stats  > jobdata time: 0.001 seconds saving, 0.000 seconds loading
mkiv lua stats  > callbacks: internal: 614, file: 252, direct: 5, late: 4, function 623, total: 1498 (300 per page)
mkiv lua stats  > randomizer: resumed with value 0.22137663699687
mkiv lua stats  > loaded tex modules: 1 requested, all found (*-texlive)
mkiv lua stats  > result saved in file: example-mkiv.pdf, compresslevel 3, objectcompresslevel 1
mkiv lua stats  > loaded patterns: en::1, load time: 0.000
mkiv lua stats  > loaded fonts: 2 files: latinmodern-math.otf, lmroman12-regular.otf
mkiv lua stats  > font engine: otf 3.150, afm 1.541, tfm 1.000, 7 instances, 3 shared in backend, 3 common vectors, 0 common hashes, load time 0.087 seconds  mkiv lua stats  > used platform: osx-arm, type: unix, binary subtree: bin
mkiv lua stats  > used engine: luatex version: 1.24, functionality level: 7724, banner: this is luatex, version 1.24.0 (tex live 2026)
mkiv lua stats  > used hash slots: 49550 of 65536 + 250000
mkiv lua stats  > lua properties: engine: lua 5.3, used memory: 164 MB, ctx: 164 MB, max: unknown MB, hash chars: min(64,40), symbol mask: utf (τεχ)
mkiv lua stats  > runtime: 0.344 seconds, 4 processed pages, 4 shipped pages, 11.628 pages/second
system          | total runtime: 8.439 seconds

Running "context example-lmtx.tex" created file databases and cont-en.fmt in ~/Library/texlive/2026/texmf-var/luametatex-cache, and produced example-lmtx.pdf with

mkxl run stats  > used config file: selfautoparent:/texmfcnf.lua;selfautoparent:/texmf-dist/web2c/texmfcnf.lua
mkxl run stats  > used cache path: readable+writable: '/Users/brunovoisin/Library/texlive/2026/texmf-var/luametatex-cache/context/a86c089b384a3076dc514ba966a1fac9'
mkxl run stats  > resource resolver: loadtime 0.068 seconds, 1 scans with scantime 0.001 seconds, 0 shared scans, 18 found files, scanned paths: /Users/brunovoisin/Library/texmf
mkxl run stats  > stored bytecode data: 532 modules (0.192 sec), 106 tables (0.006 sec), 638 chunks (0.198 sec)
mkxl run stats  > traced context lua functions: maxstack: 1897, freed: 0, unreachable: 1897
mkxl run stats  > cleaned up reserved nodes: 76 nodes, 7 lists of 445
mkxl run stats  > node memory usage: 12 attribute, 6 attributelist, 6 fontspec, 2 glue, 135 gluespec, 1 kern, 661 mathspec, 4 penalty, 49 specification, 2 temp
mkxl run stats  > node list callback tasks: 17 unique task lists, 10 instances (re)created, 268 calls
mkxl run stats  > used backend: pdf
mkxl run stats  > randomizer: resumed with value 0.70207292257255427
mkxl run stats  > jobdata time: 0.000 seconds saving, 0.000 seconds loading
mkxl run stats  > callbacks: file: 226, saved: 320, direct: 6, function: 746, value: 428, message: 0, bytecode: 638, late 0, total: 2364 (473 per page)
mkxl run stats  > loaded tex modules: 1 requested, all found (*-texlive)
mkxl run stats  > loaded patterns: en::1, load time: 0.000
mkxl run stats  > loaded fonts: 3 files: latinmodernmathcompanion-regular.otf, latinmodern-math.otf, lmroman10-regular.otf
mkxl run stats  > font engine: otf 3.150, afm 1.541, tfm 1.000, 5 instances, 2 shared in backend, 2 common vectors, 0 common hashes, load time 0.047 seconds  mkxl run stats  > math tweaking time: 0.017 seconds, 6 math goodie tables
mkxl run stats  > font embedding time: 0.001 seconds, 2 fonts
mkxl run stats  > result saved in file: example-lmtx.pdf, compresslevel 1, objectcompresslevel 3, 14 streams, 0 uncompressed, 10 compressed, 4 not compressed, threshold 40
mkxl run stats  > positions: 4 collected, 0 deltas, 0 shared partials, 0 partial entries
mkxl run stats  > used platform: osx-arm, type: unix, binary subtree: bin
mkxl run stats  > used engine: luametatex version: 2.11.08, functionality level: 20260217, format id: 729, memory mode: 1, compiler: clang
mkxl run stats  > tex properties: 495862 hash slots used of 2097152, 53916 control sequences, approximate memory usage: 113 MB
mkxl run stats  > lua properties: engine: lua 5.5, format 5, used memory: 84 MB, ctx: 80 MB, max: 98 MB, symbol mask: utf (τεχ)
mkxl run stats  > runtime: 0.286 seconds, 4 processed pages, 4 shipped pages, 14.010 pages/second
system          | total runtime: 6.138 seconds of 6.263 seconds

After that: 

% pdfinfo example-mkiv.pdf                                                                                                          
Title:          example-mkiv
Creator:        LuaTeX 1.24 7724 + ConTeXt MkIV 2026.02.19 11:49
Producer:       LuaTeX-1.24
CreationDate:   Thu Mar 19 09:46:52 2026
ModDate:        Thu Mar 19 09:46:52 2026
Tagged:         no
Form:           none
Pages:          2
Encrypted:      no
Page size:      841.89 x 595.276 pts (A4) (rotated 0 degrees)
File size:      14967 bytes
Optimized:      no
JavaScript:     no
PDF version:    1.7

% pdfinfo example-lmtx.pdf
Title:          example-lmtx
Creator:        LuaMetaTeX 2.11.08 20260217 + ConTeXt LMTX 2026.02.19 11:49
Producer:       LuaMetaTeX
CreationDate:   Thu Mar 19 09:50:21 2026
ModDate:        Thu Mar 19 09:50:21 2026
Tagged:         no
Form:           none
Pages:          2
Encrypted:      no
Page size:      841.89 x 595.276 pts (A4) (rotated 0 degrees)
File size:      16138 bytes
Optimized:      no
JavaScript:     no
PDF version:    1.7

It's so nice when things just work! Many thanks to Karl and you for this.

Bruno