Re: Weird Error on a New TeXLive Install on FreeBSD

    riya> internal error; cannot read font names

This error is given by xetex when it cannot initialize fontconfig.
Specifically (in Build/source/texk/web2c/xetexdir/XeTeXFontMgr_FC.cpp):

    macRomanConv = ucnv_open("macintosh", &err);
    utf16beConv = ucnv_open("UTF16BE", &err);
    utf8Conv = ucnv_open("UTF8", &err);
    if (err != 0) {
        fprintf(stderr, "internal error; cannot read font names\n");
        exit(3);
    }

So I suggest checking your fontconfig installation with the command
Peter gave (fc-cache -frv >/tmp/fonts.log) and whatever other fc-*
commands (I'm not terribly familiar with diagnosing fontconfig
problems).

Evidently it gives this error even when the font being looked up does
not require fontconfig. The standard TeX fonts that LaTeX loads, such as
cmr10[.tfm], do not use fontconfig lookups, even under xetex. The TeX
font directories do not need to be added to the fontconfig setup.

Using lua(la)tex as Peter suggests would be another "workaround".

Thanks,
Karl