Re: local.tex file

> I saw in a book or on a website somewhere that the system adminstrator
> should create a local.tex file whenever LaTeX is installed. I was
> wondering if there is a boilerplate or template file to guide me in
> creating the local.tex file? I couldn't find any local.tex file after
> unpacking the tetex distribution. 

local.tex was a fantasy of lamport's.  i have never seen a complete one,
even on systems that i've managed myself, over the years.

there's lots of documentation in a tetex system, but not a lamportian
"local guide".  look at the README and the like that come with the tetex
distribution.

> Also, I was wondering why there are no Russian hyphenation files
> included (even if commented out) in the
> texmf/source/latex/local/language.dat file? 

who knows?  what version of tetex are you using? -- there's an entry of
some sort in all three tetex distributions i've access to at the moment,
but none of them is at the location you mention.