fmtutil-sys

manage TeX formats and Metafont bases system-wide

TLDR

Rebuild all system formats

$ fmtutil-sys --all

Create only missing system formats

$ fmtutil-sys --missing

Rebuild the pdflatex format

$ fmtutil-sys --byfmt pdflatex

Rebuild formats for the pdftex engine

$ fmtutil-sys --byengine pdftex

List format configuration

$ fmtutil-sys --listcfg

SYNOPSIS

fmtutil-sys [OPTION]... [COMMAND]

fmtutil-sys is the system-wide form of fmtutil. It rebuilds TeX format files and Metafont bases into TEXMFSYSVAR (typically under the TeX Live tree), reading system configuration from trees such as TEXMFSYSCONFIG, TEXMFLOCAL, and TEXMFDIST.This is the recommended mode for almost every installation: package managers and tlmgr updates expect formats in the system location. Prefer fmtutil-sys over fmtutil-user unless you deliberately maintain private per-user formats.Exactly one command is required (--all, --missing, --byfmt, and so on). See fmtutil for the full option set; fmtutil-sys is equivalent to fmtutil --sys.

PARAMETERS

--all

Recreate all format files

--missing

Create all missing format files

--byfmt FORMAT

(Re)create format FORMAT

--byengine ENGINE

(Re)create formats built with ENGINE

--byhyphen HYPHENFILE

(Re)create formats that depend on HYPHENFILE

--refresh

Recreate only existing format files

--listcfg

List format configurations filtered to available formats

--enablefmt FORMAT[/ENGINE]

Enable FORMAT

--disablefmt FORMAT[/ENGINE]

Disable FORMAT

--cnffile FILE

Read alternate fmtutil.cnf (may be repeated)

--fmtdir DIR

Write formats under DIR

--dry-run, -n

Do not actually build formats

--quiet

Be silent

--version, --help

Show version or help and exit

INSTALL

sudo dnf install texlive

sudo apk add texlive

sudo zypper install texlive

brew install texlive

CAVEATS

Usually requires write access to the TeX Live system trees (root or the texlive admin account). If a user has previously run fmtutil-user, their TEXMFVAR formats still override system ones for that account until removed. Building --all can take several minutes.

HISTORY

Part of TeX Live's multi-fmtutil design; fmtutil-sys selects system trees the way updmap-sys does for font maps. See the TeX Live sys-vs-user documentation for migration details.

RESOURCES

Documentation · Homepage