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Installing Latex tex-live

Hello all,
I'm trying to install texlive-20091107-source. I've compiled the programs and installed them in a folder in my home. I ran texconfig and got it to rebuild the filename databases. However, when I try to use pdftex to turn a .tex file into a .pdf it says:

Code:

andy:~$ pdftex example1.tex

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.10 (Web2C 2009)



kpathsea: Running mktexfmt pdftex.fmt

I can't find the format file `pdftex.fmt'!

andy:~$

Googling on that led me to a pdftex manual.pfd which said I should generate the format files with

Code:

pdftex -ini -fmt=pdftex plain \\dump

However, when I try that I get:

Code:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.10 (Web2C 2009) (INITEX)

! I can't find file `plain'.

<*> plain 

          \dump

(Press Enter to retry, or Control-D to exit)

Please type another input file name:

So now I'm stuck, going round and round in circles. Can anyone point me in the right direction towards getting latex working please

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Benton (Post 4067158)

Hello all,
I'm trying to install texlive-20091107-source.
...
So now I'm stuck, going round and round in circles. Can anyone point me in the right direction towards getting latex working please

I happened to install texlive the day before yesterday. Well, I did it a much easier way than you, I just installed a ready binary package from the Ubuntu repository.

However, I was very surprised how much it configured during the installation.

I can only imagine how complicated the build process would be...

You don't mention in what distribution you were working. If you have access to Debian or a Debian based system like Ubuntu you could always build from the Debian source package and install. There you can see the whole process carried out in the correct order. Even if the available Debian package might be somewhat older than the one you are trying to build, chances are that the build and installation process has not drastically changed.

(Probably the same trick works for rpm based systems)