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I'm trying like to build xelatex from xetex source on Linux.

Source link: http://scripts.sil.org/svn-view/xetex/TAGS/xetex-0.996.tar.gz

With the source I was able to build xetex executable. However I could not find the xelatex executable in the build output directory. Is there any specific option I need to use to tell the compiler to build xelatex executable as well.

I tried to browse on the net to check if there was any source available to compile xelatex on Unix. I was always getting pointed to xetex source.

user15341
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  • XeTeX is the binary, XeLaTeX is a XeTeX format file. While most systems do set up a 'wrapper' executable to allow you to do xelatex, this is essentially the same as xetex "&xelatex". So what you need to do is make the XeLaTeX format: have you set up the rest of your TeX system from source, or only built XeTeX? – Joseph Wright Jun 06 '12 at 08:16
  • I have built the complete xetex from the source. How do I make the XeLatex format. In the list of installed-xeted-files I have the following file /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/xelatex/config/xelatex.ini – user15341 Jun 06 '12 at 11:14
  • Can I execute the xetex binary to compile my Latex file to PDF?? I have a very basic understanding that xetex can compile TeX files while xelatex is required to compile Latex files – user15341 Jun 06 '12 at 11:28
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    you ducked joseph's question; his reasoning (i assume) was that since every distribution nowadays has xe(la)tex it's hard to understand your motivation in compiling xetex. having said which, i assume that xetex --ini latex.ltx would build the format for you. however, do answer joseph's question! ;-) – wasteofspace Jun 06 '12 at 12:01
  • To answer Joseph's question I have only built XeTex, sorry I ducked the question since I was not sure I understood the context completely. Now I get the context. – user15341 Jun 06 '12 at 16:22
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    I agree that most of the distribution has Xe(la)Tex application. Just to give you the background of why I'm trying to compile Xe(la)Tex from source, In my organization we have Redhat Linux servers with TexLive installed, which unfortunately doesn't have Xe(la)Tex. The problem is we don't have admin permissions on these servers to install any application. Since we have a specific requirement to use Xe(la)Tex, I'm trying to compile it from source and try to include the standalone Xe(la)Tex executable as part of the Texlive system so that I can use it for my requirement – user15341 Jun 06 '12 at 16:34
  • Just a note - that source from the sil.org page seems to be old; apparently the latest source is hosted under git on Sourceforge: SourceForge.net: XeTeX - Unicode-based TeX: SCM – sdaau Jun 17 '12 at 15:17
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    You can install TeX Live from TUG without the need of any admin permissions (you can install anywhere you like and then added its bin directory to your $PATH). – خالد حسني Aug 04 '13 at 09:32

1 Answers1

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XeTeX is the binary, XeLaTeX is a XeTeX format file. While most systems do set up a 'wrapper' executable to allow you to do xelatex, this is essentially the same as xetex "&xelatex". So what you need to do is make the XeLaTeX format, which requires the LaTeX sources (latex.ltx, etc.) plus xelatex.ini, which makes the necessary adjustments to the set up to deal with XeTeX being UTF-8.

Joseph Wright
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