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.TH INITEX 1 "27 December 1992" .\"===================================================================== .if t .ds TX \fRT\\h'-0.1667m'\\v'0.20v'E\\v'-0.20v'\\h'-0.125m'X\fP .if n .ds TX TeX .ie t .ds OX \fIT\v'+0.25m'E\v'-0.25m'X\fP\" for troff .el .ds OX TeX\" for nroff .\" the same but obliqued .\" BX definition must follow TX so BX can use TX .if t .ds BX \fRB\s-2IB\s0\fP\*(TX .if n .ds BX BibTeX .\" LX definition must follow TX so LX can use TX .if t .ds LX \fRL\\h'-0.36m'\\v'-0.15v'\s-2A\s0\\h'-0.15m'\\v'0.15v'\fP\*(TX .if n .ds LX LaTeX .\"===================================================================== .SH NAME initex \- initial TeX for making format (.fmt) files .SH DESCRIPTION .B initex is a special version of the \*(TX program that has no preloaded macro packages, but is capable of converting a macro package into a special preformatted binary file, called a .I format .RI ( .fmt ) file. That format file can subsequently be read at high speed by .BR virtex . .PP Major macro packages may require \*(TX to process many thousands of lines of macros, and open and read scores of font files, all of which would contribute to a sizable startup overhead if the job had to be done every time \*(TX was run. .B initex allows \*(TX to do the job once, and then save the results in a binary format file that can be later loaded more rapidly by .BR virtex . .PP .B initex is normally required only at the time \*(TX is installed, or whenever major macro packages are updated. Thus, it will be rare for anyone but system installers to invoke it. Nevertheless, it is just a normal program without special privileges, so ordinary users can use it to prepare a private format file. .PP Here is how you can ask .B initex to prepare format files for several major packages: .PP For plain .BR tex : .RS .nf .I "initex 'plain \\\\dump'" .I "mv plain.fmt tex.fmt" .fi The single quotes are necessary to protect the backslash from interpretation as a Unix shell escape character. .RE .PP For .BR amstex : .RS .nf .I "initex '&tex amstex \\\\dump'" .fi The single quotes around the first argument protect the ampersand from interpretation as a Unix shell background request. .RE .PP For .BR etex : .RS .nf .I "initex '&tex eplain \\\\dump'" .I "mv eplain.fmt etex.fmt" .fi .RE .PP For .BR lamstex : .RS .nf .I "initex '&tex amstexl \\\\input lamstex \\\\dump'" .I "mv amstexl.fmt lamstex.fmt" .fi .RE .PP For .BR latex : .RS .nf .I "initex 'lplain \\\\dump'" .I "mv lplain.fmt latex.fmt" .fi .RE .PP For .BR slitex : .RS .nf .I "initex 'splain \\\\dump'" .I "mv splain.fmt slitex.fmt" .fi .RE .PP For .BR texinfo : .RS .nf .I "initex '&tex texinfo @dump'" .fi The last argument is different from the previous examples because .B texinfo redefines the \*(TX escape character from backslash to at-sign. As for .BR amstex , the file .I tex.fmt must already be available. .RE .PP Note that several of these require that the format file for plain \*(TX be available, since the first argument word .I &tex asks for the loading of the file .IR tex.fmt . .PP It does not matter whether the command-line arguments are passed as a single argument, or as separate arguments, since \*(TX reconstructs the command line anyway. .\"===================================================================== .SH "SEE ALSO" .BR amslatex (1), .BR amstex (1), .BR lamstex (1), .BR latex (1), .BR slitex (1), .BR tex (1), .BR virtex (1).
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