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ConTeXt support

Monday, 19 May 2008 05:31 by CSchenk

The ConTeXt package (context.tar.lzma) has been temporarily removed from the repository, but I will be bring it back asap.

More info: MiKTeX is not compatible with the latest CTAN version of ConTeXt. Symptom is: nothing happens when you run the texmfstart utility.

I had four options:

fix MiKTeX compatibility issues
distribute an older (Jan 08) ConTeXt version
remove ConTeXt from the repository
leave it as it is

I will try to fix the compatibility issues later this year. But for now, I have decided to remove ConTeXt from the distribution. Option 2 would not satisfy power users. And it seems to me that all ConTeXt users are power users.

You can download a minimal ConTeXt distribution based on TeX live from the ConTeXt web site. And it should be possible to run this side-by-side to MiKTeX.

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Tags:		context, repository
Categories:		MiKTeX Packaging
Actions:		E-mail \| Permalink \| Comments (15) \| Comment RSS

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Comments

May 21. 2008 19:44

It might be a good idea to simply remove ConTeXt from the MiKTeX support list forever, because most ConTeXt users do not use MiKTeX, or any other TeX release which grabs ConTeXt from CTAN.

instanton

May 22. 2008 03:56

Could the old version be added instead? It is fairly recent so the changes will not be that important.

Edwin

May 31. 2008 06:37

If you still want to run ConTeXt on MikTeX while it has been removed, you may create a file texmfstart.bat in C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7\miktex\bin with the content:

@echo off
ruby "C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7\scripts\context\ruby\texmfstart.rb" "%*"

and extract www.pragma-ade.com/context/current/cont-tmf.zip into C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7. Then, update filename database and generate formats, and everything should work again.

Mojca

Mojca

June 13. 2008 16:14

I’d think it would be safer to extract cont-tmf.zip into its own directory tree, and just add that TMF tree to the list MiKTeX knows about.

Do you know if anyone is running MiKTeX & ConTeXt together?

Joel C. Salomon

June 24. 2008 03:54

One can run both MikTeX and ConTeXt minimals without problem (that's what I did when I was still on Windows), but ConTeXt needs to be initialized at the beginning by running setuptex.

One can then run ConTeXt in one command line/terminal, and MikTeX's binaries in the other one.

Mojca

July 13. 2008 23:06

hi what's the status on this?

mohbana

September 11. 2008 19:03

Error encountered during pdfTeX compiling:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.9 (MiKTeX 2.7)
(preloaded format=pdflatex 2008.9.12) 12 SEP 2008 01:49
entering extended mode
...
...
...<C:/Program Files/MiKTeX 2.7/fonts/type1/arphic/gbsn00lp/gbsnlp21.pfb>
!pdfTeX error: pdflatex (file gbsnlp31.pfb): cannot open Type 1 font file for
reading
==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced!

Please help!

Thank you.

H.C. Liaw

Hwee Choo LIAW

September 22. 2008 03:00

All,

I would argue in the opposite direction on this Context issue. For a long time, Miktex has been a leader in introducing new users to the world of TeX. The package manager was a marvelous invention, greatly easing the burden on my students that are new to TeX.

It is true that the power users will use the latest version of Context, but it's not straightforward to install, particularly for users who are just entering the world of TeX. So I would argue that returning to a Context package that works is a plus.

At a minimum, can we at least get mptopdf working properly? The loss of this tool is a real handicap for my students.

David.

David Arnold

September 25. 2008 20:36

I have to side with David on that one.

mptopdf is an INDISPENSABLE tool for me!

I have successfully installed Miktex 2.7. I then created a Local TMF directory where I put the texmfstart.bat batch file and the contents of cont-tmf.zip. I then updated the filename database and generated the formats. So far so good.

My METAPOST file is work.mp.The command

mp work

generates a work.1 file. But then

mptopdf work.1 or
mptopdf work.mp

gives me all kinds of errors.

Ex:This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.9 (MiKTeX 2.7) (preloaded format=mptopdf 2008.9.25) 25 SEP 2008 13:39
entering extended mode
**work.1
(work.1 [MP to PDF]
! I can't find file `0'.
<to be read again>
\relax
\processMPfile ...vbox {\convertMPtoPDF {#1}{1}{1}
}\ifdim \wd 0<1in \message...
l.12 0
0 0 setrgbcolor 0 0.5 dtransform truncate idtransform setlinewidth pop
Please type another input file name:
("E:\MiKTeX 2.7\tex\latex\tools\.tex")
Runaway argument?
........

or

Ex;This is pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-1.40.9 (MiKTeX 2.7) (preloaded format=mptopdf 2008.9.25) 25 SEP 2008 13:51
entering extended mode
**work.mp
(work.mp [MP to PDF]
! I can't find file `verbatimtex'.
<to be read again>
\relax
\processMPfile ...vbox {\convertMPtoPDF {#1}{1}{1}
}\ifdim \wd 0<1in \message...
l.1 verbatimtex

Please type another input file name:
...........

Now I can't even use mp or mpost anymore! I get :

Ex: ! I can't find the file 'work'

This is not good! Frankly, unless I can find a fix quickly, I see no other solution than to install Miktex 2.6 and forego any new updates.

Lurch

Lurch

October 1. 2008 23:56

I had the same problem as Lurch, but I cannot reproduce it any more. I installed ConTeXt to a local tree with no spaces. It started working after that, but now I cannot reproduce the problem even if I deleted all the files that I have added to the PATH with no spaces.

And it should be

@echo off
ruby "C:\Program Files\MiKTeX 2.7\scripts\context\ruby\texmfstart.rb" %*

See http://wiki.contextgarden.net/MikTeX.

Mojca

November 6. 2008 14:39

You do not need to use mptopdf. Insert the following two lines between the end of etex and the beginning of beginfig(1);

filenametemplate "%j.mps";
prologues:=3;

then compile with:

mpost -tex=latex work.mp

You will get a work.mps file and if you want the pdf:

epstopdf work.mps

Many thanks to François Pétiard

Lurch

January 4. 2009 03:46

Any word yet of when CONTeXt will be brought back in? Personally, I think it would be far wiser to just include an older, compatible version than exclude it altogether.

Jeff Pratt

January 18. 2009 13:07

$pingback$