TEXMFSTART(1)							      ConTeXt							     TEXMFSTART(1)

NAME

       texmfstart - run ConTeXt scripts, make ConTeXt wrapper scripts, view documents

SYNOPSIS

	texmfstart [ options ... ] [ filename ] [ arguments ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       ConTeXt	is  a  typesetting  system  based  on the tex(1) family of programs.  texmfstart is a ConTeXt meta-script that can run subordinate
       scripts (subscripts?) such as texexec(1), ctxtools(1), or pdftools(1).  It can also generate short wrapper scripts to simplify common uses.
       These  scripts  are  often  called  stubs  in the ConTeXt documentation.  The options control texmfstart's behaviour, and the arguments are
       passed to the program identified by filename.

       If the filename is a document, then texmfstart will start a viewer for that document.  For example:
	  texmfstart showcase.pdf
       will start an appropriate viewer for showcase.pdf.  See the EXAMPLES section.

OPTIONS

   General:
       --help, --version
	      print version information, usage, and examples.

       --verbose
	      print status and progress information, for example what commands are being executed.

       --clear
	      don't pass info about locations to child processes.

   Running a program:
       --arguments=str
	      an alternative for providing the arguments to be passed.	For example,
		 texmfstart --arguments=b.tex texexec
	      will pass b.tex as the argument to texexec.

       --report
	      dry run: report what command would be run, but do not run it

       --locate
	      dry run: like --report but doesn't print the trailing newline.

       --browser
	      view the document in a web browser (for Windows).

       --file=filename
	      an alternative way to specify the file (the program to run or document to open).

       --direct
	      run a program without searching for its location (assumes that the program is on the PATH).

       --execute
	      use the ruby(1) exec function instead of its system function.

       --program=str
	      the program space where kpsewhich(1) will search (default: context).  This information  is  given  to  kpsewhich	as  its  -progname
	      option.  Usually you don't need this option.

   Creating startup scripts:
       --make create  a  wrapper script or batch file to run the given file.  The wrapper scripts are put in the current path, which usually means
	      the current directory.  If all is given as the file, e.g.
		 texmfstart --make all
	      then make all the ConTeXt wrapper scripts (the stubs).

       --windows
	      when making a wrapper script (stub), create a Windows batch (.bat) file.	Usually you do not need to specify this option, as texmfs-
	      tart will figure out what operating system you are using.

       --linux
	      when making a wrapper script, create a Unix shell script.  Usually you do not need to specify this option, as texmfstart will figure
	      out what operating system you are using.

       --stubpath=path
	      specify where to put the wrapper scripts (stubs).

       --indirect
	      always use texmfstart in the wrapper script (stub).

   Document viewing:
       --page=number
	      open the document at this page.

   Environments and paths:
       --path=str
	      change to the specified path.

       --tree=str
	      use the given TEXMF tree.

       --autotree
	      automatically determine the TEXMF tree to use (the default).

       --environment=str
	      use the given environment file.  Its syntax is given in the mtexmfstart.pdf manual.

       --showenv
	      print the environment variables known at runtime

   Conditional execution:
       --iftouched=file1,file2
	      run only when the given files have different timestamps.

       --ifchanged=str
	      run only when the given file has changed (based on its last-computed MD5 checksum).

   Special features:
       --edit open the given file in an editor.

FILENAME PREFIXES

   Optional prefixes determine the method used to search for the specified file:
       bin:filename
	      expanded name based on the PATH environment variable

       kpse:filename
	      expanded name based on kpsewhich(1) result

       rel:filename
	      expanded name relative to the current directory

       env:name
	      expanded pathname based on environment variable name

       path:filename
	      path part of filename as located by kpsewhich(1)

EXAMPLES

       texmfstart texexec.rb file.tex
	      Locate the texexec.rb script and run it with file.tex as its argument.  In other words, make file.pdf from file.tex.  If	texexec(1)
	      is properly installed on your system, this common invocation can be shortened to
		 texexec file.tex

       texmfstart texexec file.tex
	      Locate the texexec(1) program (currently a ruby(1) script, texexec.rb) and run it with file.tex as its argument, producing file.pdf.
	      This invocation can be shortened to
		 texexec file.tex

       texmfstart ctxtools --updatecontext
	      Run the ctxtools(1) script, updating the ConTeXt installation.  This invocation is equivalent to
		 ctxtools --updatecontext

       texmfstart pstopdf --method=3 cow.eps
	      Convert cow.eps to PDF using method 3 of pstopdf(1).  This invocation is equivalent to
		 pstopdf --method=3 cow.eps

       texmfstart --make --stubpath=/usr/local/bin texexec
	      Make a wrapper script (stub), either a shell script /usr/local/bin/texexec on Unix, or a batch  file  usrlocalin	exexec.bat	on
	      Windows.	On Unix (and maybe on Windows?), you need to make the script executable; see chmod(1).

       texmfstart --edit kpse:cont-sys.tex
	      Locate and edit the cont-sys.tex configuration file.

       texmfstart --ifchanged=whatever.mp texexec --mpgraphic whatever.mp
	      Rerun texexec if whatever.mp has changed since the last use of --ifchanged.

       texmfstart --ifchanged=whatever.mp bin:echo rerun MetaPost
	      If the whatever.mp source file has changed since the last use of --ifchanged, then use the echo(1) command to tell the user to rerun
	      MetaPost (see mpost(1)).	This example shows that texmfstart can be used to run any script, not just ConTeXt scripts.  The bin: pre-
	      fix tells texmfstart not to search for echo in the TEXMF tree(s), but to assume that it's an executable somewhere on the PATH.

       texmfstart --ifchanged=whatever.mp --direct echo rerun MetaPost
	      This  invocation	has the same effect as the preceding example, but using --direct instead of the bin: prefix, again to tell texmfs-
	      tart not to search for the echo command.

FILES

       file.md5
	      MD5 checksum file used for the --ifchanged option.

ENVIRONMENT

       PATH   For expanding filenames given with a bin prefix.

       TEXMFSTART_EDITOR, EDITOR, editor
	      Editor to use with --edit.  The environment variables are looked up in that order, with the first setting found taking priority.

SEE ALSO

       ctxtools(1), kpsewhich(1), makempy(1), mpost(1), pdftools(1), pstopdf(1), texexec(1), texfont(1), texutil(1).

       ConTeXt wiki <http://www.contextgarden.net>.

       The texmfstart manual, mtexmfstart.pdf, available from PRAGMA ADE <http://www.pragma-ade.com/dir/general/manuals/>.

BUGS

       On Unix, opening a PDF document first tries pdfopen then acroread, neither of which may be present on your system.

       The --report option doesn't work if you specify a filename prefix (i.e. it does a real run instead of a dry run).

AUTHOR

       ConTeXt is written and maintained by Hans Hagen <http://www.pragma-ade.com>.  This man page, which is in the public domain, was written	by
       Sanjoy Mahajan <sanjoy@mit.edu> based on the mtexmfstart.pdf manual.

texmfstart 2.0							   December 2006						     TEXMFSTART(1)