Adding a language to TeX Live for use by XeTeX

[Philip Taylor (RHBNC)]

I have just installed TeX Live 2024, and wished to add a language for use by XeTeX, but was uncertain as to whether I should do this by creating "language-local.dat", "language-local.def" or both.  I ask because having created both, populated them as below, and run "tlmgr generate language --rebuild-sys", my test file (see also below) still reported "! e-TeX error: language zymurgy undefined..".  Incidentally, "TeXdoc tlmgr", while displaying the correct PDF, says nothing about the "generate" parameter, and I had perform a "tlmgr generate --help" to learn about the "--rebuild-sys" option.  However, even after learning about (and using) the latter option, my test file still reported "! e-TeX error: language zymurgy undefined.." and I had to manually invoke the action "Regenerate formats" from the TeX Live shell before my test program could make use of the new language "zymurgy" (so-named only for debugging purposes).  So, a few questions —

  1.  For XeTeX, do I need to create and populate "language-local.dat", "language-local.def" or both ?
  2.  Why does the output of "TeXdoc tlmgr" make no mention of the "generate" command and its modifiers ?
  3.  Why does "tlmgr generate language --rebuild-sys" not regenerate the formats as the "help" text (below) suggests ?

Exhibits :

  1.  Language-local.dat
zymurgy loadhyph-en-gb.tex
  2.  Language-local.def
\addlanguage{zymurgy}{loadhyph-en-gb.tex}{}{2}{3}
  3.  Theorematic.tex (test file)
\showhyphens {theorematic}
\uselanguage {zymurgy}
\showhyphens {theorematic}
\end
  4.  Output from "tlmgr generate --help" (relevant part only)

    --rebuild-sys
        tells "tlmgr" to run necessary programs after config files have been
        regenerated. These are: "fmtutil-sys --all" after "generate
        fmtutil", "fmtutil-sys --byhyphen .../language.dat" after "generate
        language.dat", and "fmtutil-sys --byhyphen .../language.def" after
        "generate language.def".

        These subsequent calls cause the newly-generated files to actually
        take effect. This is not done by default since those calls are
        lengthy processes and one might want to made several related changes
        in succession before invoking these programs.

--
Philip Taylor

This email, its contents and any attachments are intended solely for the addressee and may contain confidential information. In certain circumstances, it may also be subject to legal privilege. Any unauthorised use, disclosure, or copying is not permitted. If you have received this email in error, please notify us and immediately and permanently delete it. Any views or opinions expressed in personal emails are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Royal Holloway, University of London. It is your responsibility to ensure that this email and any attachments are virus free.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://tug.org/pipermail/tex-live/attachments/20240331/f80bdf11/attachment.htm>