Re: Generating smallest possible format file

[Taco Hoekwater <taco@elvenkind.com>]

Hi Willi,


Willi Egger wrote:
> Hello gurus!
> 
> I want to use context as a backend-typesetting engine in a 
> server-ennvironment. In order to minimize compilation time I want to 
> make the format files as small as
> possible. E.g. I would like to remove all pattern files which are 
> unnecessary for the purpose of the application.

That is as simple as commenting (some of) the \installlanguage
calls in the cont-XX.tex file you want to use (and don't use
the --all switch of texexec!).

Removing some of the other files can be a bit harder and require
editing core include files:

  * font encodings are loaded in enco-ini.tex
    \useencoding[ans,il2,ec,tbo,pdf,uc,pol,qx,t5,cyr]

  * regimes are loaded in regi-ini:
    \useregime[def,uni,lat,win,il1,mac]

  * unicode tables are loaded in unic-ini:
    \useunicodevector[0,1,2,3,4,5,30,32,33,34,39]

It would be easier if these could be moved to the cont-XX.tex
(or perhaps context.tex) file in a future release.


Also, you can gain some speed by

* dropping the memory array settings in texmf.cnf to as low as you
   can get away with, based on your typical input files;
* and by pruning your texmf tree(s) of as many  files as possible
   (every file and directory in the tree slows down kpathsea
   initialization just a little bit, and it can add up to a
   noticeable delay).
* disabling kpathsea disk searches


Cheers, Taco