.TH INITEX 1 "31 Jan 1992"
.ie t .ds TX \fRT\v'+0.25m'E\v'-0.25m'X\fP\" for troff
.el .ds TX TeX\" for nroff
.\" to use, type \*(TX
.SH NAME
initex \- initial \*(TX
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I 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
.IR 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.
.I 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
.IR virtex .
.PP
.I 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
.I initex
to prepare format files for several major
packages:
.PP
For plain
.IR tex :
.nf

.I initex plain '\\\\dump'
.I ln plain.fmt tex.fmt

.fi
The single quotes are necessary to protect
the backslash from interpretation as a shell
escape character.
.PP
For
.IR lamstex :
.nf

.I initex '&tex amstexl \\\\input lamstex \\\\dump'
.I mv amstexl.fmt lamstex.fmt
.I rm lamstex.tmp

.fi
.PP
For
.IR latex :
.nf

.I initex lplain '\\\\dump'
.I mv lplain.fmt latex.fmt

.fi
.PP
For
.IR slitex :
.nf

.I initex splain '\\\\dump'
.I mv splain.fmt slitex.fmt

.fi
.PP
For
.IR amstex :
.nf

.I initex '&tex' amstex '\\\\dump'

.fi
The single quotes around the first argument
protect the ampersand from interpretation as a
shell background request.
.PP
Note that this requires that the format file
for plain \*(TX be available, since the first
argument asks for the loading of the file
.IR tex.fmt .
.PP
For
.IR texinfo :
.nf

.I initex '&tex' texinfo @dump

.fi
The last argument is different from the previous
examples because
.I texinfo
redefines the \*(TX escape character from
backslash to at-sign.  As for
.IR amstex ,
the file
.I tex.fmt
must already be available.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.nf
tex (1)
virtex (1)
.fi