[gentoo-user] Problems with LyX and xetex-2021

[gentoo-user] Problems with LyX and xetex-2021

[Stefano Crocco]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2027 bytes --]

Hello to everyone,
since upgrading my ~arch system to TeXLive-2021 I'm having problems using 
XeLaTeX to compile LyX documents. Has someone else experienced this issue? I'd 
like to file a bug report about it, but before doing so I'd like to be sure 
that there isn't something wrong with my system.

Below you'll find the details of my problem.

Thanks in advance

Stefano

DETAILS

When I use LyX to create a PDF using XeLaTeX from the attached test.lyx file 
(using the default LaTeX (XeTeX) -> PDF (XeTeX) converter), I get an error 
dialog with the following text:

The external program
xelatex 
finished with an error. It is recommended you fix the cause of the external 
program's error (check the logs). 

As far as I can see, the log (attached as log_from_lyx) don't mention any 
error, except for the generic (at least to my eyes) line
"Error 256 (driver return code) generating output;"
near the end.

Trying to obtain a better error message, I exported the LyX file as a XeLaTeX 
file using the File/Export LaTeX (xetex) menu entry and run xelatex on it. Of 
course, it failed, but this time the log (in the log_from_xelatex attachment) 
contains a more meaningful message:
"xdvipdfmx:fatal: Cannot proceed without .vf or "physical" font for PDF 
output..."

Unfortunately, I'm not expert enough in the inner works of (xe)latex to 
understand this message. I tried searching google for it but didn't find 
anything useful. However, looking at the tex file generated by LyX (the 
test.tex attachment), I noticed the line 

\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

which seemed strange to me, as I thought that the fontenc package shouldn't be 
used with XeLaTeX. Indeed, after commenting this line, xelatex successfully 
created the correct PDF.

This problem has almost certainly been caused by switching texlive and the 
related packages from 2020 to 2021, since on another computer where I masked 
the 2021 version of app-text/texlive-core, app-text/texlive and all packages 
in category dev-texlive, everything works correctly.

[-- Attachment #2: test.lyx --]
[-- Type: application/x-lyx, Size: 1913 bytes --]

[-- Attachment #3: test.tex --]
[-- Type: text/x-tex, Size: 392 bytes --]

%% LyX 2.3.6.1 created this file.  For more info, see http://www.lyx.org/.
%% Do not edit unless you really know what you are doing.
\documentclass[twoside,italian]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
\geometry{verbose,tmargin=2cm,bmargin=2cm,lmargin=2cm,rmargin=2cm}
\usepackage{setspace}
\setstretch{1.3}
\usepackage{babel}
\begin{document}
TEST
\end{document}

[-- Attachment #4: log_from_lyx --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 5975 bytes --]

This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999993 (TeX Live 2021 Gentoo Linux) (preloaded format=xelatex 2021.5.8)  16 MAY 2021 19:29
entering extended mode
 restricted \write18 enabled.
 %&-line parsing enabled.
**test.tex
(./test.tex
LaTeX2e <2020-10-01> patch level 4
L3 programming layer <2021-02-18>
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo
File: size10.clo 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX file (size option)
)
\c@part=\count175
\c@section=\count176
\c@subsection=\count177
\c@subsubsection=\count178
\c@paragraph=\count179
\c@subparagraph=\count180
\c@figure=\count181
\c@table=\count182
\abovecaptionskip=\skip47
\belowcaptionskip=\skip48
\bibindent=\dimen138
) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/fontenc.sty
Package: fontenc 2020/08/10 v2.0s Standard LaTeX package
LaTeX Font Info:    Trying to load font information for T1+lmr on input line 11
2.
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/lm/t1lmr.fd
File: t1lmr.fd 2009/10/30 v1.6 Font defs for Latin Modern
)) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/geometry/geometry.sty
Package: geometry 2020/01/02 v5.9 Page Geometry
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/graphics/keyval.sty
Package: keyval 2014/10/28 v1.15 key=value parser (DPC)
\KV@toks@=\toks15
) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/ifvtex.sty
Package: ifvtex 2019/10/25 v1.7 ifvtex legacy package. Use iftex instead.
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/iftex.sty
Package: iftex 2020/03/06 v1.0d TeX engine tests
))
\Gm@cnth=\count183
\Gm@cntv=\count184
\c@Gm@tempcnt=\count185
\Gm@bindingoffset=\dimen139
\Gm@wd@mp=\dimen140
\Gm@odd@mp=\dimen141
\Gm@even@mp=\dimen142
\Gm@layoutwidth=\dimen143
\Gm@layoutheight=\dimen144
\Gm@layouthoffset=\dimen145
\Gm@layoutvoffset=\dimen146
\Gm@dimlist=\toks16
) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/setspace/setspace.sty
Package: setspace 2011/12/19 v6.7a set line spacing
) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/babel.sty
Package: babel 2021/03/03 3.55 The Babel package
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/babel.def
File: babel.def 2021/03/03 3.55 Babel common definitions
\babel@savecnt=\count186
\U@D=\dimen147
\l@babelnohyphens=\language10
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/xebabel.def (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex
/generic/babel/txtbabel.def))
\bbl@readstream=\read2
)
\bbl@dirlevel=\count187
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel-italian/italian.ldf
Language: italian 2020/05/21 v.1.4.04 Italian support for the babel system
\it@lettering=\count188
\it@doublequoteactive=\count189
\it@ISOcompliance=\count190
)) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/etoolbox/etoolbox.sty
Package: etoolbox 2020/10/05 v2.5k e-TeX tools for LaTeX (JAW)
\etb@tempcnta=\count191
) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/l3backend/l3backend-xetex.def
File: l3backend-xetex.def 2021-03-18 L3 backend support: XeTeX
(|extractbb --version)
\c__kernel_sys_dvipdfmx_version_int=\count192
\l__color_backend_stack_int=\count193
\g__color_backend_stack_int=\count194
\g__graphics_track_int=\count195
\l__pdf_internal_box=\box47
\g__pdf_backend_object_int=\count196
\g__pdf_backend_annotation_int=\count197
\g__pdf_backend_link_int=\count198
)
No file test.aux.
\openout1 = `test.aux'.

LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OML/cmm/m/it on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OMS/cmsy/m/n on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OT1/cmr/m/n on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for T1/cmr/m/n on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for TS1/cmr/m/n on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    Trying to load font information for TS1+cmr on input line 1
2.
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/ts1cmr.fd
File: ts1cmr.fd 2019/12/16 v2.5j Standard LaTeX font definitions
)
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for TU/lmr/m/n on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OMX/cmex/m/n on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for U/cmr/m/n on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
*geometry* driver: auto-detecting
*geometry* detected driver: xetex

Package geometry Warning: The marginal notes overrun the paper.
     Add 75.0945pt and more to the right margin.

*geometry* verbose mode - [ preamble ] result:
* driver: xetex
* paper: a4paper
* layout: <same size as paper>
* layoutoffset:(h,v)=(0.0pt,0.0pt)
* modes: twoside 
* h-part:(L,W,R)=(56.9055pt, 483.69687pt, 56.9055pt)
* v-part:(T,H,B)=(56.9055pt, 731.23584pt, 56.9055pt)
* \paperwidth=597.50787pt
* \paperheight=845.04684pt
* \textwidth=483.69687pt
* \textheight=731.23584pt
* \oddsidemargin=-15.36449pt
* \evensidemargin=-15.36449pt
* \topmargin=-52.36449pt
* \headheight=12.0pt
* \headsep=25.0pt
* \topskip=10.0pt
* \footskip=30.0pt
* \marginparwidth=121.0pt
* \marginparsep=11.0pt
* \columnsep=10.0pt
* \skip\footins=9.0pt plus 4.0pt minus 2.0pt
* \hoffset=0.0pt
* \voffset=0.0pt
* \mag=1000
* \@twocolumnfalse
* \@twosidetrue
* \@mparswitchtrue
* \@reversemarginfalse
* (1in=72.27pt=25.4mm, 1cm=28.453pt)

LaTeX Info: Redefining \it@ocap on input line 12.
LaTeX Info: Redefining \it@ccap on input line 12.
[1

] (./test.aux) ) 
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
 2404 strings out of 478834
 34474 string characters out of 5864768
 348542 words of memory out of 5000000
 22320 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
 406428 words of font info for 29 fonts, out of 8000000 for 9000
 36 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
 68i,4n,74p,239b,129s stack positions out of 5000i,500n,10000p,200000b,80000s

Error 256 (driver return code) generating output;
file test.pdf may not be valid.

[-- Attachment #5: log_from_xelatex --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 2499 bytes --]

This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999993 (TeX Live 2021 Gentoo Linux) (preloaded format=xelatex)
 restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./test.tex
LaTeX2e <2020-10-01> patch level 4
L3 programming layer <2021-02-18>
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo))
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/fontenc.sty
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/lm/t1lmr.fd))
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/geometry/geometry.sty
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/graphics/keyval.sty)
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/ifvtex.sty
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/iftex.sty)))
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/setspace/setspace.sty)
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/babel.sty
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/babel.def
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/xebabel.def
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/txtbabel.def)))
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel-italian/italian.ldf))
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/etoolbox/etoolbox.sty)
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/l3backend/l3backend-xetex.def
(|extractbb --version))
No file test.aux.
(/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/ts1cmr.fd)
*geometry* driver: auto-detecting
*geometry* detected driver: xetex

Package geometry Warning: The marginal notes overrun the paper.
     Add 75.0945pt and more to the right margin.

*geometry* verbose mode - [ preamble ] result:
* driver: xetex
* paper: a4paper
* layout: <same size as paper>
* layoutoffset:(h,v)=(0.0pt,0.0pt)
* modes: twoside 
* h-part:(L,W,R)=(56.9055pt, 483.69687pt, 56.9055pt)
* v-part:(T,H,B)=(56.9055pt, 731.23584pt, 56.9055pt)
* \paperwidth=597.50787pt
* \paperheight=845.04684pt
* \textwidth=483.69687pt
* \textheight=731.23584pt
* \oddsidemargin=-15.36449pt
* \evensidemargin=-15.36449pt
* \topmargin=-52.36449pt
* \headheight=12.0pt
* \headsep=25.0pt
* \topskip=10.0pt
* \footskip=30.0pt
* \marginparwidth=121.0pt
* \marginparsep=11.0pt
* \columnsep=10.0pt
* \skip\footins=9.0pt plus 4.0pt minus 2.0pt
* \hoffset=0.0pt
* \voffset=0.0pt
* \mag=1000
* \@twocolumnfalse
* \@twosidetrue
* \@mparswitchtrue
* \@reversemarginfalse
* (1in=72.27pt=25.4mm, 1cm=28.453pt)

[1] (./test.aux)
xdvipdfmx:fatal: Cannot proceed without .vf or "physical" font for PDF output...

No output PDF file written.
 )
Error 256 (driver return code) generating output;
file test.pdf may not be valid.
Transcript written on test.log.

Re: [gentoo-user] Problems with LyX and xetex-2021

[Nils Freydank]

Hi Stefano,

I couldn't reproduce your error with xelatex at all. I took your example/MWE
and just executed "xelatex test.tex" and it generated me a single page PDF.

A quick and dirty idea: Move ~/.texlive (e.g. to ~/.texlive-bak) and let texlive
regenerate files there.

In my worldfile I have app-text/texlive, dev-tex/biber and dev-tex/latexmk,
everything else are just deps.

Interestingly it works even with USE="-xetex" for texlive which in turn has only
the following USE flags enabled:
"X extra graphics luatex metapost music png pstricks science truetype"

Hope that helps you,
Nils

Am Sonntag, den 16.05.2021 um 19:58:32 Uhr +0200 schrieb Stefano Crocco <posta@stefanocrocco.it>:
> Hello to everyone,
> since upgrading my ~arch system to TeXLive-2021 I'm having problems using 
> XeLaTeX to compile LyX documents. Has someone else experienced this issue? I'd 
> like to file a bug report about it, but before doing so I'd like to be sure 
> that there isn't something wrong with my system.
> 
> Below you'll find the details of my problem.
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> Stefano
> 
> DETAILS
> 
> When I use LyX to create a PDF using XeLaTeX from the attached test.lyx file 
> (using the default LaTeX (XeTeX) -> PDF (XeTeX) converter), I get an error 
> dialog with the following text:
> 
> The external program
> xelatex 
> finished with an error. It is recommended you fix the cause of the external 
> program's error (check the logs). 
> 
> As far as I can see, the log (attached as log_from_lyx) don't mention any 
> error, except for the generic (at least to my eyes) line
> "Error 256 (driver return code) generating output;"
> near the end.
> 
> Trying to obtain a better error message, I exported the LyX file as a XeLaTeX 
> file using the File/Export LaTeX (xetex) menu entry and run xelatex on it. Of 
> course, it failed, but this time the log (in the log_from_xelatex attachment) 
> contains a more meaningful message:
> "xdvipdfmx:fatal: Cannot proceed without .vf or "physical" font for PDF 
> output..."
> 
> Unfortunately, I'm not expert enough in the inner works of (xe)latex to 
> understand this message. I tried searching google for it but didn't find 
> anything useful. However, looking at the tex file generated by LyX (the 
> test.tex attachment), I noticed the line 
> 
> \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
> 
> which seemed strange to me, as I thought that the fontenc package shouldn't be 
> used with XeLaTeX. Indeed, after commenting this line, xelatex successfully 
> created the correct PDF.
> 
> This problem has almost certainly been caused by switching texlive and the 
> related packages from 2020 to 2021, since on another computer where I masked 
> the 2021 version of app-text/texlive-core, app-text/texlive and all packages 
> in category dev-texlive, everything works correctly.



> This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999993 (TeX Live 2021 Gentoo Linux) (preloaded format=xelatex 2021.5.8)  16 MAY 2021 19:29
> entering extended mode
>  restricted \write18 enabled.
>  %&-line parsing enabled.
> **test.tex
> (./test.tex
> LaTeX2e <2020-10-01> patch level 4
> L3 programming layer <2021-02-18>
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
> Document Class: article 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX document class
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo
> File: size10.clo 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX file (size option)
> )
> \c@part=\count175
> \c@section=\count176
> \c@subsection=\count177
> \c@subsubsection=\count178
> \c@paragraph=\count179
> \c@subparagraph=\count180
> \c@figure=\count181
> \c@table=\count182
> \abovecaptionskip=\skip47
> \belowcaptionskip=\skip48
> \bibindent=\dimen138
> ) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/fontenc.sty
> Package: fontenc 2020/08/10 v2.0s Standard LaTeX package
> LaTeX Font Info:    Trying to load font information for T1+lmr on input line 11
> 2.
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/lm/t1lmr.fd
> File: t1lmr.fd 2009/10/30 v1.6 Font defs for Latin Modern
> )) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/geometry/geometry.sty
> Package: geometry 2020/01/02 v5.9 Page Geometry
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/graphics/keyval.sty
> Package: keyval 2014/10/28 v1.15 key=value parser (DPC)
> \KV@toks@=\toks15
> ) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/ifvtex.sty
> Package: ifvtex 2019/10/25 v1.7 ifvtex legacy package. Use iftex instead.
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/iftex.sty
> Package: iftex 2020/03/06 v1.0d TeX engine tests
> ))
> \Gm@cnth=\count183
> \Gm@cntv=\count184
> \c@Gm@tempcnt=\count185
> \Gm@bindingoffset=\dimen139
> \Gm@wd@mp=\dimen140
> \Gm@odd@mp=\dimen141
> \Gm@even@mp=\dimen142
> \Gm@layoutwidth=\dimen143
> \Gm@layoutheight=\dimen144
> \Gm@layouthoffset=\dimen145
> \Gm@layoutvoffset=\dimen146
> \Gm@dimlist=\toks16
> ) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/setspace/setspace.sty
> Package: setspace 2011/12/19 v6.7a set line spacing
> ) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/babel.sty
> Package: babel 2021/03/03 3.55 The Babel package
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/babel.def
> File: babel.def 2021/03/03 3.55 Babel common definitions
> \babel@savecnt=\count186
> \U@D=\dimen147
> \l@babelnohyphens=\language10
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/xebabel.def (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex
> /generic/babel/txtbabel.def))
> \bbl@readstream=\read2
> )
> \bbl@dirlevel=\count187
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel-italian/italian.ldf
> Language: italian 2020/05/21 v.1.4.04 Italian support for the babel system
> \it@lettering=\count188
> \it@doublequoteactive=\count189
> \it@ISOcompliance=\count190
> )) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/etoolbox/etoolbox.sty
> Package: etoolbox 2020/10/05 v2.5k e-TeX tools for LaTeX (JAW)
> \etb@tempcnta=\count191
> ) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/l3backend/l3backend-xetex.def
> File: l3backend-xetex.def 2021-03-18 L3 backend support: XeTeX
> (|extractbb --version)
> \c__kernel_sys_dvipdfmx_version_int=\count192
> \l__color_backend_stack_int=\count193
> \g__color_backend_stack_int=\count194
> \g__graphics_track_int=\count195
> \l__pdf_internal_box=\box47
> \g__pdf_backend_object_int=\count196
> \g__pdf_backend_annotation_int=\count197
> \g__pdf_backend_link_int=\count198
> )
> No file test.aux.
> \openout1 = `test.aux'.
> 
> LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OML/cmm/m/it on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OMS/cmsy/m/n on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OT1/cmr/m/n on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for T1/cmr/m/n on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for TS1/cmr/m/n on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    Trying to load font information for TS1+cmr on input line 1
> 2.
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/ts1cmr.fd
> File: ts1cmr.fd 2019/12/16 v2.5j Standard LaTeX font definitions
> )
> LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for TU/lmr/m/n on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for OMX/cmex/m/n on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    Checking defaults for U/cmr/m/n on input line 12.
> LaTeX Font Info:    ... okay on input line 12.
> *geometry* driver: auto-detecting
> *geometry* detected driver: xetex
> 
> Package geometry Warning: The marginal notes overrun the paper.
>      Add 75.0945pt and more to the right margin.
> 
> *geometry* verbose mode - [ preamble ] result:
> * driver: xetex
> * paper: a4paper
> * layout: <same size as paper>
> * layoutoffset:(h,v)=(0.0pt,0.0pt)
> * modes: twoside 
> * h-part:(L,W,R)=(56.9055pt, 483.69687pt, 56.9055pt)
> * v-part:(T,H,B)=(56.9055pt, 731.23584pt, 56.9055pt)
> * \paperwidth=597.50787pt
> * \paperheight=845.04684pt
> * \textwidth=483.69687pt
> * \textheight=731.23584pt
> * \oddsidemargin=-15.36449pt
> * \evensidemargin=-15.36449pt
> * \topmargin=-52.36449pt
> * \headheight=12.0pt
> * \headsep=25.0pt
> * \topskip=10.0pt
> * \footskip=30.0pt
> * \marginparwidth=121.0pt
> * \marginparsep=11.0pt
> * \columnsep=10.0pt
> * \skip\footins=9.0pt plus 4.0pt minus 2.0pt
> * \hoffset=0.0pt
> * \voffset=0.0pt
> * \mag=1000
> * \@twocolumnfalse
> * \@twosidetrue
> * \@mparswitchtrue
> * \@reversemarginfalse
> * (1in=72.27pt=25.4mm, 1cm=28.453pt)
> 
> LaTeX Info: Redefining \it@ocap on input line 12.
> LaTeX Info: Redefining \it@ccap on input line 12.
> [1
> 
> ] (./test.aux) ) 
> Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
>  2404 strings out of 478834
>  34474 string characters out of 5864768
>  348542 words of memory out of 5000000
>  22320 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
>  406428 words of font info for 29 fonts, out of 8000000 for 9000
>  36 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
>  68i,4n,74p,239b,129s stack positions out of 5000i,500n,10000p,200000b,80000s
> 
> Error 256 (driver return code) generating output;
> file test.pdf may not be valid.

> This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999993 (TeX Live 2021 Gentoo Linux) (preloaded format=xelatex)
>  restricted \write18 enabled.
> entering extended mode
> (./test.tex
> LaTeX2e <2020-10-01> patch level 4
> L3 programming layer <2021-02-18>
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/article.cls
> Document Class: article 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX document class
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo))
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/fontenc.sty
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/lm/t1lmr.fd))
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/geometry/geometry.sty
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/graphics/keyval.sty)
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/ifvtex.sty
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/iftex/iftex.sty)))
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/setspace/setspace.sty)
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/babel.sty
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/babel.def
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/xebabel.def
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel/txtbabel.def)))
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/babel-italian/italian.ldf))
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/etoolbox/etoolbox.sty)
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/l3backend/l3backend-xetex.def
> (|extractbb --version))
> No file test.aux.
> (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/ts1cmr.fd)
> *geometry* driver: auto-detecting
> *geometry* detected driver: xetex
> 
> Package geometry Warning: The marginal notes overrun the paper.
>      Add 75.0945pt and more to the right margin.
> 
> *geometry* verbose mode - [ preamble ] result:
> * driver: xetex
> * paper: a4paper
> * layout: <same size as paper>
> * layoutoffset:(h,v)=(0.0pt,0.0pt)
> * modes: twoside 
> * h-part:(L,W,R)=(56.9055pt, 483.69687pt, 56.9055pt)
> * v-part:(T,H,B)=(56.9055pt, 731.23584pt, 56.9055pt)
> * \paperwidth=597.50787pt
> * \paperheight=845.04684pt
> * \textwidth=483.69687pt
> * \textheight=731.23584pt
> * \oddsidemargin=-15.36449pt
> * \evensidemargin=-15.36449pt
> * \topmargin=-52.36449pt
> * \headheight=12.0pt
> * \headsep=25.0pt
> * \topskip=10.0pt
> * \footskip=30.0pt
> * \marginparwidth=121.0pt
> * \marginparsep=11.0pt
> * \columnsep=10.0pt
> * \skip\footins=9.0pt plus 4.0pt minus 2.0pt
> * \hoffset=0.0pt
> * \voffset=0.0pt
> * \mag=1000
> * \@twocolumnfalse
> * \@twosidetrue
> * \@mparswitchtrue
> * \@reversemarginfalse
> * (1in=72.27pt=25.4mm, 1cm=28.453pt)
> 
> [1] (./test.aux)
> xdvipdfmx:fatal: Cannot proceed without .vf or "physical" font for PDF output...
> 
> No output PDF file written.
>  )
> Error 256 (driver return code) generating output;
> file test.pdf may not be valid.
> Transcript written on test.log.

Re: [gentoo-user] Problems with LyX and xetex-2021

[Stefano Crocco]

On domenica 11 luglio 2021 15:01:07 CEST Nils Freydank wrote:
> Hi Stefano,
> 
> I couldn't reproduce your error with xelatex at all. I took your example/MWE
> and just executed "xelatex test.tex" and it generated me a single page PDF.
> 
> A quick and dirty idea: Move ~/.texlive (e.g. to ~/.texlive-bak) and let
> texlive regenerate files there.
> 
> In my worldfile I have app-text/texlive, dev-tex/biber and dev-tex/latexmk,
> everything else are just deps.
> 
> Interestingly it works even with USE="-xetex" for texlive which in turn has
> only the following USE flags enabled:
> "X extra graphics luatex metapost music png pstricks science truetype"
> 
> Hope that helps you,
> Nils

Thanks for the answer. I tried removing the .texlive directory, but nothing 
changed. However, on my laptop it worked correctly even with texlive-2021, 
which is strange because its configuration is very similar to that of my 
desktop PC (where it doesn't work). The list of texlive-related packages is 
the same in both machines, so I can't really understand what's going on.

However, in the meanwhile, I found a workaround for the issue with LyX: 
enabling the "Use non-TeX fonts (via XeTeX/LuaTeX)" document setting makes it 
work even on the desktop PC (when I wrote the original mail, I had masked 
texlive-2021 on my laptop to have a system where LyX worked correctly; after 
discovering this workaround, I felt safe in upgrading it; I didn't think about 
testing this problem there).

I had reported this issue on the LyX bug tracker and they answered me this 
issue would be fixed in a future release.

Stefano