fmtutil command not found

Introduction

When you run more command in linux terminal / console, you get the following error message

fmtutil: command not found

or when using sudo you get the following error message

sudo: fmtutil: command not found

Solutions to fmtutil: command not found

How To Fix fmtutil: command not found in Ubuntu / Debian / Kali Linux / Raspbian

In Ubuntu fmtutil is provided by texlive-base package.

texlive-base is:

These files are regarded as basic for any TeX system, covering plain TeX macros, Computer Modern fonts, and configuration for common drivers; no LaTeX.

This package includes the following CTAN packages:

amsfonts – TeX fonts from the American Mathematical Society

bibtex – Process bibliographies for LaTeX, etc

cm – Computer Modern fonts

colorprofiles – Collection of free ICC profiles

dvipdfmx – An extended version of dvipdfm

dvips – A DVI to PostScript driver

ec – Computer modern fonts in T1 and TS1 encodings

enctex – A TeX extension that translates input on its way into TeX

etex – An extended version of TeX, from the NTS project

etex-pkg – E-TeX support package

glyphlist – Adobe Glyph List and TeX extensions

graphics-def – Colour and graphics option files

hyph-utf8 – Hyphenation patterns expressed in UTF-8

hyphen-base – core hyphenation support files

hyphenex – US English hyphenation exceptions file

ifplatform – Conditionals to test which platform is being used

iftex – Am I running under pdfTeX, XeTeX or LuaTeX?

knuth-lib – Core TeX and Metafont sources from Knuth

knuth-local – Knuth’s local information

kpathsea – Path searching library for TeX-related files

lua-alt-getopt – Process application arguments the same way as getopt_long

luahbtex – LuaTeX with HarfBuzz library for glyph shaping

luatex – The LuaTeX engine

makeindex – Makeindex development sources

metafont – A system for specifying fonts

mflogo – LaTeX support for Metafont logo fonts

mfware – Supporting tools for use with Metafont

modes – A collection of Metafont mode_def’s

pdftex – A TeX extension for direct creation of PDF

plain – The Plain TeX format

tex – A sophisticated typesetting engine

tex-ini-files – Model TeX format creation files

texlive-common – TeX Live documentation (common elements)

texlive-en – TeX Live manual (English)

texlive-msg-translations – translations of the TeX Live installer and TeX Live Manager

texlive-scripts – TeX Live infrastructure programs

texlive.infra – basic TeX Live infrastructure

unicode-data – Unicode data and loaders for TeX

xdvi – A DVI previewer for the X Window System

texdoc – Documentation access for TeX Live

texdoctk – Easy access to package documentation

To fix this problem, we can install more using the command below.

sudo apt-get -y install texlive-base

This command might take some time to finish depending on your machine internet connection.

You can also use apt command to install texlive-base.

sudo apt -y install texlive-base

Or if you have aptitude installed you can use the following command.

sudo aptitude install texlive-base

Summary

In this tutorial we learn how to fix fmtutil command not found error in Ubuntu / Debian / Kali Linux or Raspbian distribution.