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Long back (on SuSE) i used to have the Malayalam package for LaTeX. It worked well. I could use the old script (old "lipi"). Now I am on Ubuntu (18.04). I installed the Malayalam package again but it does not work. When compiling I get

mal: Command not found

The advantage of the package is that I don't have to type in Malayalam. Posted the question on usenet. Until now no response. Also wrote to Alex (who created the package). No response

Has anybody got a solution. It will be a great help.

Also need help for Malayalam typing on Ubuntu but in the old "lipi" (script).Tried Rachana, Anjali, Mira etc. All I get is the new "lipi"

Srinath
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  • On package-file level the following packages support Malayalam - texlive-latex-base (for Babel), texlive-latex-extra, texlive-latex-recommended. What is a purpose of lipi and mal? Do you have links to their old versions? – N0rbert May 26 '20 at 10:12
  • the typing is done in the standard latin script and the script mal converts the .mm into a .tex file which can be compiled in the usual way. the resulting file is in the old "lipi" (script). I have no link to old versions (am not using SuSE). I cannot type in Malayalam as the fonts I have are not suitable at all. All of them use the "new lipi" – Srinath May 26 '20 at 10:39
  • Asking the question in a different way. How can I get the mal command to work? (mal is a pre-compiler) – Srinath May 26 '20 at 13:59
  • Did you visited https://alex.org.in/tex/ ? What have you already tried with these files? – N0rbert May 26 '20 at 14:58
  • I did visit. Also commented, explaining what is wrong. I tried putting the file (mal) in my working directory. also added to the tree (texlive). ran a chmod on it.result remains the same. What am I doing wrong? – Srinath May 26 '20 at 15:13

1 Answers1

0

At first we need to install TeXLive:

sudo apt-get install texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-extra texlive-latex-recommended

Then get LaTeX for Malayalam tarball: 

cd ~/Downloads
wget https://alex.org.in/wp-content/alex.org.in-uploads/2017/07/malayalam-latex-0.9.7.tar.gz
tar -xf malayalam-latex-0.9.7.tar.gz
cd malayalam-latex-0.9.7/
sudo ./install.sh # install agreeing with all default

Then create example file with contents from 3.3.1 of official PDF:

cat << EOF > test.mm
\documentclass[a4,12pt]{article}
\usepackage[rachana]{malayalam}
\begin{document}
\noindent

<m>
atiprAcInakAlaMmutalkkutanne shabdan"n"aLuTEyuM
bhAvahAvAdikaLuTEyuM sahAyattOTukUTi AshayaprakaTanaM
naTattAn manuSyaR paThiccukazhin~n~irunnu.
manuSyasharIrattinnuLLilttanneyuLLa h.rdayaM,
shvAsakOshaM ennI avayavan"n"aLuTe kramaMteRRAteyuLLa
calanaM avann tALabOdhattinnuLLa AdyapAThan"n"aL
nalkiyirikkaNaM. atupOlettanne prak.rtiyilninnuM
avan nityEna kELkkunna saMgItaM---atAyat pakSikaLuTe
kaLakUjanan"n"aL, kARRinRe maRmmarashabdaM, tEnIccakaLuTe
mULakkaM, ozhukunna veLLattinRe kaLakaLashabdaM,
muLan"kATukaLkkiTayilUTe kARRaTikkunpOzhuNTAkunna
cULaMviLi, m.rgan"n"aLuTe vividharItiyiluLLa shabdan"n"aL
tuTan"n"iyavayellAM---avanRe saMgItAsvAdanashESiyEyuM
kramaprav.rddhamAyi vaLaRttikkoNTuvannu. manuSyamastiSkkattinRe
vaLaRccayuTe tOtanusaricc madhurasvaran"n"aL kETTAsvadikkAnuLLa
ceviyuTe kazhiv dinaMprati vaLaRnnuvannu. jIvitOpAdhikaL
sanpAdikkAnuLLa kUTTAya pravaRttanan"n"aLkkiTayil
AshayavinimayattinRe AvashyakatayuM tanmUlaM bhASayuM
utbhaviccu vikasiccatupOlettanne jIvitaklEshan"n"aLkkiTayil
ninnu niR{}v.rtiyuM, kUTTAya addhvAnattinnuLLa pracOdanavuM
nETENTa AvashyattinnanusariccAN<<+ manuSyanRe
saMgItaparamAya kazhivukaLuM vaLaRnnu vikasiccat.
</m>

\end{document}
EOF

Note: I know nothing about Malayalam scripts, adjust file above for correct script.

Then pre-process this file:

mal test.mm rachana

Utility for pre-processing Malayalam LaTeX source files
Alex A.J. <[email protected]>

Using Rachana (old lipi)...


File successfully preprocessed.


Please run (pdf)LaTeX on the generated tex file.

run LaTeX

pdflatex test.tex

and see the output:

xdg-open test.pdf

mm pdf

N0rbert
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  • Wow. I have already installed TexLive from my TexLive DVD. Let me try installing the package using the tarball. Shall get back to you – Srinath May 26 '20 at 17:33
  • Thank you. Now the "mal" command worked. But I got the error latex: command not found. Do I have to export anything? – Srinath May 26 '20 at 17:39
  • A million thanks. Tried it on my second laptop and it worked without a hitch. One last question. Since I have TexLive installed on this laptop already, is there a way to solve the error "Command: latex not found" ? – Srinath May 26 '20 at 17:56
  • Both latex and pdflatex are in the texlive-latex-base deb-package. So you can accept my answer, glad that it works. – N0rbert May 26 '20 at 18:05
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    Thank you very much. It is a huge relief. D A N K E. Finally solved. – Srinath May 26 '20 at 18:07