# MnSymbol fails with \mathcal?

Let me first give you this minimal example:

\documentclass[11pt]{minimal}
\usepackage[retainmissing, abx]{MnSymbol}
\usepackage{fontspec}

\begin{document}
$\mathcal{ABC 123}$
\end{document}


I'm compiling that with xelatex.

It seems, MnSymbol fails with the abx option when doing a \mathcal{} command. I get many errors, but they all look pretty much the same:

kpathsea: Running mktexmf mathcm10
! I can't find file mathcm10'. <*> ...ljfour; mag:=1; nonstopmode; input mathcm10 Please type another input file name ! Emergency stop. <*> ...ljfour; mag:=1; nonstopmode; input mathcm10 Transcript written on mfput.log.
grep: mathcm10.log: No such file or directory
mktextfm: mf-nowin -progname=mf \mode:=ljfour; mag:=1; nonstopmode; input mathcm10' failed to make mathcm10.tfm.
kpathsea: Appending font creation commands to missfont.log.


So, where do I go from here? should I just not use MnSymbol with abx?

• First if all you shouldn't use MnSymbol with XeLaTeX. I'll try to find the thread. – Henri Menke May 30 '14 at 13:25
• – Henri Menke May 30 '14 at 13:28
• The package has a few bugs; the font name should be mathc10, not mathcm10; also, mathabx has no bold font. – egreg May 30 '14 at 13:31

The package MnSymbol has very dubious code:

\DeclareOption{abx}{%
\DeclareFontFamily{OT1}{mathc}{}%
\DeclareFontShape{OT1}{mathc}{m}{n}{ <-> mathcm10 }{}%
\DeclareFontShape{OT1}{mathc}{b}{n}{ <-> mathcb10 }{}%
\DeclareMathAlphabet\mathcal{OT1}{mathc}{m}{n}%
\SetMathAlphabet\mathcal{bold}{OT1}{mathc}{b}{n}}}


There is no mathcm10 font in the mathabx distribution. There are no bold fonts either, so it's absurd to define a bold font.

The relevant font is called mathc10, so you're done with

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[retainmissing]{MnSymbol}

\DeclareFontFamily{OT1}{mathc}{}
\DeclareFontShape{OT1}{mathc}{m}{n}{ <-> mathc10 }{}
\DeclareMathAlphabet\mathcal{OT1}{mathc}{m}{n}

\usepackage{fontspec}

\begin{document}
$\mathcal{ABC 123}$
\end{document}


This is the font table for mathc10

• Well, I like MnSymbol because it defines a lot of very nice symbols. Is this pretty much the only way to get the symbols? Is there a "best practice" how to do this? – polemon May 30 '14 at 14:03
• @polemon See tex.stackexchange.com/questions/36006/… for how to import individual symbols. I amplified a little bit on that excellent answer, with my answer at tex.stackexchange.com/questions/132453/… – Steven B. Segletes May 30 '14 at 14:20
• Am I right in the assumption, that it is somewhat of an oversight on the developer's side? – polemon May 30 '14 at 18:10
• I wouldn't talk about oversight: it's just a plain error. – egreg May 30 '14 at 18:14
• @polemon I'll add the font table for mathc10, so you can see what's available. – egreg Jun 1 '14 at 22:46