Q: How do I debug my Tex installation such that XeLatex will work on Ubuntu 20.04? I am attempting to compile a LaTex document on Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS using XeLatex.
I have been trying to do so from within TexStudio, but haven't had much luck.
As a debugging step, I attempted to compile the document from the command line as follows:
xetex CoverLetter.tex

Which yields the following output:
kpathsea: Running mktexfmt xetex.fmt
mktexfmt: mktexfmt is using the following fmtutil.cnf files (in precedence order):
mktexfmt:   /usr/share/texmf/web2c/fmtutil.cnf
mktexfmt:   /usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/web2c/fmtutil.cnf
mktexfmt: mktexfmt is using the following fmtutil.cnf file for writing changes:
mktexfmt:   /root/.texlive2019/texmf-config/web2c/fmtutil.cnf
mktexfmt [INFO]: writing formats under /root/.texlive2019/texmf-var/web2c
mktexfmt [INFO]: did not find entry for byfmt=xetex, skipped
mktexfmt [INFO]: not selected formats: 12
mktexfmt [INFO]: total formats: 12
mktexfmt [INFO]: exiting with status 0
I can't find the format file `xetex.fmt'!

Has anyone else come across this issue and been able to solve it?
I suspect it might have something to do with a faulty TexLive installation, but am not sure how to go about diagnosing my installation.
It also may well be something else entirely, I'm not sure.
