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    @user565739 Building just tex without a minimal support stuff for fonts and so one will not give you a workable system. Perhaps take a look at KerTeX if you want something smaller that you can compile. Commented Apr 29, 2013 at 12:32
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    @user565739 well.. the original tex sources are tex.web which is pascal more or less, but you are hard pushed to find a usable pascal compiler these days so you probably want at least web2c if not the whole of texlive. web2c as its name suggests translates web to c so it can be compiled with C but you also need the kpathsea file search library if you want a tex that can handle modern filesystems, and so it goes. It is probably easier to start with texlive and cut things out of the makefiles than to just get the original Knuth sources and try to build on a current system. Commented Apr 29, 2013 at 12:33
  • @JosephWright: (Maybe very stupid) After compile the source, I won't get the fonts? Commented Apr 29, 2013 at 12:33
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    @DavidCarlisle: So now I am curious that how texlive do with tex.web? When I build texlive, it also compile tex.web? Commented Apr 29, 2013 at 12:37
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    @user565739 yes of course the heart of the sources is still tex.web but you need to build the scaffolding before you build the building and web2c provides that. texlive itself of course then goes on to provide all the tex packages and updates mechanisms and stuff which you don't need but still it's easier to download a working build setup and run the build scripts and watch and learn what happens rather than just download the raw web sources and a pascal compiler and then try to recreate a working system as it was in 1982. Commented Apr 29, 2013 at 12:42