You can completely replace pdftex.cfg with \input pdftexconfig.tex :
Ok, I just have done this in my tree. The name I have chosen was pdfconfig.tex, and I have put that file to tex/generic/config. Content: % Set pdfTeX parameters for pdf mode (replacing pdftex.cfg file). % Thomas Esser, 2004. public domain. \pdfoutput=1 \pdfcompresslevel=9 \pdfdecimaldigits=3 \pdfpagewidth=210 true mm \pdfpageheight=297 true mm \pdfhorigin=1 true in \pdfvorigin=1 true in \pdfpkresolution=600 \pdfoptionpdfminorversion=4 \endinput And I have changed all pdf*.ini file to "\input pdfconfig" instead of "\pdfoutput=1", e.g. pdflatex.ini: % Thomas Esser, 1998, 2004. public domain. \input pdfconfig \scrollmode \input latex.ltx \endinput Having set up everything "pdfetex" based via fmtutil.cnf, some things not work. But, I doubt that this can be release to public unless at least the most important macro packages are fixed for the situation that \pdfoutput is defined but pdfetex is working in dvi mode... I am quite sure that everything from Hans and Heiko gets this right, but most other people's code that deals with that has to be fixed. Even texinfo.tex has: \ifx\pdfoutput\undefined ... \else \pdftrue \pdfoutput = 1 \input pdfcolor ... \fi Argh... Thomas