--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+echo "Running latex and pdflatex on a dummy input"
+cd /tmp
+cat > latex-dummy.tex <<EOF
+\\documentclass{article}
+\\begin{document}
+a dummy text to make sure latex is properly configured, as we're seeing weird error messages like
+I can't find the format file pdflatex.fmt!
+\\end{document}
+EOF
+latex latex-dummy < /dev/null >& /dev/null
+pdflatex latex-dummy < /dev/null >& /dev/null
+