I had a custom-made /etc/texmf/texmf.d/05TeXMF.cnf which was not removed because I had not purged tex-common; this happened because I grepped packages for "tetex" and I didn't see tex-common. However, when I tried to purge tex-common together with all the tetex packages, nothing happened. It was necessary to purge the package by itself, aptitude purge tex-common then install apt-get install tex-common aptitude install tetex-base tetex-bin tetex-doc tetex-extra tetex-src auctex At this point all appears well; the files you mention like /var/lib/texmf/ls-R-TEXMFDIST-TETEX now are present and TeX runs normally.
Thanks for the pointer to tex-common, the separate purge and reinstallation seems to have fixed the problem. I do not recall being asked about 05TexMF.cnf; I usually look at the differences if I do not have a good feeling that the changes are benign and that the old configuration is acceptable. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]