The reason for this is that the search path for texmf.cnf, which
is the file that defines all search paths for later use, naturally cannot be
specified in the file, but is fixed at compile time.
Debian-specific information about TeX packages
generated from $Id: TeX-on-Debian.sgml 2004 2006-12-06 20:42:11Z frn $debian-tex-maint@lists.debian.org