Install pdflatex

The easiest way to build a pdf file from a tex file is using the pdflatex program. Install it with:

_$: apt-get install texlive-latex-base

XeTeX

The xelatex program is already included in the texlive-xetex package, so it should be already installed. If it is not installed, do it:

_$: apt-get install texlive-xetex

Build a .pdf file from a .tex file

And once it is installed you can use it to convert your tex files:

_$: pdflatex cv.tex     # LaTeX
_$: xelatex  cv.tex     # XeTeX

If everything is all right you should see a cv.pdf document created. You can use your favourite pdf viewer to see the file you just created. For instance, using evince:

_$: evince cv.pdf

Automating the .pdf build

To automate this process (or in case you are not using some kind of LaTeX editor) you can use the following pipeline:

_$: build()
{
    pdflatex $1.tex
    evince $1.pdf &
}

_$: build cv

And you should get the same result as before.