Bug 224527 – Fontforge build system meta-bug

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: CONFIRMED ---

[Description Peter Alfredsen (RETIRED) 2008-06-01 20:33:15 UTC]

This is a tracker bug to track the progress of introducing source-building of fonts into the Gentoo tree. In no particular order, we will have to achieve the following:
1) Fontforge keyworded on all arches that want fonts.
2) A standard set of build scripts.
3) An eclass?
4) A standard set of test scripts ?

[Comment 1 SpanKY 2008-08-16 01:21:41 UTC]

we've removed fontforge from some packages (like wine) because it tended to be a largish dependency with no advantage: if the package already comes with fonts compiled, why bother building them ?  or is there for something else ?

[Comment 2 Peter Volkov (RETIRED) 2008-08-19 10:07:52 UTC]

vapier, fonts can have bugs too and could be fixed with patches. To allow users such possibility fontforge USE flag was created (take a look at dejavu font as an example). Do you have any objections if we return fontforge dependency together with fontforge USE flag?

loki_val, media-fonts/sil-padauk bundles font sources too, so possibility to build sources there could be added too.

And general question. Is fontforge the only font build system? Are there any possibilities that other programs to build fonts will exist in the future? If so may be we should rename USE flag from fontforge to buildfonts or something similar?

[Comment 3 Barry Schwartz 2011-10-16 23:40:50 UTC]

(In reply to comment #2)
> vapier, fonts can have bugs too and could be fixed with patches. To allow users
> such possibility fontforge USE flag was created (take a look at dejavu font as
> an example). Do you have any objections if we return fontforge dependency
> together with fontforge USE flag?
> 
> loki_val, media-fonts/sil-padauk bundles font sources too, so possibility to
> build sources there could be added too.
> 
> And general question. Is fontforge the only font build system? Are there any
> possibilities that other programs to build fonts will exist in the future? If
> so may be we should rename USE flag from fontforge to buildfonts or something
> similar?

Debian is using my Sorts Mill Tools package (http://sortsmill.googlecode.com) where applicable, though this has FontForge as a dependency. I do not know of any other packages that are supplied for the sake of users wanting to rebuild fonts. (There are outline fonts made with Metafont-based tools.)

[Comment 4 Peter Volkov (RETIRED) 2011-10-21 05:17:54 UTC]

Barry as I see debian packages this tools but do they build all the fonts for distribution using Sorts Mill Tools? It looks like that they use tools to build Sorts Mill fonts but what other fonts are build with this package? BTW, are you interested to have this package in Gentoo tree?

[Comment 5 Barry Schwartz 2011-11-09 20:26:39 UTC]

(In reply to comment #4)
> Barry as I see debian packages this tools but do they build all the fonts for
> distribution using Sorts Mill Tools? It looks like that they use tools to build
> Sorts Mill fonts but what other fonts are build with this package? BTW, are you
> interested to have this package in Gentoo tree?

Sorry for the delay.

AFAIK only the Sorts Mill fonts are being built with those tools, at least at the font-generation stage. (Some might be using them for a few of the FontForge user-interface extensions.)

I’m okay with having the package (and/or the fonts) in Gentoo but not if I am the ebuild maintainer; that is due to my being disabled and so having to keep my responsibility load very low.

(I’m working on a more radical FontForge derivative, but there are no fonts made with it yet: https://bitbucket.org/chemoelectric/pureforge/overview )