On Mon, Mar 26, 2001 at 07:00:40PM +0300, Anton Zinoviev wrote:
> I have two comments about the X font policy.
>
> This is an excerpt from the policy:
>
> 5. Subdirectories of /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ other than those
> listed above should be neither created nor used. (The PEX and
> cyrillic directories are excepted for historical reasons, but
> installation of files into these directories remains
> discouraged.)
>
> In the recent proposal for policy change made by Branden Robinson, the
> word `should' is replaced by `must'.
>
> The policy says nothing about TrueType fonts and TrueType
> subdirectory.
That's deliberate. However, all is not lost.
> The packages sharefont and freefont (they contain non-free fonts)
> place the fonts in sharefont and freefont subdirectories. I think
> that there is good reason about this -- we don't want to make these
> fonts available to the font server by default. Isn't it better if
> each package with non-free fonts installs them in its own subdirectory
> of /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts?
No. You'll note that:
1) Say you have truetype fonts in a directory called
/usr/share/fonts/TrueType; you can just add this directory to the
"Files" section of your XF86Config. In fact, once we have a policy on
TrueType fonts, I'll modify dexconf to put such a directory into
auto-generated XF86Config files by default, and tell xfs something
similar.
2) The policy does not forbid putting *symlinks* under
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/.
TrueType fonts (and, to a lesser extent, Type1 fonts) have broader
application than just being rasterized by the X Window System. It's more
FHS-friendly to put them somewhere under /usr/share, and more logical for
programs other than X font rasterizers. Say, a program like ghostscript,
or a print spooler that uploads fonts to a PostScript printer.
[snip modifications which refer to locations for "free" fonts]
> Of cource this is not an official proposal for policy change, but only
> a question.
I don't believe that different policies should apply to fonts that are not
DFSG-free, just because they are not DFSG-free.
If you need me to elaborate, I can.
--
G. Branden Robinson |
Debian GNU/Linux | // // // / /
[EMAIL PROTECTED] | EI 'AANIIGOO 'AHOOT'E
http://www.debian.org/~branden/ |
PGP signature
