JAC> I didn't have sufficient context to understand, but that's what I
JAC> meant to mean. I haven't studied XFree86's font guts closely... I'm
JAC> more on the user end of things.
JAC> Can the FreeType T1 backend handle more than 256 codepoints in a Type
JAC> 1 font?
We do not currently have a FreeType Type 1 backend for core fonts in
XFree86.
We do have a FreeType TrueType backend, which can handle arbitrary
numbers of codepoints (up to 2^16). The FreeType TrueType backend
uses data structures which are efficient for large numbers of
codepoints and sparse encodings (two-level lazily unrolled trees,
somewhat similar to what our kernel-level colleagues call page tables).
We also have an IBM/Lexmark Type 1 backend, which is limited to 256
codepoints per font instance. In other words: given a Type 1 font
which may potentially contain thousands of glyphs, we can present this
font using different encodings every one of which contains at most 256
codepoints.
For example: a Type 1 font may contain Latin and Cyrillic glyphs.
This font will be presented to the clients as both an ISO 8859-1 font
and a KOI8-R font. Each one of these encodings will be limited to 256
codepoints, but the total number of glyphs may be larger than 256
codpeoints.
This is an arbitrary limitation, and one that would not be too
difficult to lift. However, it would require redesigning the data
structures used in the Type 1 backend (which currently uses linear
vectors); thus, I think that it would be more productive to port the
FreeType backend to FreeType 2 (which can handle Type 1 fonts).
Juliusz
_______________________________________________
Fonts mailing list
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://XFree86.Org/mailman/listinfo/fonts
