(Chances are very high that my message doesn't make it to the list) On Thu, 2006-08-03 at 02:41 -0400, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> > ...on the other hand, at least for bitmap fonts, simple rule-based > > substitutions set up by the font designer can easily provide the > > needed functionality with less than 5kb of code doing all the glyph > > processing. > > This is handled by the GSUB table. There are many different formats, > beginning with simple glyph replacing and ending with complex > contextual glyph substitutions. > > > Right now we're at an unfortunate point where the core X font system > > has been deprecated, but there is nothing suitable in its place. > > You should contact Keith Packard regarding this issue. I think there > is just some delay in the conversion of PCFs to SFNT due to more > important problems. > > > Moreover non-X unix consoles are essentially deprecated as well > > since they lack all but some patronizing Euro-centric 512-glyph > > "Unicode" support. Do you think someone is going to integrate > > FreeType into Linux anytime soon? :) > > Why not? FreeType is very modular by design; it would be possible to > remove almost everything but bitmap-only SFNT handling. Note, > however, that this library doesn't interpret GSUB and other advanced > OpenType tables by itself. You need Pango or something similar for > this. Or just the Open Type Layout code, which can be found in the HarfBuzz module: http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software_2fHarfBuzz However, OpenType Layout is complex, and the binary takes 100kb. > > All problem solving is about choosing the right tool for the job. > > Storing bitmap fonts in the TTF/OpenType framework is like using a > > nuclear missile to toast fruit flies, or like driving an SUV to > > commute to the office... > > You are underestimating the problem, I think. The proper bitmap > format is the least important thing, and the compact SFNT bitmap > formats are not a bad choice IMHO. Much more important is the ability > to store the glyph substitution tables efficiently. Not even that. The entire font format thing is of the least importance. The Unicode algorithms and how you want to interact with applications is the hard part and why I gave up working on bidirectional terminals. -- behdad http://behdad.org/ "Commandment Three says Do Not Kill, Amendment Two says Blood Will Spill" -- Dan Bern, "New American Language" -- Linux-UTF8: i18n of Linux on all levels Archive: http://mail.nl.linux.org/linux-utf8/
