On 11/5/07, Darren Dale <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > If we go the route of > > > wrapping the API (which would be better anyway, since then we could look > > > for fonts in our own custom font directory), it would just be like the > > > existing dependencies on freetype and libpng. Not a big deal, really, > > > but it adds an additional maintenance burden on those Windows > > > dependencies.
My inclination is to try and fix font_manager. Paul's goal was to implement the W3C specification for cross-platform font finding, which seems like a good starting point. So far, I've heard two complaints about the current setup: font_manager will throw up its hands and return a default if an exact match fails rather than returning the closest (this doesn't seem too hard to improve upon in the existing framework) and we do not have support for OpenType (not sure how hard this would be to add). Are there other problems? While I am sympathetic to the desire to depend on standard, maintained-by-someone-else, packages, I am also sympathetic to the problems of users on a variety of platforms who are currently finding mpl hard to build and install ( I had my own troubles on a new box this weekend). If everyone were on ubuntu, life would be great, but in the current environment adding a dependency (fontconfig) which also has a dependency (xml parser) is a lot to take on. I am definitely -1 on calling out to the command line. So if the consensus is that we really need fontconfig, I would be inclined to wrap the API and bring it in as an optional build dependency. Nadia looked at this at one point: having a repository of dependencies which the mpl could grab, unpack and build if needed. A general solution for zlib, png, freetype and possibly fontconfig and friends would be a welcome addition for OS X and win32 users. JDH ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Still grepping through log files to find problems? Stop. Now Search log events and configuration files using AJAX and a browser. Download your FREE copy of Splunk now >> http://get.splunk.com/ _______________________________________________ Matplotlib-devel mailing list Matplotlib-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/matplotlib-devel
