Re: Debian Font Guide for Newbies and the Confused
On Wed, Oct 15, 2003 at 01:05:44PM -0700, Tom wrote:
> I just did a clean reinstall of SID (I keep a local mirror and have it
> scripted down to 30 minutes :-)).
>
> My /var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType/fonts.alias is
> an empty file.
>
> Here's the the contents of that directory:
> # ls /var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType/
> fonts.alias fonts.scale VeraIt.ttf VeraMoIt.ttf VeraSe.ttf
> fonts.cache-1 VeraBd.ttf VeraMoBd.ttf VeraMono.ttf Vera.ttf
> fonts.dir VeraBI.ttf VeraMoBI.ttf VeraSeBd.ttf
>
> I had been running mkfontalias.py which created "480 aliases".
> I noticed I set GTK1 font to Vera-8 and fonts looked "different"
> (bigger) in gbuffy.
>
> Why is fonts.alias empty? IMHO they looked better before.
I figured out the mystery: mkfontalias.py CHEATS; defoma's empty
fonts.alias is correct; however, mkfontalias.py is more DE-UGLIFIED.
mkfontalias.py creates aliases of the form:
"-bitstream-bitstream vera serif-medium-r-normal--6-60-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1" "-bitstream-bitstream vera
serif-medium-r-normal--9-90-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1"
"-bitstream-bitstream vera serif-medium-r-normal--7-70-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1" "-bitstream-bitstream vera
serif-medium-r-normal--9-90-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1"
"-bitstream-bitstream vera serif-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1" "-bitstream-bitstream vera
serif-medium-r-normal--9-90-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1"
"-bitstream-bitstream vera serif-medium-r-normal--9-90-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1" "-bitstream-bitstream vera
serif-medium-r-normal--9-90-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1"
"-bitstream-bitstream vera serif-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1" "-bitstream-bitstream vera
serif-medium-r-normal--10-100-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1"
[snip similar]
I.E., it specifically lies about font sizes 6,7,8. The end result is
without it, Bitstream Vera Sans-8 looks awkward and ungainly in GTK1
apps; with it, it's more eye-pleasing.
I learned about mkfontalias.py months back from the various literature;
such as http://www.paulandlesley.org/linux/xfree4_tt.html; it seems to
have disappeared off the web.
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