Bug#1043271: Break out monospace to a fonts-dejavu-mono binary
Package: src:fonts-dejavu
Version: 2.37-6
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-Cc: gunnarhj@debian.org
Hi!
The fonts-dejavu-core package covers serif and sans-serif as well as
monospace fonts. For better flexibility, so you easier can mix fonts
from different packages, I would like to propose that the monospaced
variants are broken out into a new fonts-dejavu-mono binary.
The reason for my request is that I'm currently involved in an overhaul
of the set of font packages which are installed by default in the Ubuntu
desktop. For several years Ubuntu has shipped fonts-dejavu-core, but now
fonts-noto-core is about to be shipped by default, and having both is
not optimal from a fontconfig POV.
I have thought about various ways to deal with this situation, and since
Ubuntu wants to keep DejaVu Sans Mono for now, creating a new binary for
the monospaced fonts seems to be a sensible step. The thought is that
fonts-dejavu-core would recommend fonts-dejavu-mono, so the change
shouldn't result in any disruption. If a user, who has the old version
of fonts-dejavu-core installed, upgrades, APT will pull
fonts-dejavu-mono and with that make sure that previously installed font
files are not dropped as a result of the upgrade. Similarly, when
fonts-dejavu-core is a build dependency (example: pango1.0), also
fonts-dejavu-mono will become included in the build environment.
And, needless to say, the user would have the option to install
fonts-dejavu-mono only.
I will submit a merge request which details how the proposed breakout
can be accomplished.
--
Cheers,
Gunnar Hjalmarsson
Reply to: