[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Installing an X fonts package to a new FontPath.



On Tue, Sep 21, 1999 at 10:10:47PM -0700, Ralph Giles wrote:
> I'd actually prefer to see the Type1 and Truetype fonts in a
> /usr/share/fonts, and symlinked into /usr/X11R6/. Both of these formats
> are broadly useful to a variety of software, and by no means exclusive to
> X. They're architecture independent as well, so /usr/share seems like a
> good place. This idea also helps aesthetically in providing a symmetric
> place to install local fonts. (a must, IMHO, given the poor quality of
> available DFSG-free display fonts)

Nothing in my policy proposal would forbid this approach.  X doesn't care
if the stuff it finds in its font directories are symlinks or real fonts.
The proposal is meant to ensure that the stuff goes there.

However, as I said elsewhere, before mandating policy for TrueType fonts, I
want to see what upstream does.

> I suppose this moves things up a level policy-wise, but I think it's the
> best thing to do. The FHS doesn't seem to specify anything on the subject.

I am perfectly willing to participate in discussion of more general font
policy, but stuff with an impact beyond X I don't feel compelled to
dictate.

> > BTW, if Type1 fonts like this are truly sharable, I don't see much point
> > in naming the package "gsfonts-x11", but maybe that's just me.  If I get
> > started ranting on people's illogical and inconsistent package names,
> > I'll never stop.  And we've all seen how gracefully dpkg handles package
> > renames (not).
> 
> See, my proposal gets rid of the need for such packages! =)

As I said, nothing in your proposal contradicts mine.

> > I'll clarify the proposal that symlinks are acceptable as long as
> > /usr/X11R6/lib/fonts/ is not otherwise cluttered with directories.
> 
> You mean /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ ?

Yeah.

> Down at the wishlist level, I'd like to see some way to break font
> collections into directories. Things quickly get unwieldy and it would be 
> nice to have an obvious indication of what fonts came from where.

Unfortunately, X font path handling is even more onerous to fool with.
Until that changes I'd rather just have monolithic font directories.  I am
very nervous about letting font packages dick with /etc/X11/XF86Config,
/etc/X11/xfs/config, etc.  That increases the odds that something will
screw up these files and X servers are very poorly behaved when they can't
find their fonts.

-- 
G. Branden Robinson              |   Somewhere, there is a .sig so funny that
Debian GNU/Linux                 |   reading it will cause an aneurysm.  This
branden@ecn.purdue.edu           |   is not that .sig.
cartoon.ecn.purdue.edu/~branden/ |

Attachment: pgp22FCExTigt.pgp
Description: PGP signature


Reply to: