Re: sfnt wrapped PostScript CID fonts [was: Sfnt wrapped sbit support(i.e. TrueType without outline)]

[David Turner]

Hi Tom,

> 
> Reading about the sfnt "wrapped" CID fonts, I realized that there is
> another form of CID fonts out there: Adobe has PostScript CID fonts
> wrapped in a sfnt resource (this is for the Macintosh)
> 
> Just, I am wondering: how hard is it for the macfond module to read
> such a font?
> 
> Also, one can save such a font out into a data fork file (to make it
> like a Windows/UNIX TrueType font.  So, theoretically, these fonts
> might be useful for Linux/UNIX users out there...
> 
> David, how hard would it be to add support for these types of fonts?
> The version at the head of the sfnt is 'typ1', and you'll know if it
> has PostScript CID data if there is a 'CID ' table, but no 'TYP1'
> table.  Adobe has a tech note which describes in more detail what a
> sfnt wrapped PostScript CID font is.
> 
I don't know yet if this would be difficult or not to support. I suppose
it wouldn't given that the code is relatively modular. I need to look at
the Adobe document to be more accurate.

However, I have serious doubts regarding the usefulness of supporting
such convoluted formats that are dedicated to specific environments.
Isn't it possible to support these files via a custom stream
(like Type 42 fonts can be supported as normal TrueType files as
long as you write a custom stream used to extract the data from the
Postscript wrapper ??)

Regards,

- David

> Tom