Re: [Groff] Times-Roman v. Nimbus Roman No9 L Regular.

[Ted Harding]

On 03-May-2016 08:51:32 Ralph Corderoy wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> By default, groff uses Times Roman, as I'd expect.
> 
>     $ groff <<<'hello world!' | grep Times
>     %%DocumentNeededResources: font Times-Roman
>     %%IncludeResource: font Times-Roman
>     /address@hidden ENC0/Times-Roman RE
>     /F0 10/address@hidden SF(hello w)72 12 Q(orld!)-.1 E 0 Cg EP
>     $
> 
> But on most of our systems, that font's unavailable and another is used
> in its place.
> 
>     $ fc-match Times-Roman
>     n021003l.pfb: "Nimbus Roman No9 L" "Regular"
>     $
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimbus_Roman_No._9_L says
> 
>     Although the characters are not exactly the same, Nimbus Roman No.
>     9 L has metrics almost identical to Times
> 
> The "almost" niggles.  :-)
> 
> Running GhostScript's ps2pdf(1) embeds the Nimbus substitute, so even
> those with Times won't see it.  (Unless the embedded font is a fallback;
> I haven't examined the PDF enough to see;  `qpdf -qdf'.)
> 
> Should I be telling groff that I want to use those Nimbus fonts so it
> uses their metrics rather than the "almost identical" Times' ones?
> 
> Cheers, Ralph.

Hi Ralph,
I think it probably is advisable, though it depends on whether
the font-metrics discrepancy makes a perceptible difference
for the sorts of document you would be producing. Certainly,
for some formatting tasks, using even slightly wrong font
metrics can sometimes make a critical difference.

I presume you already know well how to achieve the font-metrics
change, but, just in case ...

One way, of course, is simply to install Nimbus as a separate
groff font-family, and alias Times to it. A more bare-hands
approach would be:

Locate the font-file .../font/devps/TR and, so that you can
fall back to it at some later time, copy the TR file to TR.old, say.

Then, using the Nimbus metrics (which I assume you have access to)
edit the TR file so that the metrics for each character are changed.

And I suppose one should do the same for the other files of the
Times family (TB, TI, TBI).

Best wishes,
Ted.

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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <address@hidden>
Date: 03-May-2016  Time: 10:28:11
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