Re: Fwd: Would it be reasonable to list the fonts that are available by default in groff?

[G. Branden Robinson]

At 2021-07-17T01:55:02-0400, T. Kurt Bond wrote:
> Yes, "sudo install-font.sh <fontfile>" is simpler, as long as you know
> how to answer the prompts!  I should have started there in my
> explanation.  I guess the fact that I run the script potentially
> multiple times on multiple different computers makes my usage more
> complicated.
> 
> I'll have to read the source of the script again and look at how it
> finds where the site-font directory is, and try running it the simpler
> way and write something up about that.

I'm beginning to remember why I have shied away from picking up this
task, in spite of the glory that would redound to me...

GNU/Linux distributions generally aren't going to require the
interactivity features; what a package manager needs is a script that
can be handed enough information via command-line arguments to do its
business when called from a package trigger or post-installation script.

To support end users, we'll also want to support installation of fonts
to someplace in a user's $HOME, and teach them to update (more likely,
set) their GROFF_FONT_PATH to look for fonts there.

I tried to cover this in an update to grops(1) I made last October, but
I haven't gotten any feedback on it.

commit 2813d3800e9a0f8e52f23dae46d4cf5501c6b5aa
Author: G. Branden Robinson <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com>
Date:   Sat Oct 17 10:07:47 2020 +1100

    grops(1): Improve TrueType font discussion.

    * src/devices/grops/grops.1.man (Usage/TrueType and other font formats):
      Remove dead URL to ttftot42 utility.  Update URL to fontforge tool.
      Replace much of the discussion with an example, motivated by Jordan
      Torbiak's "groff-install-font" script on GitHub Gist, of how to add
      the Roboto Slab Regular font to a user-local groff font directory (and
      how to test it, too).

    See https://gist.github.com/torbiak/3352fe1f559dbfbf99d6f5704adf442e for
    aforementioned script.

    Fixes <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?58077>.

Here's the chunk I added to the man page.

   TrueType and other font formats
       TrueType  fonts  can  be  used with grops if converted first to Type 42
       format, a PostScript wrapper equivalent to the PFA format described  in
       pfbtops(1).   Several methods exist to generate a Type 42 wrapper; some
       of them involve the use of a  PostScript  interpreter  such  as  Ghost‐
       script—see gs(1).

       One  approach is to use FontForge ⟨https://fontforge.org/⟩, a font edi‐
       tor that can convert most outline font formats.  Here’s an  example  of
       using  the  Roboto  Slab  Serif font with groff.  Several variables are
       used so that you can more easily adapt it into your own script.

           MAP=/usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/font/devps/generate/textmap
           TTF=/usr/share/fonts/truetype/roboto/slab/RobotoSlab-Regular.ttf
           BASE=$(basename "$TTF")
           INT=${BASE%.ttf}
           PFA=$INT.pfa
           AFM=$INT.afm
           GFN=RSR
           DIR=$HOME/.local/groff/font
           mkdir -p "$DIR"/devps
           fontforge -lang=ff -c "Open(\"$TTF\");\
           Generate(\"$DIR/devps/$PFA\");"
           afmtodit "$DIR/devps/$AFM" "$MAP" "$DIR/devps/$GFN"
           printf "$BASE\t$PFA\n" >> "$DIR/devps/download"

       fontforge and afmtodit may generate warnings depending on  the  attrib‐
       utes of the font.  The test procedure is simple.

           printf ".ft RSR\nHello, world!\n" | groff -F "$DIR" > hello.ps

       Once you’re satisifed that the font works, you may want to generate any
       available related styles (for instance, Roboto Slab  also  has  “Bold”,
       “Light”, and “Thin” styles) and set up GROFF_FONT_PATH in your environ‐
       ment to include the directory you keep the generated fonts in  so  that
       you don’t have to use the -F option.

I realize that remains more work than we can expect most people to do.

Regards,
Branden

signature.asc
Description: PGP signature