Re: Using arbitrary fonts

[Blake McBride]

Hi Branden,

Thanks a lot for the help!!!  However, I am having trouble interpreting
your docs.

Please forgive me.  Although I am a software engineer and have been using
nroff/troff/groff for nearly 40 years, I never really got into the details
behind fonts and their various formats.  I basically know very little about
them.  The basic fonts that come with nroff/troff/groff have generally met
my needs.

1. I am using PDF (not PS).

2.  As I mentioned, I have .otf, .ttf, .woff, and .woff2 files.  So my
question is, can I use any of those, or do I need to convert them to
another format?

2.a.  If I need to convert them, which do I start with, and what am I
converting them to?

2.b.  How do I convert them?

3.  What do I install, and where do I install them?  Is there a special
procedure besides just copying them?

4. Do I need to do something special to give them a name within an mm
context?

After all of that, doing

\f[YOURNEWFONT]Blake McBride\f[]

seems easy enough.

If I can understand this and get it working, I would be happy to produce
formal documentation for inclusion with GROFF (if desired).

Thanks!

Blake McBride




On Mon, Jan 30, 2023 at 10:20 AM G. Branden Robinson <
g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Blake,
>
> At 2023-01-30T09:28:50-0600, Blake McBride wrote:
> > I have been using the default groff fonts for many happy years.
> > However, I need to produce a document with a machine-generated
> > signature.  There are plenty of adequate signature fonts out there.
> > However, I do not know how to make groff use them.
> >
> > I downloaded a font.  It came with files with the .otf, .ttf, .woff,
> > and .woff2 extensions.  What are the exact steps I need to use to use
> > them in a groff/mm document?  (I only want one line to use the special
> > font.  The rest of the document can use the regular groff fonts.)
>
> The first thing to do is to make the font visible to the output driver,
> which will probably be "ps" or "pdf".
>
> Here are some instructions from the grops(1) page in groff Git.
>
>   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
>     Ghostscript—see gs(1).
>
>     One approach is to use FontForge, a font editor 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/text.map
>         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
>     attributes of the font.  The test procedure is simple.
>
>         printf ".ft RSR\nHello, world!\n" | groff -F "$DIR" > hello.ps
>
>     Once you’re satisfied 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 environment to include the directory you keep the generated
>     fonts in so that you don’t have to use the -F option.
>
> Ensure that you do the test procedure shown, before worrying about macro
> package integration.
>
> Once this works (please reply to the list if it doesn't), the mm usage
> issue can be tackled.
>
> > I need to produce a document with a machine-generated signature.
>
> In mm this requires some context.  Are you using one of the memorandum
> types ("MT") or one of the letter formats ("LT")?  If so I'll have do
> some digging, because the signature line is automatically printed and
> I'll need to work up a recommendation for how to override that cleanly
> (or someone who's more of an mm expert than I am may have ideas).
>
> If not, and you're outputting the signature line like any other
> formatted text, it should be straightforward.
>
> Put in a line like this.
>
> \f[YOURNEWFONT]Blake McBride\f[]
>
> ...where YOURNEWFONT is the groff name you have given to the font you
> installed using the procedure above.
>
> Let us know if this helps, or doesn't.
>
> Regards,
> Branden
>