[texhax] bug report documentation: Fonts for LATEX on OS X (2nd version)

Wed Jan 30 12:17:59 CET 2008

I will also add notes and correct the misprints. This will be over  
the weekend or early next week. My work schedule is pretty much  
impossible right now. At this time, I intend to keep the current  
document online on my personal web site for its reference value, but  
will add in the next few days a disclaimer about its it being  
outdated, its value as starting point and its need for adaption.

I have thought about reworking the document, but as Bruno points out,  
font conversion is very time consuming and the goal of having font  
flexibility can be much more easily accomplished with XeTeX.

I am not against a complete update, but because of job pressures  
would not be able to consider getting started until sometime in late- 
March, about two months from now.

On Jan 30, 2008, at 2:24 AM, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> The original author was me, and yes I could correct the two  
> misprints, but that wouldn't make much sense: the tutorial was  
> written in end-2003 and has not been updated much since;  
> accordingly, most of it has either become obsolete or requires  
> significant adaptation. Updating some parts and not others would be  
> a bit pointless.
>
> The tutorial was originally just a post to the OS X TeX list. Bob  
> Kerstetter decided to transform it into a document, first in LaTeX  
> then converted to HTML format. I hand-edited the HTML output and  
> Bob together with Wendy McKay put it online.
>
> I had said from the beginning that I wouldn't be able to keep the  
> tutorial current (owing to lack of time), that I expected it would  
> become a community effort. Bob Kerstetter volunteered to maintain it.
>
> In my view the document is provided as is, with the understanding  
> that it's not current and some adaptation by the reader is  
> required. If that's indeed a problem, then I would recommend to  
> just put the tutorial offline.
>
> Personally I'm not much in this font stuff anymore. When serious  
> font issues are involved I'm using XeTeX, and most of the time I'm  
> perfectly happy using Textures which allows me to concentrate on  
> content and forget about this high-profile but so time-consuming  
> TeX hacking.
>
> Below is a post I made to the OS X TeX list yesterday, followed by  
> the two requests from Steve and Karl.
>
> Bruno
>
>
> Le 29 janv. 08 à 09:09, Bruno Voisin a écrit :
>
>> Le 29 janv. 08 à 08:37, Axel E. Retif a écrit :
>>
>>> As requested, I'm forwarding your message to the TeX on Mac OS X  
>>> mailing list:
>>>
>>> http://email.esm.psu.edu/mailman/listinfo/macosx-tex
>>>
>>>> From: Jeffrey Bolden
>>>> Date: 28 January, 2008 13:46:43
>>>> To: support at tug.org
>>>> Subject: [texhax] bug report documentation: Fonts for LATEX on  
>>>> OS X (2nd version)
>>>>
>>>> For the MacTeX distribution from you all there is a file on font  
>>>> installation: called Installing Fonts for LATEX on OS X
>>>> located in TeX/TeXtras/Documentation/Fonts/fonttutorial- 
>>>> current.html
>>>>
>>>> Inside this document there is a short script given:
>>>>
>>>> input fontint.sty
>>>> \latinfamily{fxm}{}
>>>> \bye
>>>>
>>>> This program doesn't work the first line needs to be:
>>>> \input fontinst.sty %% bold is lost; changes are backslash and  
>>>> ``s''. Axel
>>>> \latinfamily{fxm}{}
>>>> \bye
>>>> (2 changes in bold)
>>>>
>>>> It's a minor thing but since this is a key step its probably  
>>>> worth correcting.
>>
>> Yes these are indeed two typos. My fault. I've also met situations  
>> (for dingbats fonts) where the fontinst instructions need to be  
>> amended, but that was ages ago and I don't remember (having not  
>> used fontinst since).
>>
>> However the "current" in the URL is misleading: I haven't updated  
>> the tutorial since writing it in end-2003, and won't: keeping it  
>> current would mean too much work, and require time I don't have.
>>
>> I'm cc'ing your remark to Bob Kerstetter, who took maintenance  
>> over, and Wendy McKay, who takes care of the Mac section of the  
>> TUG web site.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Bruno Voisin
>>
>> =================================================
>> Bruno Voisin
>> Laboratory of Geophysical and Industrial Flows
>> LEGI, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble Cedex 9, France
>> Phone: +33 4 76 82 50 45
>> Fax: +33 4 76 82 52 71
>> Email: Bruno.Voisin at hmg.inpg.fr / bvoisin at mac.com
>> Web: www.legi.hmg.inpg.fr/~voisin/english.html
>> =================================================
>
>
>
> Le 30 janv. 08 à 03:53, Steve Peter a écrit :
>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> From: Philip TAYLOR <Philip-and-LeKhanh at Royal-Tunbridge-Wells.Org>
>>> Date: January 29, 2008 3:34:41 AM EST
>>> To: Jeffrey Bolden <jbolden at pica9.com>
>>> Cc: webmaster at tug.org, support at tug.org
>>> Subject: Re: [texhax] bug report documentation: Fonts for LATEX  
>>> on OS X (2nd version)
>>>
>>> Jeffrey Bolden wrote:
>>>
>>>> For the MacTeX distribution from you all there is a file on font
>>>> installation: called�Installing Fonts for LATEX on OS�X
>>>> located in�TeX/TeXtras/Documentation/Fonts/fonttutorial- 
>>>> current.html
>>>>
>>>> Inside this document there is a short script given:
>>>>
>>>> input fontint.sty
>>>> \latinfamily{fxm}{}
>>>> \bye
>>>
>>> Sadly true : this is true even for the Tug.Org copy, at
>>>
>>> 	http://www.tug.org/mactex/fonts/fonttutorial-current.html
>>>
>>> which reads (copy-and-paste)
>>>
>>>> Creating the TFM, VF and FD files
>>>>
>>>> Consider now that you have to create the support files yourself.  
>>>> Two tools allow this: fontinst, described in the fontinst  
>>>> manual, and afm2tfm, described in the dvips manual. Both tools  
>>>> are included in gwTEX.
>>>>
>>>> The standard procedure for creating OT1, T1 and TS1 metrics,  
>>>> described in the Font Installation Guide, is based on fontinst.  
>>>> Going back to the Example font, create, in the same folder as  
>>>> the AFM files, a new file called fxm-drv.tex say, and containing  
>>>> the lines:
>>>>
>>>> input fontint.sty
>>>> \latinfamily{fxm}{}
>>>> \bye
>>>
>>> Webmaster at Tug.Org notified, but no idea who is responsible
>>> for providing the original document.
>>>
>>> Philip TAYLOR
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
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>>> Human mailing list managers: postmaster at tug.org
>
>
> Le 29 janv. 08 à 23:23, Karl Berry a écrit :
>
>> Typo report in fonttutorial-current ... Bruno, Bob, anyone?
>>
>> Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:46:43 -0500
>> From: Jeffrey Bolden <jbolden at pica9.com>
>>
>> ____
>>
>> For the MacTeX distribution from you all there is a file on font
>> installation: called Installing Fonts for LATEX on OS X
>> located in TeX/TeXtras/Documentation/Fonts/fonttutorial-current.html
>>
>> Inside this document there is a short script given:
>>
>> input fontint.sty
>> \latinfamily{fxm}{}
>> \bye
>>
>> This program doesn't work the first line needs to be:
>> \input fontinst.sty
>> \latinfamily{fxm}{}
>> \bye
>>  (2 changes in bold)
>>
>> It's a minor thing but since this is a key step its probably worth
>> correcting.
>>
>> Thanks for your time,
>>
>> Jeffrey Bolden
>> Director of Research and Development
>> Pica9, Inc.
>> (914) 908-4540, x126
>> jbolden at pica9.com
>> --
>> http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/mactex

Bob Kerstetter
http://homepage.mac.com/bkerstetter/