[TETEX 643] Another problem with tetex/dvips

[Thomas Esser]

>  Awful: I have hunderds of pk fonts already made (e.g. the DC1.3 of sizes
> 0500 0600 0700 0800 0900 1000 1095 1200 1440 1728 20pts 25pts 30pts 36pts
> 43pts 51.60pts plus some others not at 300pk but 360pk 418pk, plus the sames
> in the 600 dpi resolution: I need to be able to put them inside the TDS
> structure.

You told me, you have read the documentation. Cannot be:

- TETEXDOC: 3.6 point 3.
    \item Import font files from a different \TeX -Installation.  This can
      be done through the program {\tt fontimport}. We even provide a
      ...

- fontimport(1):

       ...
       fontimport imports font files  into  the  teTeX  directory
       tree  and  copies  them  to their appropriate places. With
       given -d flag the files are deleted  in  the  other  place
       afterwards.
       ...

- teTeX FAQ: 

    12) Is there an easy way to copy .tfm or .pk fonts from a temporal directory
        to their standard directory below $TEXMF?

        Yes. Use the fontimport utility...

So, please stop to ask questions that are well explained in the
documentation!

The solution is so easy. Run
  fontimport .
in the directory containing the fonts to import.

fontimport is a simple shell-script that allows to "import" tfm and pk
files. It can copy or move the files to their proper TDS location. It
uses the fontname maps and inspects pk files to find out their mode
if possible.

> > Why did I never see any posting of you in the TDS list? You seem to
> > have major problems in accepting that structure.
> 
>  Because I did not know there was a list. And because I (and many other

You asked me about TDS and I directed you to the TDS manual. The *is* the
adress of the mailinglist. On the first page of that paper:

   Please send questions or suggestions by email to
   \literal{twg-tds@shsu.edu} or by postal mail to Karl Berry / 135 Center
   Hill Road / Plymouth, MA\ \ 02360 / USA\@. We welcome all comments.

> French people consider, after experiment, that TDS is NOT a good thing for
> practical use: my feeling is that TDS is good for CTAN postings, so that you

Oh, you are speaking for all French people... It seems to me, that you
should read some docs, before you can have an opinion about TDS.

> can find out what is "latex"-related, what is "plain"-related, what is
> DC-related, etc. But of local implementation and local updated, having a
> straight TFM directory, s atraight PK directory and a straight TEXINPUT
> directory is much better.

You can easily drop-in new stuff, but you never find out which files
belong logically together.

>  Of course this seems in contradiction with your philosophy: you provide
> teTeX as a READY-TO-USE thing, a black box NEVER to be changed as Word n.p!
> But practical users need everyday to add new fonts (greek, cambodgian,
> music, pictograpms of any kind) and they want to add new styles (french.sty,
> revtex.sty, jphys.sty, anything.sty...). This means that I (and many others)
> want to have an OPEN tool box, not a CLOSED black box! This is the
> explanation of my requests and disagreements.

No, just because I want to make adding/removing things easier, I decided
to go the TDS way.

Thomas