[Pkg-fonts-devel] ttf-lang-* virtual packages

[Adrian von Bidder]

Yo over there on d-policy!

Explanation: we're discussing how to better organize fonts in Debian.  One 
idea is to use virtual packages to have fonts specify their supported 
charsets and/or languages in a ttf-lang-* and/or ttf-charset-* virtual 
package name space.  Amongst others, the ability of input methods to 
recommend (or depend?) on proper fonts was mentioned as an advantage of 
this.

On Sunday 19 March 2006 09:06, Christian Perrier wrote:
> We request for the creation of virtual packages named
> ttf-lang-<langname> so that all font packages that are targeted for
> the supprot of a given language can add a "Provides" on the relevant
> virtual package(s).
>
> The only drawback here is that virtual packages creation is a process
> that is quite precisely defined in
> http://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/virtual-package-names-list.tx
>t and we would need to request for the creation of *a lot* of virtual
> packages...:-)

Well,  I guess we need input from the policy gods here ;-)

> If these virtual packages are accepted, then our font packages naming
> policy would say:
>
> Font packages are to be named after the name of the font or font
> family included in the package and should add a "Provides" field
> listing the ttf-lang-* packages they provide support for.

Again, note for the d-policy folks who have not followed this discussion so 
far: this is a very early basis for discussion - exact rules will need to 
be worked out.  (Personal note: I'm not sure if we should do this in the 
ttf-* namespace.  If X is configured properly, ttf-* and t1-* - and maybe 
even xfont-* - should make no difference.  Yes, I proposed the ttf-* 
thingy, but I warned you it was just an idea out of the blue...)

cheers
-- vbi

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