[Pkg-fonts-devel] fontconfig author and WOFF

[Bobby de Vos]

Greetings,

I talked with Keith Packard, the author of fontconfig while at DebConf.
He thinks the following should be done regarding the issue of where to
place WOFF files.

* FreeType should be enhanced to so it can tell fontconfig which fonts
are in WOFF containers, and prioritize TrueType before WOFF.
* If a Debian package ships a TrueType file, do not place the WOFF file
where fontconfig can find it.
* Upgrade xdvipdfmx so that it can read a WOFF, strip off the header,
and uncompress the TrueType data.

This means that there should not be a fontconfig configuration file to
exclude WOFFs. He said some font designers may only release WOFF, so
WOFF needs to be handled.

If a package includes a TrueType (or I would add OpenType file) do not
place the WOFF file where fontconfig can find it. He suggested the
location /usr/share/sil/<packagename> which I think could be changed to
/usr/share/<packagename>/woff which Fabian suggested.

So while this might be agreeable to Fabian, I think Jonas would not be
pleased, so I merely wish to communicate what Keith and I discussed in
person.

Thanks, Bobby

-- 
Bobby de Vos
/bobby_devos at sil.org/