A Linux installation typically contains several independent sets of fonts or font metrics. A quick glance at my system shows fonts or font metrics spread across the following directories:
XFree86 stores its fonts in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Ghostscript stores its fonts in /usr/lib/ghostscript/fonts/TeX stores its fonts in /usr/lib/texmf/fonts/kbd package stores its fonts in /usr/share/consolefonts/Groff stores its metrics in /usr/share/font/devps/Enscript (ASCII to PostScript converter) stores its metrics
in /usr/share/enscript/*.afmNeedless to say, these fonts are not coordinated.
TrueType fonts are designed to eliminate this problem by allowing the same font files to be used for both display and printing. This HOW-TO attempts to show how to use TrueType fonts for display, printing, and document preparation on Debian GNU/Linux systems.
The information in this document is, to the best of my knowledge, correct. However this HOWTO is still in preliminary versions and what works for me may not work for you. Even if it does work for you, I am not a professional technical writer and I have been known to gloss over critical details.
So have fun, but play it safe and keep backups.
Created by Bear Giles,
<[email protected]>
Thanks go to:
<[email protected]>, who
wrote the
(preliminary) TrueType HOW-TO (http://pobox.com/~brion/linux/TrueType-HOWTO.html)
<[email protected]>,
who wrote the
XFree86 Font Deuglification HOW-TO (http://www.frii.com/~meldroc/Font-Deuglification.html)
These links don't directly discuss Debian systems or packages, but they may still be interesting to readers of this mini-HOWTO.
(http://www.kegel.com/linux/tt.html)
(http://www.hex.net/~cbbrowne/xfonts.html)
(http://king.ccrc.wustl.edu/~zubin/fonts.html)
(http://www.mindspring.net/~john_mcl/adding_fonts.html)
Comments, corrections, additions and critiques are always welcome. You can reach me at [email protected].
The FreeType engine is a free and portable TrueType font rendering engine. The code is a clean-room implementation that is totally independent of the Apple and Microsoft implementations. (A question has recently been raised about a possible Apple patent, however.) FreeType is a library, not a font server or a complete text rendering library.
This is the first draft and I expect it to change significantly
after publication, I ask that you refer to the latest version
at
http://www.dimensional.com/~bgiles/debian-tt.html.
The permanent home for this document will eventually be at
http://www.coyotesong.com/