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Fedora Fonts
Fedora Fonts

The Fonts SIG could have been named the Text or Typography SIG. While fonts are a large part of what we do, our actual scope is larger.


Activities

The Fonts Special Interest Group is an informal group of Fedora Linux contributors. It is dedicated to improving fonts availability and text rendering/layouting in the distribution and its other Linux derivatives.

Join us and help:

Fonts SIG activities
Activity OS Developer Translator Content Writer Designer People Person
  • package new fonts and font tools,
  • review font packages before Fedora inclusion,
  • fix font or text problems in applications and libraries,
  • propose good Fedora fonts defaults,
  • identify font or text problems in applications and libraries,
  • improve font package descriptions and summaries to help users choose the right fonts for their needs,
  • convince foundries to release fonts under a free/libre Fedora-friendly license,
  • recruit possible free/libre font authors,
  • recruit new SIG members,
  • get font or text problems fixed,
  • improve the SIG visibility by getting it linked and quoted everywhere,
  • document font creation tasks,
  • document free/libre font release best practices,
  • document free/libre font packaging,
  • clarify, complete and improve our wiki,
  • identify interesting third-party material, and link it here,
  • convert wiki information to other document formats.


Any font or text-related activity can be tackled, as long as the result is free/libre and compatible with the Fedora objectives.

The current SIG task list is published here.

Joining

The Fonts SIG adheres to the same standards as the rest of the Fedora Project, which means there is some amount of formal process. Don't let this put you off. However. You are more than welcome on the SIG list or in any of our other forums.


Ask the list
If you have any problems with the following steps, post a question to the list. The members are happy to help you with any problems you might have, and you will likely get an answer in just a few minutes or hours.


Steps to join the Fonts SIG
Subscribe to the main SIG list:
  • the bugs list is optional,
  • sending a self introduction message is appreciated, but lurking for a while is perfectly ok.
Become familiar with the SIG:
Sign up for a Fedora account:
  • the account system has many benefits; it helps us maintain our Free and Open Source status,
  • you'll need an account for wiki editing, which is required for most SIG activities,
  • the account system page includes FAQs and other helpful information.
And if you intend to do some packaging:
  • apply to the packager group by clicking the Apply! button there once you've completed the Fedora account sign-up step,
    • this request will be acted on at the end of the review of your first packages.
  • obtain an account in Red Hat's Bugzilla:
    • fedora bugs and packaging reviews are tracked there,
    • please use the same address you used to create your Fedora account (not the foo@fedoraproject alias).
  • follow the general new Fedora packager process. Don't panic:
    • you'll have already taken care of many steps,
    • the fonts packaging section will always list the most important font-related packaging informations.
Optionally, you can also:
  • join the ##fonts IRC channel on irc.freenode.net and discuss free/open fonts there:
    • the SIG is composed of people living in many different parts of the world; they won't be available every hour of the day. The list is slower but safer.
    • the channel is shared with other distributions, every user won't be Fedora-oriented.
  • follow the SIG activity on the bugs list:
    • there are many ways to do so, since the list is read-only consulting an archive periodically is fine.
  • add the Fonts SIG members category to your Fedora wiki homepage.
  • apply to the fedorabugs group by clicking the Apply! button there once you're a cvsextras member, to get package reviewer powers.
  • add yourself to planet open fonts.
Choose something to do, and announce it on the list:
  • for example, take care of some items in our packaging wishlist,
  • this is a great way to get started in the project. It lets everyone know what you would like to work on, and they can advise you on the best way forward


Remember, you choose your form and level of commitment, and the list is here to help. The more people will appreciate your activities, the more likely they'll be to support you.


Communication

Mailing lists

Fonts SIG mailing lists
Mailing list name Intended use Web archives
Source Gmane MarkMail The mail archive
fonts
  • Main SIG coordination channel, for human discussions.
  • Post your questions and proposals there.
 Archives Archives Feed-icon-14x14.png Archives Archives
fonts-bugs
  • Automated tracking of font and text issues.
  • Consult it to follow new problem reports and fixes, CC it in issue trackers.
  • Read only archiving list:
    • do not post messages there, use the other list
    • you can follow this archive via digests, internet archives, etc
 Archives Archives Feed-icon-14x14.png Archives Archives


IRC

We do not have a dedicated IRC channel right now; the general low-traffic ##fonts channel on irc.freenode.net should be used instead. It is shared by all the FLOSS font groups and is distribution-agnostic.

External references

  • The freedesktop.org text layout working group regularly publishes materials on present and future state of text rendering on FLOSS desktops. They're all a must-read.
  • Ed Trager maintains the very complete unifont web site.
  • The Open Font Library is an effort to host open fonts, though all may not be free enough for Fedora.
  • Other distributions have fonts packaging projects, notably Debian and Ubuntu.

Subcategories

This category has the following 6 subcategories, out of 6 total.

F

M

N

P

Q

R

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