World domination plans!
This page consolidates all the Fedora 11 changes proposed to the Fonts SIG so they can be discussed properly.
Bump font tools versions
As has been done previously, the tools used to build fonts (fontforge, xgridfit…) will be updated:
- at the start of the Fedora 11 cycle
- as needed during the rest of the development cycle
- just before Fedora 11 Freeze
- and hopefully not later
Every font packager is supposed to have rebuilt his fonts with the pre-freeze versions before the repository is frozen so we're sure no regression lurks and our builds can be reproduced with the tools published at release time.
Package naming
foofont variations
A few font packages do not use our strict foo-fonts naming yet but some other variation. They could be fixed.
Foundry names in font packages
Our font package naming is a lot more consistent than it used to be. Unfortunately with the repository growth some little problems have crept in. SIL fonts, for example, are alternatively named foo-fonts, sil-foo-fonts, foo-sil-fonts. This is confusing for users and new packagers.
For Fedora 11, we could adopt a strict foundry_name-font_name-fonts rule.
Exceptions and other gray cases:
- when foundry_name = font_name (for example for dejavu) there's probably no need for repetition
- should we register every Open Font Library package as oflb-foo-fonts? Or should we try to differentiate them by author?
- how should we treat fonts not published in a big site? Add a prefix preventively (for example thibault, levien…)? Exempt them?
Split big font packages on font family lines
When we had few fonts big font packs were no problem. Users had little choice and just installed everything anyway. Nowadays, with a bigger offering, big font packs mean that a user wanting one font in pack A and another in pack B, will have to pull all the other fonts in both packs.
For Fedora 9 and 10 we've asked packagers to consider splitting new packages to avoid this problem (leaving the actual split to the packager discretion). It seems this request is confusing and packagers just end up splitting along font family lines anyway.
For Fedora 11, we could make this a clear rule, and apply it to historic packages. This has been done for the dejavu package, to proof the concept.
(The "s" in -fonts would then ultimately be a lie, but is it a big problem?)
To avoid duplicating files, we could make each subpackage depend on a -common or -doc package.
Use strict lowercase names
For consistency, since font names appear in various casings in font metadata, file names, project pages, and it's useless to try to find the "best" one font per font, font packages could adopt the most common convention, and just use lowercase in package names (like others big distributions do).
Consolidated view
All those rules would result in something like this. Please complete and comment (TEX font packages not listed because they are hopeless in their current form).
| Current name | Name change | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| edrip-fonts | apanov-edrip-fonts | Prepare for other fonts by Andrey Panov |
| kacst-fonts | arabeyes-kacst-fonts | Maybe also needs splitting? |
| bitstream-vera-fonts |
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| fonts-hebrew-fancy | culmus-fancy-fonts | Why wasn't it renamed with culmus? |
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| ecolier-court-fonts | Is it worth splitting? | |
| freefont |
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| ghostscript-fonts | Needs to be split but at the same time finding OTF replacements would probably be better | |
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kpld.net fonts |
| inconsolata-fonts | levien-inconsolata-fonts | Prepare for other Levien font packages |
| liberation-fonts |
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| mathml-fonts | ??? | Needs to be split or killed |
| mgopen-fonts |
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Magenta open fonts |
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Open Font Library packages |
| paktype-fonts | Seems it needs some update and splitting | |
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SIL packages |
| thaifonts-scalable |
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| tiresias-fonts |
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Since upstream proposes separate archives, should never have been packaged in a single rpm |
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Someone needs to check those (renaming, splits…) |
Comps
Our font package number is getting high, so splitting the @fonts group may be a good idea.
insert cool split proposal here
Also, it's probably a good idea to create a few comps group for related font packages (@sil-fonts, @gfs-fonts, @dejavu-fonts, @kpld-fonts, etc). Groups with less than ten packages are not unknown in Fedora history.
insert minimal number of packages for a fonts group to be viable
Fontconfig
A packaging guideline change has been proposed to make font and fontconfig packages follow the same rules. It's on hold while upstream answers an FHS question.
The Fonts SIG takes loving care of Fedora fonts. Please join this special interest group if you are interested in creating, improving, packaging, or just suggesting a font. Any help will be appreciated.