Archive:PackagingDrafts/ReviewGuideline for fonts (2009-01-22)

Since fonts have specific packaging and legal requirements, but are often hidden deep into other stuff, make sure the packager checked for their existence (to avoid needing a new painful audit in a few releases).

The change

Add the following line to Packaging/ReviewGuidelines:

• MUST: Font files pass legal checks and are packaged according to Packaging:FontsPolicy.

Discussion

• we already have specific rules for -static and -headers
• fonts are easier to miss than headers, even experienced packagers have forgotten to look for them in the past
• fonts are quite common as the current distro audit shows
• fonts are non-trivial to package properly, we had to write specific macros because many packagers were messing up scriptlets
• the font autoinstall F11 feature assumes fonts are packaged according to guidelines and will produce unexpected results if they're not
• a broken font deployment can break all GUI apps
• fonts have been pirated before mp3 was defined and fonts which origin has not been checked by the packager are a legal risk

Notes:

Fonts in Fedora
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.