Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!ox-prg!culhua!Damian.Cugley From: Damian.Cugley@prg.ox.ac.uk (Damian Cugley) Newsgroups: comp.text.tex Subject: Re: RFC -- a TeX font naming system Message-ID: Date: 22 Apr 91 15:17:34 GMT References: <4427@undis.cs.chalmers.se> Sender: news@prg.ox.ac.uk Organization: Computing Laboratory, Oxford University, UK Lines: 43 In-reply-to: jeffrey@cs.chalmers.se's message of 19 Apr 91 07:53:16 GMT From: Alan Jeffrey Message-Id: <4427@undis.cs.chalmers.se> > The only serious problem I can see is that dvi files would no longer > be portable. For example, if you say > \newfont\thingy{pdc-dict18} > then on a Unix architecture fontname.tex converts this to > \font\thingy pdc/dict18 > whereas on a Scrungomatic 2503, fontname.tex would convert it to > \font\thingy pdc@dict18 Hum? What is fontname.tex? I was thinking in terms of using \font\titlerm = pdc-ditc18 in the TeX file or equivalently [see lfonts.tex] in LaTeX files \newfont{\titlerm}{pdc-ditc18} The system-dependent part of TEX.WEB that looks for font files would do any munging of that internally; the name kept by TeX for the DVI file ought to be able to remain unchanged. This relies on all DVI-manipulating programs either knowing of the conventions used or being configurable enough to be told so. (If the TeX-name->file-name conventions were embodied in a library module that could be used in other programs, this would be a lot easier.) > Apart from that, the main problem would be getting people to > standardize on it. Isn't this always the way? This is true. It is a pity that it never occured to the people designing TeX that it might eventually be convenient to be able to refer to more than half a dozen or so typeface families... (It also has to be said that the ideal of all (La)TeX documents being printable on all (La)TeX systems is unattainable anyway.) //- Damian Cugley ---------------------------------------------------\ || Oxford University Computing Laboratory, 11 Keble Rd, Oxford, UK || || pdc@prg.ox.ac.uk or pdc@uk.ac.ox.prg in UK DON'T PANIC! || \-------------------------------------------------------------------//