David Huggins-Daines <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Is the dependency on gsfonts | xfntscl too bogus? (It needs Type 1 fonts
> to be at all useful, and the demonstration program "xglyph" in t1lib0-bin
> will spit out rude error messages if it can't see any fonts).
I'm just a new guy, but I think it should be downgraded to "Suggests",
if even that.
The question is "does t1lib require these particular fonts so strongly
that the user should be forced -- or nearly so -- to install them?" I
say no, because:
- there are other sources of Type1 fonts in the Debian distribution:
freefont, sharefont, acroread, and perhaps other packages all
contain Type 1 fonts.
- Users might have their own fonts. I have plenty of Type1 fonts on
my system, and I don't have either gsfonts or xfntscl installed.
I've been wanting a package of t1lib, and I'll be very annoyed if
I have to install fonts I neither want nor need just to satisfy
dpkg.
- t1lib might be used by an application to provide *optional* Type 1
support (see xmbdfed and its relationship to freetype1). It's bad
enough an uninterested user will have to install the library; they
should not be forced to install unwanted fonts too.
- t1lib might be used by an application to render its own custom
fonts only; once again, why force the user to install a package he
doesn't need?
- t1lib might be used by a console-only program, in which case it
might be inappropriate to require fonts which are clearly
associated with X.
I would say that the only appropriate time to depend on a font package
is when the depending program needs one of the specific fonts that is
in that package.
A quick check through /var/lib/dpkg/available shows the following
about font dependencies:
- the strongest dependency on xfntscl, freefonts, or sharefonts is
"Suggests"
- the strongest dependency on xfntbase (probably the most likely
package to contain fonts a program requires) is "Recommends"
- the strongest dependency on gsfonts (even by Ghostscript itself!)
is "Recommends"
- the GIMP "Depends" on xfnt75 and xfnt100, but otherwise the
strongest dependency on those is also "Recommends"
--Rob
--
Rob Tillotson N9MTB Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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