2012/8/8 Ulrike Fischer <ne...@nililand.de>: > Am Wed, 8 Aug 2012 09:52:25 +0200 schrieb Paul Isambert: > > >>> I personally don't care much *how* e.g. open type fonts are handled. >>> The "typesetting engine" can use an external library, lua-files, or >>> some library included in the binary. I care only *if* the core >>> engine itself, the part advertised on the webpage, can handle the >>> fonts like a bare xetex can handle them. >>> >>> Sorry, but can you imagine that a typesetting engine can thrive >>> which must say on its webpage "I'm a wonderful tex engine based on >>> unicode but if you want to use open type fonts you will have to >>> write or adapt a lot of complicated code first".? >> >> Honestly, yes :) >> That's what TeX is to me anyway: a wonderful system that requires a lot >> of hard work. >> >> On http://www.luatex.org/roadmap.html, you can read: >> >> There are two solutions for handling fonts: using the internal >> functions that do what TeX has always done, or write a Lua function >> that does a different job. As there are multiple solutions possible >> and as we expect macro packages to have their own ways of dealing >> with fonts, there is not one solution for dealing with fonts anyway. >> Also, TeXies have always wanted full control over matters, and this >> is provided by the Lua solution. > > But allowing packages or formats to write and use their own code for > open type fonts doesn't mean that the "luatex project" can ignore > open type fonts completly. The fact that latex users can write > beautiful and powerful packages e.g. for tabulars don't mean that > the latex kernel don't have to provide code for tabulars. > > I don't ask that a font loader should be included in the binary. A > lua package which you can use in the font callback is fine. It is > also okay if you need to adapt a configuration file before use e.g. > to get it working with your texsystem or your os. The main point is > that a working, default open type font loader should exist at all. > That's why most users do not compile TeX from sources and do not pick files from CTAN but use TeX distributions. Such system dependent modifications are already done there. > >> In a few years, TeX users will have sprouted new wizards that'll deal >> with fonts like the current wizards play with \output and \expandafter. > > Two years ago I would have said this too. But now I doubt it. > Opentype fonts are much more complicated that some expandafters or > the latex output routine. Also - more importantly - I see none of > the needed discussion going on. > When I started to work with TeX, literature could not be bought in Czechoslovakia. I could not read the TeXbook. I looked into well documented packages from the Mainz distribution. Reading an explanation how a trick was solved using \expandafter I understood how it works and became able to use it. On the contrary I have tried several times to read the Indic OpenType specification but I still understand nothing. Adding full OpenType + AAT + Graphite support to luaotfload will not be an easy task.
> -- > Ulrike Fischer > http://www.troubleshooting-tex.de/ > > > > -------------------------------------------------- > Subscriptions, Archive, and List information, etc.: > http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/xetex -- Zdeněk Wagner http://hroch486.icpf.cas.cz/wagner/ http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz -------------------------------------------------- Subscriptions, Archive, and List information, etc.: http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/xetex