TrueType Fonts in Debian mini-HOWTO: Content Generation

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## 5. Content Generation

## 5.1 Generating `AFM` font metrics

`AFM` font metrics files are not required for display existing files with TrueType fonts, but they are necessary to create new files. The ghostscript program `/usr/lib/ghostscript/5.50/printafm.ps` could be used to generate these metric files, but I have found the `ttf2afm` program from the `tetex-bin` package to be easier to use.

The following script will generate an `afm` file for all TrueType fonts in a directory:

> `

>     #!/bin/sh

>     set -e

>     for i in *.TTF
>     do
>         /usr/bin/ttf2afm $i > ${i%TTF}afm
>     done

>     for i in *.ttf
>     do
>         /usr/bin/ttf2afm $i > ${i%ttf}afm
>     done

> `

One minor problem with `ttf2afm` is that some applications expect `afm` files to start with the `StartFontMetrics` tag, but files created by `ttf2afm` start with a comment. This "problem" is easily fixed by hitting each file with a text editor.

## 5.2 Generating `font.map` files

Once we have our `afm` files, we need to tell the system how to find them. This is often done via the `font.map` file.

I have been unable to find documentation on this file format, unlike `fonts.dir`, `fonts.scale`, and `fonts.alias`, all created by the `mkfontdir` program. However the minimum format appears to be quite simple:

- Font name, without whitespace
- `AFM` filename, without extension

Aliases appear to be implemented via multiple entries, and the filename extension must be in lowercase.

## 5.3 Image manipulation: `GIMP`

`GIMP` is the Gnu image manipulation and paint program. I did not have to make any additional changes to use TrueType fonts in `gimp`.

## 5.4 ASCII to PostScript conversion: `enscript`

`Enscript` is a program that converts ASCII to PostScript. Other programs which serve a similiar purpose are `a2ps` and `mpage`. `Enscript` allows two-up rotation, watermarks, headers, and keyword-based syntax coloring. It does not reformat text and is commonly used to print source listing.

To use TrueType fonts with `enscript`, you must do two things:

- Add `/usr/share/fonts/truetype` to your `AFMPath`.
- Specify a TrueType font, either explicitly or by aliasing a default font.

For details, see the `enscript` documentation.

Once I had made these changes, I had no problem using TrueType fonts.

## 5.5 Text Formatting and Typesetting: `groff`

`Groff` is the Gnu front end of the groff/troff document formatting system. The power of `Groff` is best seen with `man` pages.

> `user shell

>     $ zcat /usr/man/man1/groff.1.gz | groff -man | lpr

> `

Besides man pages, an incredible amount of Unix documentation uses `troff` formatting with `ms` (and occasionally `me`) macros. The Debian `xbooks` package, for example, has 43 files using `troff` with `ms` macros. With `groff`, this material can be attractively printed.

`Groff` is a very powerful system, but it's the grandchild (or great-grandchild) of a program used to typeset 1960's era printing presses. Font support in `groff` reflects that heritage. `Groff`, in contrast to its predecessors, uses PostScript as the default output format so our earlier work with `ghostscript` takes care of half of the problem -- `groff` does not have to deal with reading TrueType font files. It does need to have accurate font metrics, and this section describes how to regenerate the necessary `groff` files:

> `Groff PostScript description files

>     /usr/share/groff/font/devps/DESC
>         Device description file
>     /usr/share/groff/font/devps/text.enc
>         Encoding used for text fonts
>     /usr/share/groff/font/devps/generate/textmap
>         Standard mapping.
>     /usr/share/groff/font/devps/generate/Makefile
>         Standard makefile

> `

We must edit the Makefile,

> `/usr/share/groff/font/devps/generate/Makefile

>     - afmdir=/usr/local/afm
>     + afmdir=/usr/share/fonts/truetype

> `

change the name of the fonts to their TrueType equivalent (e.g., if we're using Microsoft's free TrueType fonts we would replace `Helvetica` with `Arial`), and change `TEXTFONTS` and the like to only include those fonts we are redefining.

We must also edit `/usr/share/groff/font/devps/generate/afmname` to use the TrueType font names and `afm` files, and to remove an `"-e"` flag from `awk`.

After all of this, we can rebuild the `groff` tables with

> `user shell

>     $ cd /usr/share/groff/font/devps
>     $ make -f generate/Makefile

> `

As usual, the best way to verify the changes is to use a visually distinctive font. E.g., if you are using the Microsoft free TrueType fonts you can use `Mistral` for `TR`.

(I expect royalties from everyone who reconfigures their system to print manual pages in Old English fonts next April First!)

## 5.6 Text Formatting and Typesetting: `TeX`

`TeX` is the other common set of text formatting and typesetting programs on most GNU/Linux systems.

`TeX` fonts can created with `mktexmf`, but I have little information on the exact process. More details will be provided shortly.

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