[NTG-pdftex] Re: [tex-k] Dvips fix for font in EPSF improperly downloaded

[h h extern]

Karl Berry wrote:

> May I suggest a modification: whenever a *proprietary* font (that is,
> one with the restrictive licensing) is included.
> 
> It would be quite a lot of noise to generate a warning for every
> fully-included font, as most commonly-used fonts in the TeX world are
> free.  Seems like any "real" warning regarding problematic fonts would
> quickly be lost in the swamp of resulting messages.

if that kind of crappy messages are really needed, then please only to the log 
file and optional

> The only thing I can think of is some kind of additional map file option
> (ugggh) to generate the warning.  Then when people (like Walter)
> generate TeX support for proprietary fonts, the pregenerated map files
> can specify the new option.

that will become a never ending story then; there are all kind of thinsg going on:

- you may mess up the design, metrics, glyph programs all under the same name 
[no fonts]
- you may mess up the design, metrics, glyph programs all under a different name 
[cmr]
- you may use the font, make virtual instances, change metrics, but need to keep 
the design intact (may not create clones) [like utopia]
- you may use the font, but not distribute file that contain all glyphs at the 
same time [lucida]

i'm not even sure what category the palatino falls in: since there is an 
official one -from linotype- i even wonder if we may call all those variants on 
tex live palatino at all; it's funny that we're discussing them as being 
'programs' i.e. some gpl being applied to them while part of the copyright [at 
least on the type 1's] not concerns the 'implementation' but the design, which 
deserves its own kind of licence [artistic ownership and such];

> Further: any changes to map file syntax should be coordinated with
> pdftex and dvipdf[m][x], as another long-term goal should be to re-unify
> map files so that the same syntax can be used for all programs.  It is a
> hassle for TeX Live and other distributions to have maintain the same
> information in three formats with only tiny differences.

hm, not change, dvipdfmx and dvips should just use the pdftex one (i need to 
check it, but some time ago the dvipdfmx people were working along those lines, 
including runtime mapfile/line definitions)

> Also, I'm not sure if this is already included in the discussion, but
> any such warning should presumably apply when the font is fully
> downloaded at all, independent of whether that happens due to an .eps
> inclusion or simply using the font in the document.
>  
>     At this time he was thinking about changing /FontName
>     in the free URW fonts on CTAN
> 
> I sincerely hope Walter does not do that.  Seems like it would have
> major backward-compatibility implications.

normally the copyright lines that are part of a font are copied into the pdf 
file along with the shape definitions, metric info, etc etc; so .. that part 
should be correct.

[i think that as soon as users start seeing funny font copyright messages at 
runtime, they will stop using the fonts, and in the end we will end up with cmr 
only files]

Hans


btw

i have no problem with copyrighted font designs, as long as we may mess around 
with the metrics, which is normally no problem since all dtp programs mess 
around with them when typesetting text, so messing around is part of the game; 
actually, messing around with the shapes is also permitted since that can be 
done in most vector drawing programs, as long as one does not produce and 
distribute a new font; so ... i do't really see the problem; ever since pdf was 
around, the only problems has been:

- some font vendors don't permits any font to be part of a posted pdf; solution: 
i simply refuse to use such fonts

- some font vendors don't permits a complete instance to be part of a posted 
pdf, since usa law than seems to imply that the font is kind of public since 
someone with a twisted mind can copy the font from the file and use it; 
solution: always embed subsets, which is kind of default behaviour for pdftex

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