[tex-k] Feature requests: otf/ttf, font expansion

[Reinhard Kotucha]

>>>>> "Michael" == Michael Zedler <Michael.Zedler at tum.de> writes:

  >> The problem is to create a subset from a TTF before converting it
  >> to Type42.

  > Not needed, this can be done in the ps->pdf stage.

Yes, but I'm not sure whether it is a good solution since pdfTeX also
replaces fonts in included graphics, this only works if the texmf tree
is visible which is usually not the case for ps->pdf converters.

We also lose the ability to control the behaviour in psfonts.map.

Did someone try to use a Type42 font with dvips?  Some years ago
Nelson Beebe tried without success, but it was *my* assumption (which
might be wrong) that font subsetting had been the problem because I
don't see another reason why dvips has to understand the font format.

  >> > 3) the autoexpand feature of pdftex
  >> 
  >> It's not easy to make it work with dvips.

  > Could you explain why this is problematic? pdftex has to do hz and
  > metrics expansion, dvips just the latter.

Thanh told me that something like autoexpansion is difficult to
implement in TeX some years ago.  I was surprised that he did it a few
years later but I think that he invested a considerable amount of time.
 
Maybe it's a bit easier in dvips and some code can be stolen from
pdfTeX now.

I don't say that it is impossible, but the more is changed in dvips,
the more does it make sense to write code that can be used by both
programs.

A good example is the file writet1.c which had been part of dvips.
Thanh adapted this file to make it work with pdfTeX.  He also made
some improvements and sent the file back to dvips.  Hence dvips
benefits from the improvements as well and both programs will benefit
from improvements and bugfixes made in the future.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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