[XeTeX] Let's discuss \mathchar again

[Bruno Voisin]

Le 12 déc. 05 à 04:02, Will Robertson a écrit :

> However, you've said in the past that TeX uses special TFM metrics  
> for maths typesetting that aren't provided for in unicode fonts; is  
> there more to this story than the extra fontdimens? Because if so,  
> we are indeed unable to proceed.
>
> [...]
>
> Or is it all a moot point because you need voodoo in the maths font  
> (that OpenType can't provide) to tell TeX what to do?

I'm just wondering whether the STIX fonts, when finally released,  
would answer these questions partly (being Unicode math fonts if I  
understood correctly). But yes, you'd basically have to rewrite plain  
TeX (and probably LaTeX as well), whose treatment of maths is very  
deeply tied to the idiosyncratic encodings of the Computer modern 7- 
bit math fonts. Or did the Omega people dealt with this in some  
clever way already?

As for STIX, some (postponed) target dates are finally available at  
<http://www.stixfonts.org/>: beta March 2006, general release May 2006.

Bruno