[XeTeX] "Missing" system fonts

[Jonathan Kew]

On 25 May 2007, at 2:05 pm, William Adams wrote:

> On May 25, 2007, at 8:11 AM, Arthur Reutenauer wrote:
>
>>   As a side note, when I look at the Courier font in the Font Book
>> I see
>> small bullets next to it (do you see them as well?), which, as a
>> rule of
>> thumb, indicate problems with the fonts, judging by my own
>> experience of
>> manipulating fonts. So Font Book acknowledges that there is some
>> problem, and trying to get rid of it might be a good start ;-)
>
> Normally a bullet w/ a font indicates a duplicate of an already
> activated font --- that's what the help says anyway, which confirms
> the problem being w/ the naming of the fonts.

Yes, bullets are used in FontBook to indicate fonts that are "hidden"  
by other fonts of the same name installed in a different location.  
This may be harmless, but it is worth checking carefully to see that  
you really are using the fonts you intend.

>
> Make sure the name (esp. Family Name) is unique to ensure that it
> won't interfere w/ already installed fonts. Don't use trademarked
> names of extent fonts w/o authorization.

It is also important that the PostScript Name is unique, as this is  
used internally for font identification.

My guess is that you have modified the fonts but failed to change  
*all* the names in a consistent manner, and this is confusing XeTeX  
and/or xdvipdfmx.

Note that xetex uses some font names internally that are ignored by  
most other apps, so it is quite possible to have a font that is  
visible to GUI apps, yet not visible (or at least not by the same  
name) to xetex, if the names within the font are inconsistent.

JK