1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
4 @c mftrace - Generate Type1 or TrueType font from Metafont source.
6 @c Copyright (c) 2001--2006 by
7 @c Han-Wen Nienhuys, Jan Nieuwenhuizen
9 @c This file is distributed under terms of the GNU Free Documentation
13 @setfilename README.info
14 @settitle mftrace - Scalable Fonts for MetaFont
18 @chapter mftrace - Scalable PostScript Fonts for MetaFont
22 @code{mftrace} is a small Python program that lets you trace a @TeX{}
23 bitmap font into a PFA or PFB font (A PostScript Type1 Scalable Font)
24 or TTF (TrueType) font. It is licensed under the GNU GPL.
26 Scalable fonts offer many advantages over bitmaps, as they allow
27 documents to render correctly at many printer resolutions. Moreover,
28 Ghostscript can generate much better PDF, if given scalable PostScript
31 Versions prior to 1.0.5 were called `pktrace'.
36 @item @uref{http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanwen/mftrace/mftrace-@MFTVERSION@.tar.gz}
37 @item Anonymous CVS at
38 @code{anoncvs@@subversions.gnu.org:/cvsroot/lilypond}, module
45 @file{mftrace} is a thin Python wrapper around some other programs that
46 do the real work: a tracing program and t1asm. To run mftrace you need:
48 @item A tracing program:
49 autotrace >= 0.30 (see @uref{http://autotrace.sourceforge.net}
50 or potrace (see @uref{http://potrace.sourceforge.net}).
52 Potrace is recommended as it runs quicker than autotrace.
54 @item Python--2.1 or later. See @uref{http://www.python.org/}
55 @item t1utils. See @uref{http://www.lcdf.org/~eddietwo/type/}
56 @item TeX--your tex installation should include
66 @item A recent version (040215 or newer) of
67 @uref{http://fontforge.sourceforge.net,FontForge}. Some of @code{mftrace}
68 functionality requires FontForge to be present on user's system. This
69 includes rounding to integer, simplifying and autohinting font outlines,
70 as well as generating any output formats except PFA, PFB and AFM. You
71 should not request any of these features using @code{mftrace} options if
72 you don't like your font to be run through FontForge (note that in this
73 case you also have to explicitly specify @code{--noround} to disable
76 @item Alternatively, you need GhostScript with its @file{printafm}
77 utility, available somethere in your PATH. @code{mftrace} uses
78 @file{printafm} to generate AFM files in case there is no need to
79 process the font with FontForge.
85 A RPM may be built by issuing
88 rpm -tb mftrace-@var{version}.tar.gz
94 @section Debian GNU/Linux
96 Users of Debian unstable (and Debian 3.0 when it is released) can
97 install all requirements by running (as root):
100 apt-get install mftrace
103 If you wish to also install the FontForge package to simplify and
104 autohint the font, then run the command
107 apt-get install fontforge
114 Install the prerequite packages. Then run
121 in the mftrace directory. Run as follows:
128 @section Invoking mftrace.
130 Command line options:
133 A comma-separated list of formats to generate. Choices include: AFM,
134 PFA, PFB, TTF and SVG. Default is to generate a PFA file. Note that
135 @file{fontforge} (formerly called @file{pfaedit}) needs to be installed
136 in order to generate any format except PFA or PFB. For generating AFM
137 you need either @file{fontforge} or @file{ghostscript}.
138 @item -e,--encoding=@var{enc}
139 Use encoding file @var{enc}. Encoding files used by @code{mftrace} are
140 basically in the GhostScript/dvips format, but you may use a special
141 @code{.notavail} glyph name in order to tell mftrace not to process
142 a specific glyph. If this option is not specified, mftrace will try to
143 determine the encoding file automatically, from the encoding specified
145 @item --glyphs=@var{list}
146 Only process glyphs in @var{list}, which is a comma-delimited list of
147 decimal numbers or ranges.
149 --glyphs 1-10,50,55,90-100
151 @item --gffile=@var{name}
152 = Take glyphs from file @var{name}.
153 @item --grid @var{gridsize}
154 Set reciprocal grid size in em units multiplied by ratio magnification/1000.
155 For example @code{--grid 10 --magnification 1000} will round
156 coordinates of control points to 1/10 of em unit. Useful simultaneously
157 with @code{--noround} option. Default @var{gridsize} value is 1, i. e. round to integer.
161 Retain all temporary files in the directory @file{mftrace.dir/}. This
162 is useful for debugging problems.
164 Try to continue if external programs called by mftrace fail. If METAFONT
165 crashes with overflow errors, but nevertheless outputs a GF file, try to
166 process its output as is (useful for some buggy fonts, see below). If
167 potrace/autotrace fails to trace a specific character, first try it with
168 a less smoothed curve, and if that fails, skip the character.
170 By default mftrace outputs @file{trace-bug-FONTNAME-NUMBER.pbm} and
171 stops the process with a request to file a bugreport.
172 @item --magnification
173 The magnification to use for the PFA file. The default is 1000. The
174 larger the more precise the PFA file will be. However, when
175 magnification is too large METAFONT can crash with overflow errors.
177 Sadly, many MF fonts contain resolution checks
179 if dots_per_inch * design_size > 1500:
182 This check is susceptible to overflow errors. Such code should be
183 reported as a bug, and changed to
185 if dots_per_inch > (1500 / design_size):
190 Don't round coordinates of control points to integer
191 values. Useful simultaneously with
192 @code{--grid} option. Disabled by default.
194 @item -o,--output-base=FILE
195 Output to FILE.pfa or FILE.pfb.
197 Pass the font through FontForge for automatic simplification and hinting.
199 Use @var{file} for the TFM file. This file is needed to determine at
200 what resolution to run MetaFont.
202 Be verbose: print all commands as they are invoked. This is useful
207 Try to kludge up the paths coming from MikTeX for a cygwin
208 environment. If this doesn't work, specify @code{--tfmfile} and
209 @code{--encoding} manually.
211 show warranty and copyright
213 use Potrace (default).
217 @item -D,--define=@var{symbol}=@var{value}
218 Set the font info @var{symbol} to the given @var{value}. For example
219 @code{-DFamilyName=Foo} sets the font family name to @code{Foo}.
221 Mftrace tries to fill in sensible values for the FontName, FamilyName,
222 FullName and Weight fields. It does so by guessing values for the CM font
223 series. For other fonts, it tries to read an AFM file (which is not likely
224 to exist). Suggestions for a more generic way to handle this are welcome.
228 Mftrace uses kpathsea for finding fonts, so any kpathsea variable can
229 be used to fine-tune which files should be loaded. For example, you
230 can set @code{MFINPUTS} to specify which paths to search for
233 Additional options may be passed to the backend program (potrace or autotrace)
234 with the @code{MFTRACE_BACKEND_OPTIONS} environment variable.
239 Why use @code{mftrace} over
240 @uref{http://textrace.sourceforge.net,textrace}? Textrace and mftrace
241 are functionally similar. However, mftrace is quicker, more cleanly
242 written and can be installed using standard methods. Additionally,
243 textrace requires perl, ghostscript and dvips.
245 How about @uref{http://www.truetex.com,MetaFog}? MetaFog operates
246 directly on the curves that generate the bitmap font, its outlines will
247 probably be smaller and better. However, MetaFog is a proprietary
248 product: its source code is not available, and it will only run on a
249 limited number of platforms.
251 How about @uref{ftp://bop.eps.gda.pl/pub/metatype1/,MetaType1}?
252 MetaType1 is an approach that puts severe constraints on what may be
253 done in a font program. It does not work for fonts containing overlaps
256 How about @uref{http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/,FontForge} itself?
257 FontForge is an interactive editor, but it can be scripted. Since it
258 supports bitmap tracing and @TeX{} bitmap fonts, it is possible to
259 duplicate the functionality of mftrace. However, out of the box,
260 FontForge does not recognize TeX encodings.
263 @section Bugs and todo
266 @item Discuss fonts & copyright.
267 @item Submit @file{tfm.py} to www.python.org. @file{tfm.py} is a python
268 module to parse Tex Font Metric file.
271 Should you encounter any bug or problem, then please send a bugreport
272 to @email{hanwen@@xs4all.nl,Han-Wen Nienhuys}.
276 @email{hanwen@@xs4all.nl,Han-Wen Nienhuys}
281 The biggest credits go out to Martin Weber for AutoTrace, Peter
282 Selinger for potrace and @email{gww@@silcom.com,George Williams}, for
285 Thanks to all contributors for finding bugs,
290 Geoffrey Alan Washburn
292 @uref{http://www.maths.qmul.ac.uk/~jdg/,Julian Gilbey}
294 G@"{u}nther Spahlinger
307 The package also contains gf2pbm, a utility to convert a MetaFont GF
308 file to a PBM file. Its source code was based on Paul Vojta's Xdvi
309 program. The license notice is reproduced here:
313 Copyright (c) 1990-1999 Paul Vojta
315 Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
316 of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to
317 deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the
318 rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or
319 sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
320 furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
322 The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
323 all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
325 THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
326 IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
327 FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
328 PAUL VOJTA BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
329 IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
330 CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
333 This page is licensed under the
334 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.txt,GNU Free Documentation
337 The mftrace script itself is licensed under the
338 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt,GNU General Public License}.
345 @item @uref{http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/pdfs/tn/T1Format.pdf,Type1
347 @item @uref{http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/pdfs/tn/5015.Type1_Supp.pdf,Supplement
348 to the Type1 specification}.