[XeTeX] Font calls in XeteX (2008 distribution)

Jonathan Kew jfkthame at googlemail.com
Tue Apr 14 23:00:28 CEST 2009


On 14 Apr 2009, at 21:48, John Was wrote:

> Hello
>
> Having installed the 2008 distribution of XeTeX on a spare computer  
> some time ago, I decided to go live with it this evening, and find  
> that my font calls are not picking up instructions such as tex-text  
> mapping.  Has the syntax changed?  Or, more easily perhaps, what is  
> wrong with the following?
>
> \font \umirninepointfive = MinionPro-Regular:+onum:mapping=tex- 
> text:letterspace=1.5 at 9.5pt

Use quotes:

   \font \umirninepointfive = "MinionPro-Regular:+onum:mapping=tex- 
text:letterspace=1.5" at 9.5pt

Though is "MinionPro-Regular" the actual font name (not filename)? I  
would have expected something more like "Minion Pro". So probably:

   \font \umirninepointfive = "Minion Pro:+onum:mapping=tex- 
text:letterspace=1.5" at 9.5pt

Could be that either will work, though; fonts often have multiple names.


>
> I get error messages at the console, saying that : is not valid in a  
> font name.
>
> When using the 2007 distribution I used to specify the precise  
> location of the font on my computer, thus:
>
> \font \umirninepointfive = [d:/texfiles/outlfont/MinionPro-Regular]: 
> +onum:mapping=tex-text:letterspace=1.5 at 9.5pt

Likewise:

   \font \umirninepointfive = "[d:/texfiles/outlfont/MinionPro- 
Regular]:+onum:mapping=tex-text:letterspace=1.5" at 9.5pt

>
> This was discouraged, I think, by some users (and I was told that it  
> might be part of the problem with calling PSTricks).  It likewise  
> generated error messages at the console (this time complaining that  
> [ is not allowed in a font).  But nevertheless I got valid output so  
> I didn't treat the messagese as anything serious.  But now the  
> output is incorrect:  I get ` and ' instead of true quotation marks,  
> double hyphens instead of enrules, and the letterspacing isn't  
> invoked (the font looks too cramped without some spacing).  So it  
> appears that all the features I'm trying to invoke are being ignored.
>
> I'm sure it's something simple but I haven't yet discovered what it  
> is!  Help much appreciated.

Not sure if there will be other issues, but using quotes should  
improve your odds of success. Without them, xetex first tries for  
a .tfm with the name you've given, and if you have TeX configured to  
auto-generate tfms, it's passing that name on to mktextfm, which then  
complains. If you use quotes, it will try for an installed font first  
rather than a tfm file.

JK



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