Re: partial font downloading

[oneill@cs.sfu.ca]

Don Hosek <dhosek@quixote.com> writes:
> Personally, I find the issue of partial font downloading to have
> unrecognized pitfalls. Many programs which create EPS files will NOT
> include the fonts in the EPS files. This is in fact legal EPS behavior.
> Unless dvips or dvipsone or whatever reads the DSC comments and
> recognizes that fonts A, B and C are required (which I know dvips does
> not), then the only way to get the fonts into the TeX-generated
> PostScript file is to print something in the required fonts (one letter
> NORMALLY suffices) in white off the edge of the page. Bingo, the font
> is now included and all works. With partial font downloading, the
> issue becomes much more problematic.

This doesn't make sense to me. You seem to be saying that we shouldn't
adopt a new feature because of the work-around for another problem. It
seems to me to be much better to fix the other problem properly.

First off, I'd say that applications which include EPS files should read
any relevant DSC comments. But I'd also say that font inclusion for EPS
files should follow the same rules as it does for PS files. That is, if
it's not one of the standard 35, you should probably include the font in
the PS file, unless you have a DSC aware spooler with access to the
fonts.  Similarly, unless you have a DSC aware program that'll be using
EPS files, and one that'll have access to the required fonts, you should
take the conservative route and include the fonts in the EPS file. After
all, it's just as possible that you could create an EPS file which you'll
take to a place that doesn't have the font as it is that you could create
a similarly destined PS file.

If you have a program which lets you create EPS files that use fonts
outside of the standard 35, yet doesn't let you include the fonts in
the EPS file, then I'd say your complaint should be with the authors of
that program. (And similarly for any programs you have that generate PS
files).

If you want a problem to worry about, it might be that there aren't good
DSC (and/or font naming) conventions for dealing with partially downloaded
fonts. For example, we'd want an intelligent spooler to spot when a
partial font is already resident (in its full incarnation) in the printer
and can be removed, and yet not do anything like ever download the
partial font permanently into the printer (since it's incomplete and
may screw up later files).

Best Regards,

    Melissa.