integers vs fp numbers

[Vladimir Volovich]

Hello,

suppose that i need to merge two pl fonts into one vpl font (e.g. the
first font is 7-bit font like cmr10 and the second has only glyphs
with codes above 127). e.g., the following line will do the job:

  \installfont{lhr10}{cmr10,llr10}{LCY}{LCY}{cmr}{m}{n}{<10>}

fontinst, when it creates mtx files, converts fp numbers in pl files
to integers and looses some digits [typically, at least 3 decimal
digits are lost] (yes, the error is small but i want an exact result :).
i'm sure that TeX has the ability to preserve all decimal digits used
in pl files when generating a vpl file: we should not use integer
count registers but dimen registers when dealing with fp numbers
(obviously :).  So, in this case this is not a TeX limitation, but a
fontinst design issue. Would it be possible to use fp numbers in
fontinst where possible? Could it be implemented in the next version
of fontinst?

BTW: some time ago, i heard of other font installation tools (written
in perl). could you give me pointers where/if they are available for
testing?

	Best regards, -- Vladimir.