[Fontinst] FAMILY not specified in *.vpl files

[Lars Hellström]

At 14.01 +0100 2003-12-09, Paul Pichaureau wrote:
>  Hello,
>
>  In a standard fontinst run, vpl files are produced. These file are
>converted in *.tfm and *.vf file using vptovf
>
>  I have converted one of the tfm file produced in this way into a pl
>file. In the first line of this pl file I read :
>
>(FAMILY UNSPECIFIED)
>(FACE F MRR)
>
>  On the other hand, the first lines of a correct pl file look like :
>
>(FAMILY CMR)
>(FACE O 352)
>
>I think fontinst should have a command to specify the FAMILY name of
>the font produced. It's only a matter of consistency... perhaps it's
>totally useless ?

This FAMILY stuff in TFM files is for compatibility with certain Xerox
standards. I don't know for sure, but I suspect everything that might have
made any use of it went obsolete already in the eighties. TeX ignores it.

OTOH, much of the same thing could be sais about the CODINGSCHEME, and
fontinst does have an interface for setting that, so it isn't an entirely
clear cut. If you absolutely want to specify a FAMILY property for your PLs
and VPLs, you may however do the following right after \input fontinst.sty
in your command file:

\fontinstcc
\add_to\tidying_up_hook{
   \out_line{(FAMILY~Courier)}
}
\normalcc

where of course Courier should be replaced by whatever you want to use as
family name.

Lars Hellström