[lltx] Can luatex auto-run mkluatexfontdb ?

[Khaled Hosny]

On Tue, May 18, 2010 at 11:03:43AM +0930, Will Robertson wrote:
> On 18/05/2010, at 6:44 AM, Karl Berry wrote:
> 
> >> osx:
> >> /System/Library/Fonts//;/Network/Library/Fonts//;/Library/Fonts//
> > 
> >      You probably also want $HOME/Library/Fonts// there.
> > 
> > I am not enthused about embedding system directories in our texmf.cnf,
> > which will inevitably change without warning with os releases, cause
> > weird problems/slowdowns for some users because their setups aren't the
> > same as yours, etc.
> > 
> > OSFONTDIR is there because Hans wanted it, that's the only reason.  I
> > guess some part of context setup/invocation sets it.  I think any
> > determination of the value should be done by some os-specific tool (that
> > TL does not maintain), not just a random hardwired list.
> 
> 
> These directories aren't random, they are where Mac OS X looks for and stores its fonts. 
> 
> This is the best emulation of XeTeX's "use system fonts" feature without querying system APIs, which I'm not sure is possible from within LuaTeX. It's not perfect, because (if you know what you're doing) fonts can be installed in Mac OS X from other places and fonts can also be disabled but not removed from those locations, but it's the best we can do at this stage I think.

An alternative is to write a binary lua module that interfaces with
system API's (it can be even abstract both Apple and FC API, and
whatever MS provides), but someone have to write it first :)

Regards,
 Khaled

-- 
 Khaled Hosny
 Arabic localiser and member of Arabeyes.org team
 Free font developer