[OS X TeX] Can't Print Some Maths?

Jonathan Kew jonathan_kew at sil.org
Tue Oct 31 14:43:06 CET 2006


On 31 Oct 2006, at 5:08 am, Peter Dyballa wrote:

>
> Am 31.10.2006 um 04:34 schrieb Justin C. Walker:
>
>> Thanks for that.  I installed it and ran 'ftxinstalledfonts', and  
>> none have the ID 66075.  Does that make sense?  Are there fonts  
>> that are "off the grid"?  Dynamically generated or have IDs that  
>> change?

Yes, they change (see below).

>
> Yes, particularly when using PostScript fonts with XeTeX's  
> xdvipdfm! Xdvipdfm cannot use PostScript fonts, so it first  
> converts them to OpenType and puts them into /Library/Caches/Type1- 
> sfnt-fonts. Xdvipdfm also cannot use these fonts unless they are  
> known by the system because it uses standard system font services  
> to get the font.

Not quite accurate. xdvipdfmx can use PS fonts in .pfb format (in the  
texmf tree) just like other dvi drivers; but I don't think it can use  
"classic" LWFN-format PS fonts at all. It never converts type1 to OT  
or uses that cache folder.

It's xdv2pdf that converts .pfb format PS fonts from the texmf tree  
into .otf files and saves them in /Library/Caches. It doesn't do this  
with LWFN fonts, but it should be able to use them if they're  
installed in a standard Fonts folder.

>
> Could be xdvipdfm is so clever to report the font to the system  
> when it is generated or found in /Library/Caches/Type1-sfnt-fonts  
> and then deactivates it when the job of creating the PDF file is  
> finished. This is a good strategy, because what can Mac OS X do  
> with "TeX encoded" fonts?

xdv2pdf (not xdvipdfmx) does this with the fonts it converts and puts  
into Library/Caches; they're just activated temporarily while the PDF  
is being generated. No other software (including ftxinstalledfonts or  
FontBook) will use these fonts, unless you manually install them in a  
system Fonts folder -- which I would *not* recommend.

As for font IDs -- they're not fixed across restarts (or perhaps  
logins?), and temporarily-activated fonts such as xdv2pdf uses may  
have different IDs each time they're used. ftxinstalledfonts will  
show the names and IDs for those that are installed in the system's  
Fonts folders, but it won't know anything about fonts that a program  
activates privately and temporarily.

JK

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