[OS X TeX] Follow up on Two problems with Lucida Bright fonts on Mac Tex

[Bruno Voisin]

Le 24 sept. 07 à 20:11, Gordon Sick a écrit :

> I just want to follow up on an earlier query that I posted. Bruno  
> Voisin and Peter Dyballa gave helpful advice, but I was still a bit  
> stuck on Lucida. In fact, I had messed things up so badly that it  
> ran on none of my Latex distributions. [...]

I must admit I'm like Peter, I understand nothing about the  
description of your problems. At times (given the paths you're  
mentioning) you seem to be using teTeX (gwTeX 2003-2005), at others  
gwTeX, and at others TeXLive-2007. The setups are largely different  
in each, and require different measures to be taken. I tend to think,  
like Peter, that your configuration problems are the result of a  
previous wrongdoing of yours.

With teTeX you don't need to do much. Map files lucidabr.map and  
lumath.map are included for calling the fonts via their Karl-Berry- 
style names such as hlhr8t.tfm, as are files lucidabr-o.map and  
lumath-o.map for calling the fonts via their original names such as  
lbr.tfm. You're only likely to need the last two if you're using the  
fonts in plain TeX or in some other format, but for LaTeX the  
standard is to use the Karl-Berry-style names and everything is  
preset for them.

With gwTeX and TeXLive-2007 things get trickier. None of the above  
files is provided, and you need to install and get or create them  
yourself. See the instructions at:

<http://tug.org/pipermail/macostex-archives/2007-January/027878.html>

For use of the fonts with LaTeX you need to get and install the  
lucidabr package as explained in section 2 of the instructions, and  
then get and install the font support files as explained in section  
3. lucidabr.map and lumath.map don't exist any longer, they have been  
replaced by lucida.map in these support files (please note the  
different file names).

For use of the fonts with plain TeX things get even trickier, as  
explained in section 5: lucidabr-o.map and lumath-o.map need to be  
recreated from scratch, and symlinks need to be set up so as to  
provide the accompanying metrics such as lbr.tfm.

So you see, you really can't just copy a previous Lucida font  
installation working in teTeX to gwTeX or MacTeX. You need to rethink  
the whole thing carefully (i.e. find out what's needed, what's pre- 
included in gwTeX or TeXLive-2007 --- actually nothing ---, what  
needs to be added --- everything ---, where to get it and how to  
install it).

And it's also very important I think to first backup your Lucida  
setup and then erase everything Lucida-related from your texmf trees  
before attempting a clean install. Otherwise you end up with an  
inconsistent mix of old and new, which I think is the cause of your  
problems.

IIRC it took me about a week at the beginning of this year to get  
both Lucida and MathTime working with both gwTeX and TeXLive-2007.  
Possibly even more, possibly two weeks, but I was on my own for that  
then and I really wanted the result to be clean, so that I could  
write the instructions and pass them on to others.

Sorry if I seem negative, I am just getting a bit fed up with TeX at  
the moment. Fed up with having to spend so much time learning to use  
it and making it work, which leaves so few time for actually using it  
like the mere tool it is supposed to be. People start turning to TeX  
in order to get some task done (usually scientific writing), and far  
too often end up with TeX becoming an activity in itself, no longer a  
tool to an aim.

Judging by the messages to this list, and their evolution over the  
years, I think this is the trap with which most users are faced at  
one point or another: either they fall inside it, or they turns  
backwards and go hunting for another more user-friendly (WYSIWYG)  
tool, with less steep learning curve; but very few manage to avoid  
the trap and progress forward, reach the point where they become so  
comfortable with TeX that's it's a mere tool to them, as natural to  
use as a screwdriver or a pen or a stapler. Which is made all the  
more difficult as the TeX world is ever changing, especially with the  
proliferation of LaTeX packages, so that you have to constantly  
adjust to this ever-changing landscape.

Another 1am rant!

Bruno Voisin
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