[tlbuild] How should xetex find texlive fonts?

[Ken Brown]

On 6/16/2009 10:27 AM, Norbert Preining wrote:
> Font configuration on Unix is *not* done at all. We cannot configure a
> globally installed fontconfig in /etc/fonts, nor do I want to add stuff
> to .fonts.conf.
> 
> Only on W32 where we ship fontconfig we can adjust the configuration
> file and make it find the fonts immediately.
> 
> I consider this admin job to drop some file into /etc/fonts/conf.d (at
> least on Debian this is the way).

That makes sense.  But then shouldn't there be a xetex postaction that 
prints the appropriate instructions (or points to an appropriate 
document)?  My search of the xetex mailing list archives shows that many 
people on a variety of unix-like systems have had the same problem I 
had.  I think the instructions ought to be very explicit; you can't 
expect a person installing texlive to know how to manage fonts.  You 
could even supply a sample configuration file and tell users where to 
put it (.fonts.conf for a single user, /etc/fonts/conf.d for system-wide 
use).

I suspect there will be many users who, like me, have heard of xetex and 
would like to try it.  After installing texlive, such users shouldn't 
have to search the xetex mailing list archives to find out how to make 
xetex find the standard fonts.

Anyway, I'm relieved that this doesn't indicate a problem with my build.

Ken