[XeTeX] fontspec v1.7

[Will Robertson]

On 18 Jun 2005, at 11:29 PM, Herbert Schulz wrote:

> I still have problems if I use a non-default maths font (i.e.,  
> euler) and \setromanfont[...]{...} before the \begin{document}.  
> No .pdf file is generated. Sample code is below:
>
> <snip>
>
> If I \setromanfont[...]{...} after the \begin{document} all is  
> well. I assume then that maths interaction is still a problem that  
> can be worked around. I wish I really understood how maths fonts  
> interacted with the rest of the system; I'd really like to help out  
> solving the problem.

I can confirm that no pdf file is generated on my end as well. But  
that's VERY strange, since the XeTeX console output claims that the  
pdf is actually written.

This is probably a xdv2pdf problem, which I can't debug at the moment  
because it's time for bed, but it's quite concerning. I believe that  
it used to work, so I'll check it out with some older versions of  
fontspec as well. Anyone running Mac OS X 10.3 that can test the  
snipped example above?

Maths is something that I've never got quite right in fontspec since  
things like mathrm, accents, and various incidental characters like  
uppercase greek (!), round brackets, and so on, are all taken from  
various disparate fonts. I simply haven't taken the time to see what  
is the ideal case when you're typesetting a maths text with Hoefler &  
Euler, or Lucida, or whatever.

It's top of my list, but my fontspec list isn't on the top of my meta- 
list, unfortunately. I'll see what I can do. If you would like to  
look into it yourself, the fontspec code that deals with maths is  
right at the very end of the .dtx file (it's all \AtBeginDocument to  
override euler.sty's effects). Bruno has posted lots of interesting  
bits and pieces to this mailing list, so by removing what you find in  
fontspec and playing around with the different components you could  
easily catch up to my knowledge of LaTeX maths fonts (which is,  
sadly, not much).

Best wishes,
Will