[XeTeX] Strangeness with Minion Pro Opticals Small Caps

[Jonathan Kew]

On 20 Aug 2006, at 9:55 am, Peter Heslin wrote:

> The installation of two different versions of Minion Pro is what
> confused xetex.

I suspect this isn't quite accurate; my guess is that the problem is  
an incorrect GSUB table in the AR-provided font, rather than the  
presence of two versions. (XeTeX will only use one of them -- and I  
don't think fontconfig does anything "smart" about picking the newer  
version.)

If you're in the mood to experiment, perhaps you could (temporarily)  
reinstall the Reader-provided fonts and remove the Type Classics  
versions. I think the problem will return.

> I wonder if it would be possible for
> xetex to detect this sort of incompatible font situation and complain
> loudly?

If I'm right, it's not an "incompatible font situation", it's a badly- 
programmed GSUB table -- which xetex can't realistically detect, as  
it can't know what the font designer intended. It just follows the  
rules.

I suppose it might be possible, and sometimes helpful, to detect when  
there are multiple versions of a font installed, as this means you're  
unable to control which of the versions will be used, and may  
inadvertently be using an old font that you thought you'd replaced.  
I'd need to give a bit of thought to how/where this could best be  
detected.

JK