[XeTeX] Problems with fonts and xdvipdfmx

[Jonathan Kew]

On 2 Jun 2007, at 7:11 am, Barry.SCHWARTZ at chemoelectric.org wrote:

> Marcus Aurelius <marcus.aurelius at inbox.com> writes:
>>    I have the following problem with xdvipdfmx (not with the default
>> output driver in mac os x). With one font I get
>>
>>       ** ERROR ** CFF: Invalid character.
>>
>>
>>   This happens at least with "Amor Text Serif Pro", a OpenType
>> (PostScript flavor) font form Storm Type Foundry. Notice that in
>> every other application this font works properly and that every other
>> font that I tested, including "Amor Serif Pro" (the display version)
>> work fine.
>>
>>   Can anybody help me?
>
> No help here, but I can confirm that I've seen the same problem with
> that and I think at least one more of the Amor fonts. But I haven't
> investigated where the trouble is.

I don't know if something like this is the case here, but perhaps  
someone with access to the problem font(s) can trace the operation of  
xdvipdfmx and determine exactly what is leading to the error message.  
It may of course be a bug in the software, but it could also be an  
error in the font (even though it works OK elsewhere). I can't  
investigate directly as I don't have these fonts, but I do know that  
[x]dvipdfmx can be quite strict about certain aspects of the CFF  
specification, and this may lead it to reject fonts that most other  
software accepts. (E.g., we've seen problems in the past with fonts  
that used a Type 1 operation that is not officially part of the CFF  
spec, but still permitted by most software.)

JK