[XeTeX] [tex-live] Ftuture state of XeTeX in TeXLive

[Paul Isambert]

Le 30/10/2011 13:20, George N. White III a écrit :
>  On Sun, Oct 30, 2011 at 7:42 AM, Khaled Hosny <khaledhosny at eglug.org> 
wrote:
> > Writing an OpenType layout engine is not a simple task, and you can
> > judge from the many years it toke FOSS community to have a really good
> > one, HarfBuzz (the name luaotfload is misleading, font loading is about
> > the easiest part of luaotfload, OpenType implementation is really what
> > matters.) If it were for me, I'd plug HarfBuzz into luatex proper and
> > call it a day, but this does not align well with the "design" principles
> > of luatex so it is unlikely to happen.
>
>  If plugging harfbuzz into luatex does not require a huge effort, it could
>  serve as bridge from xetex to luatex while a more principled design
>  is being created. Principles are nice, and have benefits over the long
>  haul, but in cases where the design is evolving it really helps to get
>  an implementation into the hands of users and let them point out the
>  areas where work is needed.

As far as I can see, the principles behind LuaTeX are pretty clear; it
offers tools, not solutions. Sometimes that makes it apparently slow-witted,
like TeX itself, because it refuses to implement solutions that seem
successful elsewhere. But one shouldn't forget that (Lua)TeX is an
extremely sophisticated typographic system, and that flexibility is an
integral part of it. Using HarfBuzz would probably offer a simple solution,
but you'd lose what makes LuaTeX so worthwhile.

Best,
Paul

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://tug.org/pipermail/xetex/attachments/20111030/69facece/attachment.html>