[XeTeX] extending the font list on Mac

[Herbert Schulz]

> On Aug 25, 2025, at 5:20 AM, Martin Hosken via XeTeX <xetex at tug.org> wrote:
> 
> This is probably a dumb question.
> 
> On Linux and Windows (using FontConfig) I can extend the list of directories xetex searches for fonts using the MISCFONTS environment variable. This seems not to be working for me on the Mac. Is it me or is there some other way to extend the directory list searched by xetex on Mac?
> 
> TIA,
> Martin

Howdy,

If you refer top fonts via font names, rather than file names, xetex uses the macOS font system for name lookup so the Font Book application must `know' about the fonts. In Font Book you can create a font library that points to additional directories containing fonts and have Font Book then add those fonts (after examining them for compatibility) to it's font list. My experience has been mixed since Font Book sometimes seems to deactivate some of the fonts.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
herbs2 at mac.com