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FontUtils

Toolkit for font developers

Martin Hosken, Bob Hallissy, 2009-04-17; 19085 reads

Updated 2009-04-17, version 0.13

New utility: ttfdeflang - creates a font with the given language id as being default.

New options: -update and -list options for ttftable

Previous updates

2008-06-11 - New utility (add_classes); new options (make_gdl, make_volt, volt2ttf); improvements to volt2ttf.

2007-11-16 - New utilities (volt2ttf, ttf2volt, ttfbboxfix, ttftable, sfd2ap, volt2ap); ttfname improvements.

2006-06-24 - New versions all round, added bundle package

2006-04-20 - Improved make_gdl, make_volt. Supports OS/2 version 3.

2005-06-09 - Addition of voltFixup, voltImportAnchors and voltExportAnchors.

    Introduction
    The utilities
        Obsolete or outdated utilities
    Usage
    Download and Installation
        Windows binary installer
            Older versions
        Perl source
            CPAN source
            SVN Repository
             Perl module installation
    Support

Introduction

The Font::TTF::Scripts Perl module provides a number of command line tools for manipulating TrueType fonts. The tools (and the supporting library package Font::TTF) have been available to Perl users for a number of years, and they are an essential tool of NRSI's font development processes. For Perl users the most up-to-date sources can be retrieved from our Subversion repositories.

Now these scripts have been packaged as standalone Windows executables, making them usable by those who do not have Perl.

The utilities

This package includes, among other utilities:


General font hacking
add_classes	add_classes -c classes.xml infile.xml Adds class information to an attachment point database.
addfont	addfont [-r] Installs or uninstalls a font in Windows without copying it. can include wildcards. Much less hassle than opening the Windows/Fonts directory.
eurofix	EUROFIX [-m num] infile outfile Edits a font to account for the change in codepage 1252 definition in Win98, NT5 and all things new then. -m specifies that the Mac hack should also be done.
fret	FRET [-f] [-g] [-r] [-s size] [-p package] [-q] font_file [out_file] Generates nice PDF reports on a font.
hackos2	HACKOS2 [-c hex] [-d directory] [-f fsSelection] [-p hex] [-q] [-t num] [-u hex] [-w width] Hacks various fields in the OS/2 table of a ttf file, including: fsType, panose, ulUnicodeRange, achVendID, fsSelection, usFirstCharIndex, usLastCharIndex and ulCodePageRange
make_gdl	make_gdl [-a attach.xml] [-i file] [-l type [-s num]] [-n num] [-z bitfield] infont.ttf outGDL.txt Analyse the input font and attachment point database to generate gdl code including classes for related glyphs and adding attachment point information.
make_volt	make_volt [-t] [-a attach.xml] [-l ligtype] [-i file] [-n] infont.ttf outfile Analyse the input font and attachment point database to generate VOLT project code including classes for related glyphs and anchor point information. Can also merge existing volt code.
psfix	PSFIX infile outfile Updates Postscript table to account for Postscript Unicode conventions.
ttfbboxfix	ttfbboxfix [-v] in.ttf [out.ttf] Reports bounding box errors in a font. If out.ttf is provided, rewrite corrected font.
ttfdeflang	ttfdeflang -d lang infile.ttf outfile.ttf Creates a font with the given language id as being default.
ttfname	ttfname [-f "new_full_name"] -n "new_name" [-t num] [-q] in.ttf out.ttf Renames the TTF with the given name and outputs the newly named font.
ttfremap	TTFRemap -c file [-r] [-s \| -u] Remaps the MS cmap of a font without removing any glyphs. Updates the OS/2 table according to first and last char of new cmap.
ttfsetver	ttfsetver [-d "description"] version infile outfile Sets font version (in both head and name tables).
ttftable	ttftable [options] in.ttf [out.ttf] Opens in.ttf for reading, optionally imports, exports, and/or deletes tables from the font, then writes the modified font to out.ttf if provided.
TTFBuilder related
check_attach	check_attach [-z outfile.xml] infile.xml infile.ttf Checks an attachment point database against a font, checking that any contours are single point and any locations tie up with their corresponding contour, or that there exists a single point contour at a given location. This program can also generate missing information and write it to a new attachment point database.
sfd2ap	sfd2ap infile.sfd [outfile.xml] Reads a FontForge font file and extracts anchor point information into an XML attachment point database.
ttfbuilder	ttfbuilder [-a] [-h] -c config.xml [-x attach.xml] [-z out.xml] infile.ttf outfile.ttf Builds outfile.ttf from infile.ttf according to config.xml.
VOLT related
ttf2volt	ttf2volt [options] infontfile [outfontfile] Attempts to create a VOLT project from an existing OpenType font by reading and interpreting the existing GDEF, GPOS, and GSUB tables. Not every OpenType rule can be mimiced in VOLT; warnings are issued when ttf2volt cannot handle something.
volt2ap	volt2ap [-t voltdat.txt] infile.ttf > outfile.xml Export glyph data, including anchors, to XML attachment point database
volt2ttf	volt2ttf [-a attach.xml] [-t volt.txt] infile.ttf outfile.ttf Compiles volt source into OT tables in the font. Think of this as a 3rd party command-line version of MS VOLT.

Obsolete or outdated utilities

A number of utilities formerly installed with this package have been obsoleted by alternative tools or deemed to be low usage and so are no longer installed as executables by the standard installers (binary or source). However, the source bundle includes all of these in the Examples folder.

name	purpose	replaced by
thai2gdl	Creates GDL for a Thai font
thai2OT	Creates OpenType tables for Thai font
thai2volt	Creates VOLT for a Thai font
ttfenc	Creates a Postscript mapping file for the given font
VoltFixup	"Smart" import of a VOLT project to a new font.	make_volt
VoltImportAnchors	Imports anchor definitions from XML	make_volt
VoltExportAnchors	Exports VOLT anchor definitions to XML	volt2ap

Obsolete / outdated utilities

Usage

All of the tools are commandline, so you will typically launch them by typing the command name and parameters into a CMD window.

Most tools provides their own "usage" message explaining the parameters. To get the usage message, execute the command with no parameters. For example:

C:> eurofix.bat
    EUROFIX [-m num] infile outfile
Edits a font to account for the change in codepage 1252 definition in Win98,
NT5 and all things new then. -m specifies that the Mac hack should also be
done.

The following changes are made to ensure that the glyphs at the two positions
are the same, if possible:
    U+0080 and U+20AC                Euro sign
    U+008E and U+017D                Z caron
    U+009E and U+017E                z caron
    U+00B7 and U+2219                Middle dot
For more details of which glyph is used where in Windows, see the POD which
accompanies this program.

For the Mac table
    glyph at U+0080 (in MS table) copied to num             Euro sign
    (-m may be for 240 or 211 depending on Apple or MS)

Copies are only made if there is no glyph there already.

Note also that many of the commands now support a -h option for fuller help.

Download and Installation

Windows binary installer

The installer should be downloaded to a temporary folder and then launched. This will install the package. By default the installer adds the installation folder to your PATH.

As an alternate installation: turn off the option to modify your PATH variable during installation. When the installer has finished, copy all the .BAT files from the install directory (typically C:Program FilesSILFontUtils to a folder that is already on your PATH.

FontUtils 0.13 Installer
Martin Hosken, Bob Hallissy, 2009-04-09
Download "TTFontUtils_0_13.exe", Windows application, 2MB [1205 downloads]

Older versions

FontUtils 0.11 Installer
Martin Hosken, Bob Hallissy, 2008-06-11
Download "TTFontUtils_0_11.exe", Windows application, 2MB [942 downloads]

FontUtils 0.10 Installer
Martin Hosken, 2007-11-16
Download "TTFontUtils_0_10.exe", Windows application, 2MB [1707 downloads]

Perl source

The source is packaged in two separate modules:


Font::TTF	This is the underlying object library that implements an in-memory structure representing an OpenType font. There are no ready-to-run commands included with this package — just the support library.
Font::TTF::Scripts	This is a collection of command-line programs and further utility libraries, built on top of Font::TTF, that give command-line functionality. All of the commands mentioned above plus other example programs, some useful in their own right, are included.

Perl 5.8 or newer is required.

These two modules are available in several ways:

CPAN source

Snapshots of the source packages are available on CPAN. The links for the latest such snapshot are Font-TTF and Font-TTF-Scripts.

SVN Repository

You may browse or obtain updated sources directly from our public Subversion repository. Two methods of access are available: from your SVN client, or using a web browser:

Package	URL for SVN client	browser link
Font::TTF library	http://scripts.sil.org/svn-public/utilities/Font-TTF	Font-TTF
Font::TTF::Scripts utilities	http://scripts.sil.org/svn-public/utilities/Font-TTF-scripts	Font-TTF-scripts

Perl module installation

Windows users please note

Installing perl modules requires that you have a make utility of some sort, and such isn't built into Windows. On its website Microsoft provides the free nmake, but unfortunately some versions of nmake are not capable of installing Font:TTF. If you are using ActiveState ActivePerl, the recommended program is dmake available from cpan.

Note also: If you have both nmake and dmake on your system, ActivePerl prefers nmake unless dmake appears first on the PATH. To find out which version of make Perl is using, issue the command perl -V:make.

Once you have an appropriate make program, the easiest way to get and obtain the modules is using the cpan program that is likely to be part of your Perl installation. Simply execute:

cpan -i Font::TTF
cpan -i Font::TTF::Scripts

If you don't have cpan, or it doesn't work, download and unpack the source archives from the links above. Then locate the folder containing the file Makefile.pl. From a command prompt in that folder, give the standard Perl module install incantation of:

perl Makefile.pl
make
make test
make install

(substituting dmake for make if on Windows).

Support

A public mailing list is available for users and developers of the Font::TTF and Font::TTF::Scripts packages. Visit the Font-TTF list to view the content online or to subscribe with your GoogleGroups login. If you don't have a GoogleGroups login, simply send a subscription request to Font-TTFgooglegroups.com.

Please recognize, however, that the existence of this group does not change the fact these utilities and libraries are essentially unsupported. If you find and report a bug, we'll try to find time to fix it. If you find a bug and suggest a patch, we'll get around to reviewing the suggestion as soon as we can. But no guarantees on time-frames.