Re: [Freetype] Support for PFR fonts ?

[Antoine Leca]

[Yann Garnier asked:]
> > I would like to know if PFR fonts (which I think are also called
> > TrueDoc?) are supported by freetype2 ?
> 
David Turner wrote:
> 
> FT2 doesn't come with a PFR font module, though it shouldn't be
> be difficult to add one (the same is true for other formats like
> Speedo, PCL, MetaFont, wathever..).
> 
> It's simply that our free time is limited, and supporting
> TrueType/Type1/CFF covers most of the market today. I also
> don't have much appeal to support proprietary font formats
> in default distributions of the library.

Also worth noting is that the specifications that Yann pointed to,
explains that the use of such a renderer would be allowed freely
ONLY within an application of Digital TV.

I think Bitstream holds some patents on this, so I believe having
a PFR module inside Freetype 2, which can then eventually be used
outside the case of digital TV if we do not pay sufficient attention,
will ask for trouble later. And we have a very bad record of
the patents with fonts. Very very bad. So I do not expect we will
return to it without serious insurance, and here there is a clear
lack of insurance at the moment, I think.


Antoine