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Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]1<HTML>
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4<TITLE>FontTools</TITLE>
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10<H1>FontTools</H1>
11
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]12<A HREF="http://fonttools.sourceforge.net/">FontTools</A> is a suite of tools and
13libraries for manipulating fonts. It is written
14in Python and has a BSD-style, open-source licence -- see LICENSE.txt. It's hosted at
15<A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/">sourceforge.net</A>.
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]16
17<P>
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]18It currently reads and writes TrueType font files, reads PostScript Type 1 fonts
19and more. It contains two command line programs to convert TrueType fonts to an
20XML based format (called TTX) and back.
21
22<H3>Scope</H3>
23
24FontTools' functionality is aimed towards font developers and font tool developers.
25It can of course be used to just access fonts (outlines, metrics, etc.) but it is
26not optimized for that. It will be further developed so it can be the core of any
27font editor. And that's exactly what it will be for our upcoming major rewrite of
28<A HREF="http://www.robofog.com/">RoboFog</A>, our (commercial) PythonPowered font
29editor for MacOS.
30
31<H3>Installation</H3>
32
33You need the following software to use FontTools:
34
35<UL>
36<LI>
jvr8eb99922002-05-02 08:11:37 +0000[diff] [blame]37 <B>Python</B>. The fresh versions as well as older versions (You need 2.0 or higher) can be obtained here:
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]38 <A HREF="http://www.python.org/download/">http://www.python.org/download/</A>
39 or here:
40 <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/python/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/python/</A>
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]41
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]42 <P>Windows: grab the Windows installer, run the full install.
43 <BR>Un*x: follow the build instructions.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]44 <BR>MacOS: grab the installer, run "Easy Install"
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]45<P>
46<LI>
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]47 The <B>Numeric Python</B> extension (you don't need this under MacOS, since it's
48 included in the MacPython installer). Get a fresh version from the download page,
49 linked from here:
50 <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/numpy/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/numpy/</A>
51 <P>Windows: grab the "Numeric-*.exe" archive, it's an installer. Make sure the
52 Python version in the archive name (eg. "2.1") matches the Python version you have.
53 <BR>Linux/Un*x: get a source archive and run this command from the unpacked directory:
jvrec8ca4b2002-05-03 19:02:26 +0000[diff] [blame^]54 <BR><TT>python setup.py install</TT>
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]55<P>
56<LI>
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]57 <B>PyXML</B>, a set of XML tools:
58 <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyxml/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyxml/</A>
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]59
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]60 <BR>Installation should be very similar to installing Numeric Python, see above.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]61
62</UL>
63
64
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]65Now run the "setup.py" script from the FontTools archive. This will install
66all the modules in the right places, as well as tries to compile the one (optional)
67C extension contained in FontTools. (XXX: need precompiled Mac and Windows binaries,
68*or* a way to skip compilation when there's no compiler available.)
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]69
70<P>Additional Mac instructions:
71De-binhex "TTX.rsrc.hqx" by dropping it onto StuffIt expander. (Or use your
72own preferred method)
73The "TTX.py" script included in this archive is the Mac-only main program:
74Drop it onto the "BuildApplet" app inside the Python folder; this will
75produce the TTX applet.
76
77
78<H3>User documentation</H3>
79
jvrec8ca4b2002-05-03 19:02:26 +0000[diff] [blame^]80<P>For Unix and DOS there are three command line programs:
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]81<UL>
jvrec8ca4b2002-05-03 19:02:26 +0000[diff] [blame^]82 <LI>ttdump -- dumps a TrueType (or OpenType) font file to TTX format.
83 <LI>ttcompile -- compiles a TTX file back into a TTF (or OTF) file.
84 <LI>ttlist -- lists minimal info about each table in a font.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]85</UL>
jvrec8ca4b2002-05-03 19:02:26 +0000[diff] [blame^]86They can all work with multiple input files. There are some extra
87options which are explained by the 'usage' text; use the -h option to
88display it. The setup.py script installs them as global tools, the
89source is in the Tools directory.
90
91<P>For MacOS there's a application called TTX. If you drop a TrueType
92file onto it, it will convert it to XML. If you drop an XML file onto
93it, it will convert it back to TrueType. Please read the additional
94README file in the Mac subdirectory, since it behaves quite differently
95than the command line programs described below.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]96
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]97<P>Adam Twardoch contributed a Windows registry script (ttx_shellext_win32.py) which
98makes the two above tools available under the Right Mouse Button. I haven't tested
99these myself, but I'm very interested in hearing about the results!
100
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]101<H3>Note about glyph names and TrueType GlyphID's</H3>
102
103TrueType fonts use glyph indices (GlyphID's) to refer to glyphs in most places.
104While this is fine in binary form, it is really hard to work with for
105humans. Therefore we use names instead.
106
107<P>The names are derived from what is found in the 'post' table. It is
108possible that different glyphs use the same PS name. If this happens, we
109force the names to be unique by appending "#n" to the name (n being an
110integer number). The original PS names will still be maintained by the
111'post' table, so even though we use a different name internally, we are
112still able to write the 'post' table back in original form. If there is
113no proper 'post' table available, names will be derived from a Unicode
114cmap (if available) in conjuction with the Adobe Glyph List (see fontTools/agl.py).
115
116<P>Because the order in which glyphs are stored inside the TT font is
117important, ttLib maintains an ordered list of glyph names in the font.
118
119<H3>Feedback</H3>
120
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]121Please join the fonttools-discussion mailing list at SourceForge. Subscription
122info can be found if you follow the "Mailing Lists" link at the
123<A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/fonttools/">SourceForge project page</A>.
124You can also email me directly at <A HREF="mailto:just@letterror.com">just@letterror.com</A>.
125
126<P>
127If you want to follow the development of FontTools closely, or would like to
128contribute, you can also subscribe to the fonttools-checkins mailing list.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]129
130<H3>Anonymous CVS-access</H3>
131
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame]132The FontTools sources are also accessible through CVS, see the
133the <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/fonttools/">SourceForge project
134page</A>. Let me know if you'd like to become a co-developer.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]135
136<H3>Developer documentation</H3>
137
138Sorry, documentation beyond doc strings in the source code is still on my to-do list...
139Below follows a brief overview of what's there.
140
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]141<P>
142<H3>The library</H3>
143
144Cross-platform
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]145<UL>
146 <LI>fontTools.t1Lib -- Provides a Type 1 font reader. Writing is a planned feature.
147 <LI>fontTools.ttLib -- Extensive TrueType tools. Reads and writes. This is the flagship
148 of FontTools, it's by far the most mature component. Contains a completely modular
149 TTF table converter architecture. See ttLib/tables/table_API_readme.txt.
150 <LI>fontTools.afmLib -- And AFM file reader/writer.
151 <LI>fontTools.cffLib -- Reads CFF fonts. Writing is a planned feature.
152 <LI>fontTools.unicode -- A simple (but large) module that translates
153 Unicode values to their descriptive names. Still Unicode 2.0.
154 <LI>fontTools.agl -- Interface to the Adobe Glyph List: maps unicode values
155 to glyph names and back.
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]156</UL>
157
158Mac-specific
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]159<UL>
160 <LI>fontTools.fondLib -- A reader/writer class for Mac FOND resources.
161 <LI>fontTools.nfntLib -- Reads Mac NFNT bitmap font resources.
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]162</UL>
163
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]164<H3>Thank-you's</H3>
165
166(in alphabetical order)
167Erik van Blokland, Petr van Blokland, Jelle Bosma, Vincent Connare,
168Simon Daniels, Hannes Famira, Greg Hitchcock, Jack Jansen, Antoine Leca,
169Werner Lemberg, Peter Lofting, Dave Opstad, Laurence Penney,
170Guido van Rossum, Adam Twardoch.
171
172<H3>Copyrights</H3>
173
jvrec8ca4b2002-05-03 19:02:26 +0000[diff] [blame^]174FontTools/TTX -- 1999-2002 Just van Rossum; Letterror (just@letterror.com)
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]175
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