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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>
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]37 <B>Python</B>. The fresh versions as well as older versions (You need 1.5.1 or higher) can be obtained here:
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>Linux: maybe you already *have* Python: check whether you have
45 version 1.5.1 or newer.
46 <BR>MacOS: grab the installer, run "Easy Install"
47
48<P>
49<LI>
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]50 The <B>Numeric Python</B> extension (you don't need this under MacOS, since it's
51 included in the MacPython installer). Get a fresh version from the download page,
52 linked from here:
53 <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/numpy/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/numpy/</A>
54 <P>Windows: grab the "Numeric-*.exe" archive, it's an installer. Make sure the
55 Python version in the archive name (eg. "2.1") matches the Python version you have.
56 <BR>Linux/Un*x: get a source archive and run this command from the unpacked directory:
57 <BR><TT>python ./setup.py install</TT>
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]58<P>
59<LI>
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]60 <B>PyXML</B>, a set of XML tools:
61 <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyxml/">http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyxml/</A>
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]62
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]63 <BR>Installation should be very similar to installing Numeric Python, see above.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]64
65</UL>
66
67
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]68Now run the "setup.py" script from the FontTools archive. This will install
69all the modules in the right places, as well as tries to compile the one (optional)
70C extension contained in FontTools. (XXX: need precompiled Mac and Windows binaries,
71*or* a way to skip compilation when there's no compiler available.)
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]72
73<P>Additional Mac instructions:
74De-binhex "TTX.rsrc.hqx" by dropping it onto StuffIt expander. (Or use your
75own preferred method)
76The "TTX.py" script included in this archive is the Mac-only main program:
77Drop it onto the "BuildApplet" app inside the Python folder; this will
78produce the TTX applet.
79
80
81<H3>User documentation</H3>
82
83<P>For MacOS there's a small application called TTX. If you drop a TrueType file
84onto it, it will convert it to XML. If you drop an XML file onto it, it will
85convert it back to TrueType. Please read the additional README file in the Mac
86subdirectory, since it behaves quite differently than the command line programs
87described below.
88
89<P>For Unix and DOS I've provided two command line programs:
90<UL>
91 <LI>ttDump.py
92 <LI>ttCompile.py
93</UL>
94They do pretty much what you'd expect. They take several arguments:
95an input file name and optionally an output file name. There are some extra
96options which are explained by the 'usage' text; use the -h option to display
97it.
98
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]99<P>Adam Twardoch contributed a Windows registry script (ttx_shellext_win32.py) which
100makes the two above tools available under the Right Mouse Button. I haven't tested
101these myself, but I'm very interested in hearing about the results!
102
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]103<H3>Note about glyph names and TrueType GlyphID's</H3>
104
105TrueType fonts use glyph indices (GlyphID's) to refer to glyphs in most places.
106While this is fine in binary form, it is really hard to work with for
107humans. Therefore we use names instead.
108
109<P>The names are derived from what is found in the 'post' table. It is
110possible that different glyphs use the same PS name. If this happens, we
111force the names to be unique by appending "#n" to the name (n being an
112integer number). The original PS names will still be maintained by the
113'post' table, so even though we use a different name internally, we are
114still able to write the 'post' table back in original form. If there is
115no proper 'post' table available, names will be derived from a Unicode
116cmap (if available) in conjuction with the Adobe Glyph List (see fontTools/agl.py).
117
118<P>Because the order in which glyphs are stored inside the TT font is
119important, ttLib maintains an ordered list of glyph names in the font.
120
121<H3>Feedback</H3>
122
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]123Please join the fonttools-discussion mailing list at SourceForge. Subscription
124info can be found if you follow the "Mailing Lists" link at the
125<A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/fonttools/">SourceForge project page</A>.
126You can also email me directly at <A HREF="mailto:just@letterror.com">just@letterror.com</A>.
127
128<P>
129If you want to follow the development of FontTools closely, or would like to
130contribute, you can also subscribe to the fonttools-checkins mailing list.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]131
132<H3>Anonymous CVS-access</H3>
133
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]134The FontTools sources are also accessible through CVS, see the
135the <A HREF="http://sourceforge.net/projects/fonttools/">SourceForge project
136page</A>. Let me know if you'd like to become a co-developer.
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]137
138<H3>Developer documentation</H3>
139
140Sorry, documentation beyond doc strings in the source code is still on my to-do list...
141Below follows a brief overview of what's there.
142
143
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]144<H3>GUI Tools</H3>
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]145TTX -- A simple Mac app that converts TrueType (or OpenType) fonts to TTX format and back.
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]146<P>
147<H3>Command line tools</H3>
148
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]149<UL>
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]150 <LI>ttDump.py -- dumps a TrueType (or OpenType) font file to TTX format.
151 <LI>ttCompile.py -- compiles a TTX file back into a TTF (or OTF) file.
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]152</UL>
153
154<P>
155<H3>The library</H3>
156
157Cross-platform
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]158<UL>
159 <LI>fontTools.t1Lib -- Provides a Type 1 font reader. Writing is a planned feature.
160 <LI>fontTools.ttLib -- Extensive TrueType tools. Reads and writes. This is the flagship
161 of FontTools, it's by far the most mature component. Contains a completely modular
162 TTF table converter architecture. See ttLib/tables/table_API_readme.txt.
163 <LI>fontTools.afmLib -- And AFM file reader/writer.
164 <LI>fontTools.cffLib -- Reads CFF fonts. Writing is a planned feature.
165 <LI>fontTools.unicode -- A simple (but large) module that translates
166 Unicode values to their descriptive names. Still Unicode 2.0.
167 <LI>fontTools.agl -- Interface to the Adobe Glyph List: maps unicode values
168 to glyph names and back.
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]169</UL>
170
171Mac-specific
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]172<UL>
173 <LI>fontTools.fondLib -- A reader/writer class for Mac FOND resources.
174 <LI>fontTools.nfntLib -- Reads Mac NFNT bitmap font resources.
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]175</UL>
176
Juste5ad9c92000-03-15 20:56:20 +0000[diff] [blame]177<H3>Thank-you's</H3>
178
179(in alphabetical order)
180Erik van Blokland, Petr van Blokland, Jelle Bosma, Vincent Connare,
181Simon Daniels, Hannes Famira, Greg Hitchcock, Jack Jansen, Antoine Leca,
182Werner Lemberg, Peter Lofting, Dave Opstad, Laurence Penney,
183Guido van Rossum, Adam Twardoch.
184
185<H3>Copyrights</H3>
186
jvrf5ccb352001-08-10 08:54:14 +0000[diff] [blame^]187FontTools/TTX -- 1999-2001 Just van Rossum; Letterror (just@letterror.com)
Just4977da41999-12-18 18:18:09 +0000[diff] [blame]188
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