[Openfontlibrary] [Fwd: [Bug 5266] Please consider including the Gentium font family in X.org R7.0]

[Nicolas Spalinger]

Jon Phillips wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-05-17 at 21:54 -0700, Raph Levien wrote:
>> On 5/17/06, Jon Phillips <jon at rejon.org> wrote:
>>> What do you all think about this? It is an interesting niche to fill. I
>>> wonder if Open Font Library would be a great place to focus around fonts
>>> on X, etc, in addition to the other projects discussed.
>> I agree that fonts are (and rightfully should be) out of the domain of
>> X itself. Modern Linux software is based on client-side stuff like Xft
>> rather than using the font renderer in the X server.
>>
>> I'm not sure what niche you're thinking about. Making packages of
>> fonts is more or less up to the distributions. I suppose it's possible
>> to do some kind of "meta-distribution" thing where you basically act
>> as a central upstream for stuff like accepting bug reports, but, while
>> useful, that prospect does not exactly fill me with excitement.
> 
> Exactly...

Hi Jon, Raph et al,

IMHO, before we get all the various things in place to create a good
collaborative font design website, maybe we should start by focusing on
cataloguing and packaging existing quality free/libre/open fonts.

To give you a little more background on
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5266, Jim Gettys originally
suggested I file this bug because X is upstream of the various desktops
and it seemed like a good way to get open fonts directly included in the
various distros, but after the feedback received on the bug and some
thinking I agree that fonts and the X server are not in the same domain
anymore. OTOH, the neutral freedesktop.org initiative still seems like a
natural place for such a catalog of quality free/libre/open fonts.

Maybe we should consider making the font page on the freedesktop wiki
(http://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software_2fFonts) part of this common
cataloguing effort while the focus of the openfontlibrary is being
extended?

Concerning packaging, I believe it's useful for upstream designers to
help the distros. Maintaining good relationships with maintainers or
even being part of a team of maintainers themselves is a good thing. For
example, to package OFL-licensed fonts for Debian/Ubuntu we've started
using an Alioth project (mainly the corresponding svn repo for now but
the other collaborative features are available too):
http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-ofl-fonts/
http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-ofl-fonts

Personally I feel a common "openfonts" component in the f.d.o bugzilla
can be rather useful. The Dejavu teams also thinks it could help:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6810

>> BTW, I've more or less decided on OFL for the Inconsolata release.
>>
>> Raph

I'm glad to hear that you think the OFL model is a good one for your
Inconsolata project. Truly amazing work! (btw, I use it on my terminal
and it has been proposed as the default font for Ubuntu).

> I really need to review OFL more...I'm hoping to get some time to review
> and get some informal thoughts from CC's general counsel...Nick and
> others, I know I've been saying this, but CC is such a nonprofit and
> every person's time is so divided up with tasks/projects.

We'd love to get your insights on the revised OFL 1.1review1 (the
community-suggested improvement which were worked on during the first
Libre Graphics Meeting in Lyon): http://scripts.sil.org/OFL_review

> I do think though that different media and communities require different
> licenses. I used to think that having a community that only used one
> license is the proper strategy, but after working with CC's ccHost, I
> realized it is totally possible to have a community with several
> different license options and this actually keeps the community on its
> toes and interested in issues surrounding distribution of their fonts,
> etc.

Yes, let's extend the focus of a common freedesktop.org font catalog, it
will be beneficial to the wider user and designer community.

> I think that support for OFL and public domain are very strong ways to
> proceed with OFL, and yes, it should be a meta-hub for fonts for the
> freedesktop. I think in fact, that this is a really strong way to
> proceed with focus in the community.
> Jon

-- 
Nicolas Spalinger
http://scripts.sil.org