[Openfontlibrary] Font File Type and Admins?

[Jon Phillips]

On Sat, 2006-10-28 at 23:06 -0700, Raph Levien wrote:
> On 10/28/06, Jon Phillips <jon at rejon.org> wrote:
> > On Thu, 2006-10-26 at 15:27 -0700, George Williams wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2006-10-25 at 22:20, Jon Phillips wrote:
> > > > Is it hard to get at editing a font from the opentype files?
> > > It is trivial.
> >
> > Ok, then I think we should minimally accept all open type fonts and
> > require people to provide these.
> >
> > Then, at upload, one could upload the full sources for their font in any
> > format and if these are not uploaded at the same time, it will encourage
> > people on the project to create/reverse engineer sources which will help
> > the project and developers/artists. Also, any sources uploaded will have
> > to be either put into the public domain or licensed with the Open Font
> > License.
> >
> > I think this is the best approach for keeping the barriers for entry
> > into the project as low as possible, but also encourage artists and
> > others, while also requiring at least the minimal conversion of an older
> > formatted typeface to the newer, Open Type spec.
> >
> > (Yes, we should support all forms of open type)
> >
> > What do you all think? I think this is the best way forward.
> 
> I'm in favor.

Great!

> Not to keep the license discussion going longer than it should, but
> I'd like to know whether the primary goal of the Open Font Library is
> to be a repository and distribution site for _all_ free (libre) fonts,
> or whether it is intended as a community site primarily for new font
> development. If the former, then accommodating other licenses like GPL
> (for the URW and derivative fonts) and the Vera license are important.
> If the latter, though, then I don't see any compelling reason to
> support any licenses other than the Open Font License.

I think the first is the big goal, but you can't do that without the
community, and I think putting the community first is very key. However,
I think that one huge problem in open * (that is open content, open
media) is the proliferation of a gazillion licenses, so it is our chance
to add the filter of a good solid licenses/strategy and pick off the
badly licensed...hopefully, if we develop enough momentum, font creators
and copyright holders will relicense (and we should also offer this as a
service in the future IMO...and there is code for this in ccHost ;) ).

> The biggest problem, I think, with the CC licenses for fonts is
> whether they force a CC license for documents they're embedded within.
> For mainstream things like samplling snippets of music, or using a
> song for a soundtrack, I think the answer is a clear yes: the derived
> work has to be licensed under terms compatible with the original CC
> license. In _practice,_ for the URW fonts we facilitated releasing
> under GPL, we do not force the document incorporating the font to be
> GPL'ed. Among other things, such a requirement wouldn't make much
> sense, because the GPL is only for code. But the CC licenses _are_
> quite sensible to apply to many documents. However, I don't think the
> right to embed the GPL fonts is clearly spelled out anywhere.
> 
> I am glad to hear, btw, that most Linux distros are able to include CC
> content. That seems most consistent with the spirit of both CC and
> Linux, and if Debian wants to isolate themselves into an island of
> strict license purity, they're welcome to do so. Further, if people
> want to release fonts under, say, CC noncommercial, so that any
> commercial use of the fonts would have to be paid for, that's fine
> with me, but doesn't seem to me to quite qualify as "free." I'm also
> not sure how clear the legal status would be.

Oh, I don't want to use any CC licenses at all. I just want us to suppor
the Open Font License and public domain (so we could relicense ad
infinatum).

> As far as I know, public domain _does_ exist in the US, but a public
> domain font can also be considered an invitation to relicense under,
> say, the OFL. &smiley;

Yep...cool...

> Incidentally, I've updated my free fonts page somewhat, including the
> first draft release of Typo Script.
> 
> http://levien.com/type/myfonts/ofl.html
> 
> Raph

Oh, this is so cool...I can't wait to get access to your curves editor
and code ;) That demo you gave me a year ago is quite amazing...

I need to add support to the Open Font License to use the CC-style
metadata so we can add it properly and get it machine readable around
the web. This will come in the form of an extension/plug-in to ccHost.

Jon

-- 
Jon Phillips

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