[Fontconfig] Aliases

[John A. Boyd Jr.]

One other point of response...

Ambrose Li wrote:
> ... if simply
> referring to the names would be infringement, how can any scheme
> work at all? And wouldn't the average person commit trademark
> infringement even during normal use?
> 
I sent Enrique a private response to a private message on this
thread - the following is an excerpt:

Let's imagine that fontconfig will allow you to:

. give a name as input to a request to "describe" what is named, for
   which it returns a collection of "abstract" style keywords and
   possibly also some detailed metric information

	(Call this "name_to_style(name) => style [,details]")

. give a collection of abstract style keywords, possibly as a logical
   expression (e.g., "monospace not serif"), for which it returns a
   list of names.

	(Call this "style_to_names(style) => names")

. give either a name or a collection of abstract style keywords,
   possibly as an expression which expresses preference in some
   way, and possible also some detailed metric information that
   also expresses preference, for which it returns a single specific
   font (not a name only, but a font).

	(Call this "specific_font(name|style[,details]) => font")

And you will be able to do what you desire to do.  Moreover,
fontconfig will not be ever be substituting names for names,
but only associating names to descriptions and/or descriptions
to names, thus avoiding the trademark issue quite well.

I.e.

	style_to_names(name_to_style(name)) => names

without even having a mechanism that directly maps a name to other
names.