Re: Aliases in 2.2.x

[Keith Packard <keithp keithp com>]

Around 17 o'clock on Feb 14, Martin Kretzschmar wrote:

> I think I need one of the two features for GPdf. It needs fine
> substitutes for Times, Helvetica and Courier. For GPdf Times != Serif.
> Times has to look like Adobe's Times. ATM I just ask unconditionally for
> GhostScript's URW Nimbus fonts.

Times has to have the same metrics as Adobe's Times; the actual appearance 
needn't match, but I do get your point.

Fontconfig deals with this by having the configuration provide aliases
for the desired family that map preferentially to fonts with matching 
spacing.  If you look in /etc/fonts/fonts.conf, you'll find:

        <alias>
                <family>Times</family>
                <accept><family>Times New Roman</family></accept>
        </alias>
        <alias>
                <family>Helvetica</family>
                <accept><family>Verdana</family></accept>
        </alias>
        <alias>
                <family>Courier</family>
                <accept><family>Courier New</family></accept>
        </alias>

Obviously, the Helvetica mapping is wrong (should be Arial).  And, if the 
URW fonts are truely metric compatible with the original PS glyphs, we 
should add them to this list.  The essential goal is to make type standard 
Type1 family names generic names much as 'sans-serif' and 'serif' are.

Patches to fonts.conf that solve problems for you would be greatly 
appreciated; it's part of the fontconfig package, not a local configuration
file.

As always, patches should be submitted through the bugzilla at
fontconfig.org

-keith