GNU bug report logs - #40708
gnu: font-gnu-unifont: Unify outputs for fonts.

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From: Leo Famulari <leo <at> famulari.name>
To: Raghav Gururajan <raghavgururajan <at> disroot.org>
Cc: 40708 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: [bug#40708] gnu: font-gnu-unifont: Unify outputs for fonts.
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 12:05:38 -0400

On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 10:44:09PM -0400, Raghav Gururajan wrote:
> Not sure about discussion, but it is better to combine fonts and keep just
> binaries separate. Because if a user install unifont to use in their
> applications, not all of them gonna use ttf. Some apps gonna look for otf
> formats. It would be confusing to install three different outputs for get all
> formats.

Unifont provides TrueType, PCF, and PSF. It does not have OTF fonts.

Currently, if a user installs 'font-gnu-unifont' they get TrueType
fonts.

On the other hand, the PSF fonts can be used in the bootloader and the
Linux console, and they are only 68 kilobytes, rather than ~22 megabytes
if you combine all the font outputs. I don't see a compelling reason for
that increase.

If the problem is that packages with multiple outputs are confusing, we
should try to improve the UI, and we shouldn't use multiple outputs if
there isn't a good reason. But this is a case where I think it makes
sense.

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