Beyond Linux® From Scratch - Version 7.7

Chapter 38. Other X-based Programs

FontForge-20141126

Introduction to FontForge

The FontForge package contains an outline font editor that lets you create your own postscript, truetype, opentype, cid-keyed, multi-master, cff, svg and bitmap (bdf, FON, NFNT) fonts, or edit existing ones.

This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.7 platform.

Package Information

[Note]

Note

The download link below obtains fontforge-2014-11-26-Unix-Source.tar.gz. This is not the correct name for the archive, because it saves the file as fontforge-20141126. The file should be renamed to the correct filename fontforge-20141126.tar.gz. You can achieve this automatically by using the command: 

 wget -c https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge/releases/download/20141126/fontforge-2014-11-26-Unix-Source.tar.gz \
      -O fontforge-20141126.tar.gz

FontForge Dependencies

Recommended

Cairo-1.14.0, FreeType-2.5.5, Harfbuzz-0.9.38, GTK+-2.24.26, libxml2-2.9.2 and Xorg Libraries

Optional

giflib-5.1.1, libjpeg-turbo-1.4.0, libpng-1.6.16, LibTIFF-4.0.3, Pango-1.36.8, Python-2.7.9, libspiro, libunicodenames, libuninameslist, and libzmq,

User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/fontforge

Installation of FontForge

Install FontForge by running the following commands: 

rm -rf libltdl &&
./bootstrap --force &&
./configure --prefix=/usr     \
            --enable-gtk2-use \
            --disable-static  \
            --docdir=/usr/share/doc/fontforge-20141126 &&
make

To test the results, issue: make check.

Now, as the root user: 

make install

Command Explanations

rm -rf libltdl && ./bootstrap --force: These two commands work around the old version of libtool in the source, and the idiosyncracies of the bootstrap command, to allow it to build with current libtool where some files have been renamed.

Contents

Installed Programs: fontforge, fontimage, fontlint and sfddiff
Installed Libraries: libfontforgeexe.so, libfontforge.so, libgdraw.so, libgioftp.so, libgunicode.so, libgutils.so, and /usr/lib/python2.7/site-packages/{fontforge,psMat}.so
Installed Directories: /usr/include/fontforge, /usr/share/doc/fontforge-20141126 and /usr/share/fontforge

Short Descriptions

fontforge

is a program that allows you to create and modify font files.

fontimage

is a program that produces an image showing representative glyphs of the font.

fontlint

is a program that checks the font for certain common errors.

sfddiff

is a program that compares two font files.

Last updated on 2015-03-01 13:21:35 -0800