Re: [Groff] using Linux Libertine with groff

[Dave Kemper]

>> What version of Libertine did you use to generate this file?
>> I have 5.3.0, the most recent one on
>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxlibertine/, but some of
>> my ligatures look different from (and not nearly as good as)
>> the ones in your demo.
>
> That's the same version I've used. I downloaded the OTF files,
> created PFA files using cfftot1, and obtained the character
> metrics with t1rawafm and the kernpairs with ot2kpx for
> use with afmtodit (see my groff font installation script
> http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/~hoffmann/roff/mkgrft).

That's really interesting.  Specifying the ligatures directly in the
source, the results I get look quite different from yours.  (See attached
PDF, generated with the code at the bottom of this email.)

The differences are, I started with TTF files, and used Peter's install
script, which uses fontforge and afmtodit.  There seems no reason that
should produce different results, but it clearly does.  (This is also
using a slightly older groff, 1.21.)

The odd thing is that the first five ligatures -- the ones groff is
supposed to be able to recognize when written in plain text -- are the
ones that look the same in both their non-ligature and ligature forms,
while the others are visibly different.  So I wonder if groff itself
is somehow thwarting the ligature process -- it seems a particularly
interesting coincidence that only the five groff-approved ligatures
aren't working correctly.  (If I expand my test case to include all the
ligatures defined in the Libertine Roman font, it is still only those
five that don't behave as expected.)

When I have some more time, I'll have to follow your font install
process and see if I can replicate your results.


.fam L
.ps 12
.vs 14
.sp 6
No ligatures:   ff fi fl ffi ffl fj ffj ft Th tt
.br
Ligatures:      \[u0066_0066]
\[u0066_0069]
\[u0066_006C]
\[u0066_0066_0069]
\[u0066_0066_006C]
\[u0066_006A]
\[u0066_0066_006A]
\[u0066_0074]
\[u0054_0068]
\[u0074_0074]

mylinlib.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document