font ports?

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Nov 29, 2015, at 12:28 PM, René J.V. Bertin wrote:
> 
> Is there a policy regarding ports that install fonts (for the host, not X11 fonts, or fonts for TeX etc)?
> 
> From what I know one cannot add system-wide font locations, and there is no need for calling any kind of helper application; font files can simply be copied into /Library/Fonts. Is that acceptable for a port to do, or should (dependent) ports that require a specific (free) font family to be installed simply request the user to do so via the notes mechanism?

/Library/Fonts is a location which users expect to be in control of. They expect to be able to install and uninstall files here, and not to have files there owned by MacPorts or other software. What would happen if the user had already installed the font there, and then MacPorts tried to install it there? (MacPorts would fail with an activation error.) What would happen if the user tried to remove the font MacPorts installed there by dragging it to the trash? (The Finder would say they are not authorized to do that.) What would happen if the user's MacPorts registry becomes corrupted somehow and they have to follow the emergency uninstallation instructions? (These font files would not be uninstalled, because they were not installed in a directory MacPorts owns.) For these reasons, I would say no, you should not write a port that installs anything in /Library/Fonts. I'm not aware of any existing ports that do that. Maybe install the fonts in ${prefix}/Library/Fonts, or another directory inside the prefix where other ports already install fonts, and try to convince whatever port you're working on that requires that specific font to use it from that location.