font ports?

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Nov 30, 2015, at 3:00 AM, René J.V. Bertin wrote:

> On Sunday November 29 2015 23:01:45 Ryan Schmidt wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
>> /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?
> 
> That argument also applies the other user installing fonts is not MacPorts but, well, another user...

I'm talking about a single-user Mac system, which is most Macs. If one user on a multi-user Mac is having trouble removing a font installed by another user on that Mac, they can take the matter up with that other user. Whereas if a user is having trouble with a font installed by MacPorts, they would take it up with us, and I would rather users not encounter situations that cause them to need to contact us.


>> 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.
> 
> Is that even possible? I'm not aware it is (except under X11 where one can indeed modify the font server's path). And even if it were, it'd require hacking foreign code which is probably already hacked together to some extent if it's cross-platform.

I don't know what program you're talking about or what configuration options it provides. If an OS X app really requires a font, I would have thought they would include it in their application bundle and use it from there.


> As to the possible activation errors: wouldn't it be a wise idea to disallow force-activating of items installed outside of the ${prefix}, as a general principle?

Possibly.