FontForge install procedures
for the macintosh

Installing from a pre-built package

Before you install

You must ensure that you have the the X11 server installed on your system.

10.5, 10.4
10.3

You may also want to install the fink package or the equivalent from macports which includes many useful libraries (see the dependencies section below for more info on this)

Configuring X11

X11->Preferences->Input

FontForge is designed to make use of a three button mouse. It is also designed to make use of modifier key modes on mouse clicks (so Control left click can mean something different than left click). If you have a three (or two) button mouse then use it (and turn off "Emulate three button mouse" in the X11 preferences). If you have a standard one button mouse then you have the option of having the mac simulate a three button mouse (for instance Option mouse click behaves like clicking the middle mouse button). Unfortunately this means you can no longer use the Option key to change the behavior of the left (only) button click. So either choice means you lose capabilities.

Normally X11 is configured so that the Command key (cloverleaf) is bound to the X11 menu bar, and not to fontforge's. When fontforge starts it checks this, and if X11 gets command then fontforge configures its menubar to use Control rather than command. This isn't very mac-like. If you turn off the "Enable keyboard shortcuts under X11" preference item then fontforge will configure its menubar to make use of Command.

If type the following into a terminal (or xterm) window 

$ cat >~/.fonts.conf
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<!-- /etc/fonts/fonts.conf file to configure system font access -->
<fontconfig>

<!-- Font directory list -->
<!-- Add to system list -->

        <dir>/System/Library/Fonts</dir>
        <dir>/Library/Fonts</dir>
        <dir>~/Library/Fonts</dir>

</fontconfig>
^D

then fontforge's UI will be able to use the fonts Apple supplies with the mac. (You don't type the "$", and ^D means hold down the control key and press "D").

Note:

On the mac, the Option key is mapped to what fontforge calls "Alt" or "Meta".

Obtaining one of my pre-built packages

I post mac install packages on sourceforge's file release system. There's a certain amount of pother involved in using the file release system, but you get the file eventually.

I currently post builds for Mac 10.5 & 10.4 (I post different builds for the two systems because they provide different python libraries).

Neither of these builds will work on 10.3. If you wish a 10.3 you can build from current source or find a build from 2006. If you wish a 10.2 or earlier build the current sources will not work and you must delve more deeply into the past.

Installing

Generally your browser will decompress the package after pulling it down, and then start the install process itself.

If this doesn't happen, find the package (it's usually on the desktop) and double-click on it.

The install will request your password (to make sure you have the right to do an install on your machine, and then ask some innocuous questions, and proceed to install.

Notes

FontForge does not conform to Apple's Human Interface Guidelines. FontForge never will. Don't expect it to look like a normal Mac Application. It doesn't.

Before you build (on a mac)

You must ensure that you have the both the X11 server and the Developer's toolchain installed on your system. This process is slightly different on OS/X 10.3 & 10.4

10.5, 10.4
10.3

You may also want to install the fink package or the equivalent from macports which includes many useful libraries (see the dependencies section below for more info on this)

You must then start up a Terminal window (the Terminal Application also lives in the Utilities sub-folder of the Applications folder) and be prepared to type commands in that window (I know, it's very un-mac-like).

Building and installing from source

Obtaining a source distribution

There are two basic ways to obtain a source distribution. One is by downloading an entire source tree from the web, and the other is by using the cvs utility to maintain a source tree on your machine which will be as up to date as possible. The former solution provides more stability, the latter provides access to cutting edge bugs.

tarball

Sourceforge's file release system will contain a tarball (a file with the extension for .tar.bz2).

After you have downloaded one of these packages, either copy the tarball to where you are, or move to the directory containing the tarball (I can't provide explicit instructions here, because I don't know where your browser put the file) and type (The "$" or "#" are example prompts from the computer. Do not type them yourself): 

$ bunzip2 fontforge*.tar.bz2
$ tar xf fontforge*.tar
$ cd fontforge-*

from the cvs tree

cvs is a nifty set of utilities which allows concurrent access to a source tree by many users. To set up your own (local) copy of the cvs tree (including documentation), create a new directory, cd into it and type the following (when it asks for a password, just hit return): 

$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs1.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/fontforge login
CVS password:
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs1.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/fontforge checkout fontforge
$ cd fontforge

Once you have established a directory you may update it to obtain the most recent version of the source by typing: 

$ cd fontforge
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs1.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/fontforge login
CVS password:
$ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs1.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/fontforge update

You can also browse the CVS tree online. Or see sourceforge's description for more information (their information is out of date, the correct server is cvs1.sf.net not cvs.sf.net), or read the CVS manual.

Building & installing it

Now you have the source installed on your system and you should be positioned at the top directory of that tree. You need to configure your package (this is a little program that figures out how to use your system), and then build it (do not type "$"): 

$ ./configure
$ make

Having done this you will probably want to install what you have built. This should be done as root: 

$ sudo make install
password: ******

More complicated installs

The configure script allows you to turn off and on various features of fontforge that might not be appropriate for your system. Type 

$ configure --help

for a complete list of options. Some of the most useful are described below.

Building fontforge without X

If you don't want to install X11 on your system, you can use fontforge as a command line tool which can execute scripts to manipulate fonts. FontForge supports python scripting and a legacy scripting language unique to ff which is described in detail in the section on scripting. 

$ configure --without-x

Building fontforge to edit type3 fonts

If you do want to edit PostScript type3 fonts, you can configure fontforge to give you access to more drawing modes than are generally available in fonts.

(This also lets you create more complex SVG fonts). 

$ configure --enable-type3

Building fontforge to edit device tables

If you do want to create device tables (which allow you to fix up kerning data at a specific pixel size) in OpenType fonts 

$ configure --enable-devicetables

Installing FontForge somewhere other than /usr/local

If you want to install fontforge in a different directory (say in /usr/bin) 

$ configure --prefix=/usr

Installing documentation from the cvs tree

If you have a copy of the cvs tree on your system then you should be able to type 

$ sudo make install_docs

Dependencies (external libraries/helper programs)

FontForge tries to avoid hard dependencies. If a library is missing then fontforge will (in most cases) be able to continue to run, it will just lack whatever functionality the library provides. So if you don't need to import tiff images, you don't need libtiff. If you don't need to handle SVG fonts you don't need libxml2, etc.

With the appropriate libraries, FontForge can import png, tiff, and gif images to act as character backgrounds for tracing purposes (FontForge can import bmp and xbm formats without external libraries). With libxml2 FontForge can read SVG fonts. With the freetype library FontForge will do a better job making bitmap characters for you. libuninameslist provides standard unicode names and annotations for unicode characters (it has been localized into English and French)

None is required for the proper compilation/execution of FontForge, if the libraries are not present they will not be used. (If the machine on which your executable was build didn't have them, then you must not only install the libraries, but rebuild fontforge from source) If your machine doesn't have them and you want them they are available from:

If you want to do autotracing around character images you should also download either

Normally FontForge depends on the X11 windowing system, but if you are just interested in the scripting engine (with no user interface), it may be built on systems without X (the configure script should figure this out).

Once upon a time, fontforge only used X11 bitmap fonts, on most systems in now uses fontconfig.

There seem plenty of good unicode outline fonts, so I shan't provide any suggestions. To install them you simply create a subfolder called .fonts in your home folder, and then copy the font file into that subdirectory. Warning: pango uses opentype to layout complex scripts. Most fonts on your macintosh are in a different format -- glyphs from them will display fine (so they work for latin, greek cyrillic, japanese, chinese, etc.) but more complex features will probably not work (so Arabic and Indic scripts may not be displayed properly).

In the old days there weren't many bitmap fonts with good unicode coverage so I provided a list of suggested fonts. That's not nearly as important now. If fontconfig isn't available for you, you might want to pull down some old unicode bitmap fonts.

To install these, put them in a directory, and in that directory type: 

    $ mkfontdir
    $ xset fp+ `pwd`

You should make sure that the xset line happens whenever X is started on your machine (put it in your .xsession file).

Documentation

The complete fontforge manual is available online.

Installing a documentation tarball

Once you have downloaded the documentation tarball as described above, you should move to the directory containing it, and type: 

$ sudo sh
password: ******
# mkdir -p /usr/local/share/doc/fontforge
# mv fontforge_htdocs*.tgz /usr/local/share/doc/fontforge
# tar xfz fontforge_htdocs*.tgz
# rm fontforge_htdocs*.tgz

After doing this fontforge will be able to find the docs on your system when you press the [F1] (or [Help]) key. If you don't do this fontforge will attempt to find documentation online.

Starting FontForge

On the mac

FontForge now installs itself as a mac application in the Applications folder. You can start FontForge the way you start any other application, double clicking on it, dragging files to it, etc.

Caveat: FontForge and Font Book may fight over which will open standard fonts if you double click on the font file. Both claim they can open these files, neither claims to be the prefered application for them. If an .otf file shows a fontforge icon it will be opened by fontforge, if a font book icon it will be opened by font book. Dragging a font file to the desired application will always work. Or you can select the font, and invoke File->Get Info (in the Finder's menu) and use the "Open with" control to select an application.

On the mac the Option key is used to invoke the functionality that fontforge's docs call "Alt" or "Meta". (See the section on X11 configuration for notes on three button mice and the command key).

You can also start fontforge using traditional unix methods

Before you start fontforge on the mac you must start the X11 server. You can do this by opening the Applications folder, and then opening the Utilities folder, and then double-clicking on "X11". (If you don't have X11 there then refer back to the instructions for installing it)

Having done that there should be a menubar with a menu labeled "Applications". Click on this. There should be a "FontForge" entry in it. Selection FontForge will start fontforge and bring up a dialog allowing you to open a font or create a new one.

Caveat: FontForge does not normally show mac resource fonts in this dialog -- however it can still open one even it it isn't displayed. Simply type in the name of the file containing it. (or change the Filter field to "All Files").

Caveat: Normally FontForge will never see the command key shortcuts. X11 intercepts these and uses them itself. If you would like to be able to use Command-Q to quit FontForge then

Caveat: FontForge was written assuming the availability of a three button mouse. Under 10.4 X11 simulates this by creating a virtual three button mouse where the middle button is invoked by Option-Mouse click and the right button by Command-Mouse click. (You can also control this from X11->Preferences).

If the Applications menu does not contain a "FontForge" entry, you can add one yourself:

(You may also start fontforge from the command line here. Go to the Applications menu and select Terminal or xterm, and look at the section after the next.

Notes on the PATH variable

On most systems fontforge will install itself into /usr/local/bin (that's the standard place for optional software), and this is not always in the default search path for commands (grrrr). Which means you might have everything properly installed, but nothing actually works from the command line. If you see messages like "fontforge: command not found." this has (probably) happened to you.

So what do you do?

You need to set the PATH environment variable so that it includes /usr/local/bin. The value of the PATH variable is a set of directories separated by colons. 

$ echo $PATH
/home/gww/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin:/sbin

Unfortunately there are several ways of doing this because there are two different conventions used by unix shells. And the mac has yet a third way which only works sometimes. Type: 

$ echo $SHELL
/bin/bash

If the name of your shell is bash (as above), ksh or sh then you want to type 

$ PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH ; export PATH

If the name of your shell is tcsh or csh then you say 

$ setenv PATH /usr/local/bin:$PATH

But you'd have to do that every time you logged in. Instead you want this included in the shell's initialization. Again there are two cases, for the bash family of shells you want to edit the file ~/.bashrc while for the csh family you want to edit the file ~/.cshrc. On a bash system the following command is generally sufficient: 

$ cat >>~/.bashrc
PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH ; export PATH
^D

(where ^D represents control-D, obtained by holding down the control key while depressing d.
And for the csh family you would type: 

$ cat >>~/.cshrc
setenv PATH /usr/local/bin:$PATH
^D

On the mac you may also want to download the environment preference plugin and install the environment variable there. Note if you ssh into your mac this setting will not be noticed.

Starting fontforge from the command line

$ fontforge font.pfa font2.sfd font3.ttf font4.otf

will start fontforge looking at the fonts you specify on the command line. It can read either pfb or pfa fonts, and some ps fonts (type 0 fonts based on a type 1 dictionary) as well as truetype fonts, open type fonts and many other formats.

$ fontforge -new

will cause fontforge to create a new font (in iso-8859-1 encoding)

$ fontforge

will open up a file picker dialog and allow you to browse till you've found a font file (or have created a new one).

$ fontforge -script script.pe fonts...

This will invoke fontforge in a non-interactive mode, and have it run the named script. Any further arguments on the command line will be passed as arguments to the script and processed (or not) by it.

Reporting Bugs

Please report bugs by sending an e-mail to fontforge-devel@lists.sourceforge.net