[Lohit-devel-list] ~OT: Publishing a font under the GPL

[pravin.d.s at gmail.com]

On 19 July 2011 17:38, Shriramana Sharma <samjnaa at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello. I realize this is *slightly* OT for this list as it doesn't directly
> concern Lohit fonts, but I hope it's OK here since you people have
> experience in publishing fonts under the GPL. Please maintain the CC to my
> friend Anshuman Pandey who is not on this list.
>
> We are working on a font for an ancient Indic script and intend to release
> it under the GPL. So far work on the font has been done using Metafont but
> obviously a TTF is needed for wider usage with WYSIWYG editors like
> LibreOffice.
>
> However we feel that the Metafont sources aren't so "clean" and contain
> many idiosyncrasies of the author so are not so great for immediate
> publication. But we would like to publish the TTF.
>
> Isn't releasing a font as a TTF sufficient for placing it under the GPL? I
> mean, a TTF font can be directly edited without much trouble unlike compiled
> C-code, right?
>

Nope ttf is binary file. for GPL one required source so one can provide
patches and updates.

GPL itself says
"

 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
    GNU General Public License for more details.

"

So i think it better to release source as it is, it will not harm anything.

Second options i think
1) Edit .ttf file, save it as .sfd
2) generate ttf from saved .sfd and
3) If you are getting expected .ttf from step two, Release .ttf (binary)
generated in step two with .sfd (source) with LICENSE and README



> BTW another question: while GPL/OFL permit commercial usage of the font and
> we are fine by that, would it be possible for us to request/require being
> credited in such a publication using the font?
>

Added Tom in cc, he can give you exact suggestion.


Regards,
Pravin S
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