On Tue, 13 May 2008 14:20:31 +0200
Ulrich Mueller <ulm@g.o> wrote:

> >>>>> On Mon, 12 May 2008, Andrey Grozin wrote:
> 
> > There are two methods commonly used to fight against this situation
> > in ebuilds: using addwrite or setting VARTEXFONTS="${T}/fonts". The
> > second method is, probably, better.
> 
> Why? This would mean that all fonts must be regenerated each time the
> package is built. And it doesn't even help if they are already present
> in /var/cache/fonts, since the directory is then also ignored for
> reading.


Per my other mail its a non issue now ;)

However, if an ebuild needs some fonts not in the font cache or the
texmf tree(s) it'll generate it in VARTEXFONTS, and since they're not
merged into the filesystem, it will do that each time the package is
built.

My opinion is that it is not so important because merging them will
cause headaches:
- How to detect when some fonts have been generated ?
- Should we merge them in src_install so that it's in the package
contents ? it'll get removed when the package is gone
- In some pkg_ functions so that it doesnt get removed; is this safe
for binpkgs ? that'll leave stray files, but that's more or less the
point of doing it like that.
- Where should we merge them ? hardcoding /var/cache/fonts is a no-no
as, even if for now it's forced to be there by texmf-update, it would
be a good idea not to do so and allow people to change the location. We
can ask for the value with kpsewhich; but is that a good idea to install
files in locations based on user defined config files ?

Regards,

Alexis.