Converting Mac Fonts to Unix

Introduction

Ghostscript gets its fonts from /usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts. In addition, GhostScript reads its own Fontmap file to map names to files. If you want GS to use your existing Type 1 fonts, you will need to convert them to a usable, .pfb format. A command line utility by George Williams does just that: Fondu. Download the Mac OS X package from this site and install.

Converting A Font

Running the command line utility is simplicity itself, however, the feedback is minimal. Best bet is to take a look inside GhostScript's font folder first, which will look something like this:

  -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel   31658 29 Dec  1999 a010013l.afm
  -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel   34871 29 Dec  1999 a010013l.pfb
  -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    4679 29 Dec  1999 a010013l.pfm
  -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel   31635 29 Dec  1999 b018012l.afm
  -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel   44934 29 Dec  1999 b018012l.pfb
  -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel    4681 29 Dec  1999 b018012l.pfm

 

Example: You want to add a PostScript Type 1 font called "Frutiger Roman" to GhostScript (the actual file could be called "FrutiRom"). First, log in to the terminal as root. Next, cd into the ghostscript fonts directory (/usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts), where you wish to install your font. Then, type "fondu" in the Terminal, followed by a space, and drag the font into the Terminal window.  Then hit enter.  In other words, type "fondu" followed by the path to the font:

  [prompt$] sudo sh
  Password: [your admin password here]
  [prompt#] cd /usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts/
  [prompt#] fondu ~/MyTypefaces/Frutiger/FrutiRom 

 

Now, take another look inside the GhostScript fonts folder - you should now see a line like this:

 -rw-r--r--    1 root  wheel   30916 13 Jun 22:35 Frutiger-Roman.pfb

 

Note that the permissions are important, so if they're not -rw-r--r--, then run the following command:

 chmod 644 Frutiger-Roman.pfb

and check the permissions again - which are now fine.

Editing the GhostScript Fontmap

Next, check the name of the font as it has been imported into the GhostScript fonts folder - this is the actual PostScript name, in this case "Frutiger-Roman". Time to edit the Fontmap, in the Terminal open the fontmap using your favourite command-line text editor (I use vim). The fontmap will be located inside the "lib" directory in the GhostScript version directory, e.g.:

 vi /usr/local/share/ghostscript/[version_number]/lib/fontmap.gs

 

Where [version_number] is the appropriate version number of your GhostScript install, e.g. "8.50". Scroll down to the line that reads "Actual Fonts", you will see something like

% Actual fonts

/URWBookmanL-DemiBold           (b018015l.pfb)        ;
/URWBookmanL-DemiBoldItal       (b018035l.pfb)        ;
/URWBookmanL-Ligh               (b018012l.pfb)        ;
/URWBookmanL-LighItal           (b018032l.pfb)        ;

 

Add the following line to tell GhostScript where to find your freshly installed copy of Frutiger Roman:

 /Frutiger-Roman   (Frutiger-Roman.pfb)       ;

 

A valid entry will contain the PostScript name preceded by a forward slash, the actual font file name in brackets, and a semicolon, all separated by tabs.  Remember to save the file and exit your text editor.

Testing

To see if GhostScript can successfully use Frutiger Roman, create a file in a text editor with the following contents:

  %!PS-Adobe-2.0 EPSF-1.2
  %%BoundingBox: 0 0 650 150

  /Frutiger-Roman findfont 72 scalefont setfont
  20 20 moveto
  (Frutiger Roman) show

  showpage

 

Save this file on your Desktop and call it "ghostscript_test.eps". Then run the following GhostScript command:

 gs -q -dNOPROMPT -dBATCH -dFirstPage=1 -dLastPage=1 -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 -dTextAlphaBits=4
 -dNOPAUSE -dDEVICEWIDTH=650 -dDEVICEHEIGHT=150 -dDITHERPPI=72 -sDEVICE=jpeg -r72
 -sOutputFile=/users/[currentuser]/Desktop/ghostscript_test.jpg
 /users/[currentuser]/Desktop/ghostscript_test.eps;

 

...where you wish to replace [currentuser] with the name of the current user.  Note that GhostScript doesn't recognize shortcuts to the home directory, so you can't use ~/Desktop/...

If everything has gone as it should, you will now have a JPEG on your Desktop called "ghostscript_test.jpg" and it should contain the fontname in the correct font.

Troubleshooting

As of this writing, the only errors found are either due to corrupt Type 1 fonts, or spelling mistakes.  All names are case-sensitive, you therefore need to make sure that the names you use match correctly.  For example: 'Frutiger-roman' is not the same as 'Frutiger-Roman', etc.  Trailing spaces can also cause problems, so take care to prevent/eliminate them.

Author: Pier Kuipers
Created: 11 Sep 2008
Last Modified: 1 Mar 2011