🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <5800007@ugun21> josef@ugun21.UUCP writes:
>Can somebody tell me the exact structure of the DESC.out and XX.out
>files (XX=R,I,B,H,S,...)?

Look in the font(5) manual page.

>What I am most interested in is the question:
>
>  Given a troff special character like \(dg, how does ditroff
>  figure out where to find the information on how to print the dagger?
>  I.e. what is the path ditroff (and it's post-processors dxxxx) follows
>  from \(dg to e.g. the bitmap for a dagger in file S.out.

The *.out files don't have character bitmaps in them.
They simply tell troff which characters and special
characters exist in the typeface, how wide they are at
a specific size (usually 10 pt), and what code to output to the
postprocessor.  It is up to the postprocessor to do whatever is
necessary to get the glyph numbered 'code' to print on the printer.
This may or may not involve bitmaps, depending on the printer.
The postprocessor can store the bitmaps, outlines, or whatever
in any format it desires.

BTW, in my opinion, the *.out files are troff's weakest link
as far as 'keeping up with the Jones' goes.  They do not
allow non-linearly scaled typefaces, have no height info,
and have no kerning info.  Furthermore, they place a ridiculously
low limit upon the number of glyphs in a typeface.  You can fix
the language with a preprocessor, but you can't easily
teach troff about typefaces that don't fit troff's model.

-Rick

-- 
Rick Richardson | JetRoff "di"-troff to LaserJet Postprocessor|uunet!pcrat!dry2
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