tds: Modeless bitmaps
C.2.3 Modeless bitmaps
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The TDS specifies using a single directory `modeless/' as the mode name
for those utilities which generate bitmaps, e.g.,
`texmf/fonts/modeless/times/'. This has the considerable advantage of
not requiring each such directory name to be listed in a search path.
An alternative was to use the utility name below which all such
directories could be gathered. That has the advantage of separating,
say, `gsftopk'-generated bitmaps from `ps2pk'-generated ones. However,
we decided this was not necessary; most sites will use only one program
for the purpose. Also, PK and GF fonts generally identify their
creator in the font comment following the `PK_ID' byte.
We are making an implicit assumption that Metafont is the only
program producing mode-dependent bitmaps. If this becomes false we
could add an abbreviation for the program to mode names, as in `mfcx'
vs. `xyzcx' for a hypothetical program Xyz, or we could at that time
add an additional program name level uniformly to the tree. It seemed
more important to concisely represent the current situation than to
worry about hypothetical possibilities that may never happen.
Info Catalog
tds: Mode and resolution location
tds: Font structure