Re: [Freetype] FT_Attach_File, .afm, .pfa, .pfb, etc

[Ian Britten]

Hi all,
Many thanks for the answers so far!  Very helpful!
I think I only have a couple more questions....  (although I may be
back again! ;-)

- Does Freetype provide any support for opening/examining an AFM file?  If
  I'm to attach a 'Courier' AFM to a 'Courier' PFA, don't I need to know
  that the AFM actually is Courier?
  (In many cases, they have the same file names, but they seem to sometimes
  be in different directories.  I was thinking if I knew the family(?) name
  the AFM was for, I could attach it later if I encounter a PFA/PFB...)

- Is an AFM file of any use by itself (without a PFA/PFB)?  I don't think
  so, but gnome-print-0.34-ximian.1 installs a bunch of AFM files in 
  /usr/share/fonts/afms/adobe, but without any PFA/PFB files...
  (Maybe they're for intended to work with pre-existing fonts?  Or maybe
  for stuff I don't have installed?)

- Can/Should more than one AFM be attached to a FT_Face?  What happens if
  I (accidentally) attempt to attach the same AFM twice?  Is there any
  way to tell if a FT_Face already has an AFM attached to it?

- .afm or .pfm?  I just discovered the .pfm extension, and I see that
  some fonts (urw-fonts-1.1-11mdk) install *both*.  Should I naively
  attach both?  Or only one of them?  Is one preferred over the other?

- Should the afm file have the same name as the pfa/pfb file?  I was
  thinking of when creating a FT_Face, to simply look for an afm/pfm
  file with the same name (and in the same directory) and attach it if
  it exists.
  (Or, I could look for it in a series of directories...  The location
  of fonts and AFMs seems to be pretty inconsistent...)

  [ Actually, I just noticed that many of the AFM files that gnome-print
  installed (as mentioned above) actually correspond to the .pfb files
  that are used by 'tetex'
  ie
    /usr/share/fonts/afms/adobe/putri8a.afm           (From gnome-print)
    /usr/share/texmf/fonts/type1/adobe/utopia/putri8a.pfb   (From tetex)
  Should these be attached? ]

Any input from others (esp regarding finding AFM files!) appreciated!
Thanks!
Ian