From: jchin@wcraft.wimsey.bc.ca (Joseph Chin)
Subject: System Admin. & Re: Adobe Systems Incorporated -- and a Question
Reply-To: jchin@wcraft.wimsey.bc.ca
Organization: The Wordcraft Group - Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 16:53:30 GMT

In article <9APR199207350244@mpx2.lampf.lanl.gov>  
silbar@mpx2.lampf.lanl.gov (Dick Silbar) writes:
> ...
> However, a QUESTION: it seems that when I installed the fonts in
> /NextLibrary/Fonts (using whatever-it-is-called--FontMaker? I am not

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of keeping non-NeXT-distribution  
stuff separate from those that come with the "official" operating system.  
In the long run, this will make it much easier for backups, recovery after  
a crash, software revision management and upgrades, and operating system  
upgrades. Briefly, here are some of the commonly recommended locations for  
third party stuff:
/Apps		Third party NeXT apps owned and used by you only
/Library	Third party files used by you only
/Library/Fonts	Third party fonts used by you only
/LocalApps	Third party NeXT apps to be shared with others
		- beware of licensing
/LocalLibrary		Third party files shared with others
/LocalLibrary/Docsumentation	Third party docs
/LocalLibrary/Fonts	Third party fonts (e.g. freebies from Adobe :-)
/LocalLibrary/Sounds	Third party sound files
/usr/local/bin		Third party non-NeXTstep apps shared with others
...

Categorize files/programs into sub-folders if possible ... use your own  
sense of discretion and organizational instincts keeping in mind how it  
would benefit system administration (e.g. backup, recovery, updates,  
etc.).

I welcome suggestions from others on how they organize their files for the  
sake of good system administration. Maybe someone who has more time on  
their hands can put together a small system administration FAQ and  
guideline (do's and taboos') for novice NeXT owners.

note: Prior to System 2.1, you may have to modify your Workspace  
application path if you software is stored in /LocalApps ... it is a brain  
dead mistake that was subsequently remedied in 2.1.

> now at my NeXT), some OTHER fonts which were in that directory that
> I never saw in the Font Panel before, now also appeared there and were
> usable!  These were fonts that came with WordPerfect, and include
> interesting things like modern Greek, Cyrillic, Kana(s), numerous
> Math symbols not found in Symbol, and LineDrawing characters.
> 
> I'm very happy about this development as well, but how did it happen?
> Did the FontMaker app tell the Font Panel to install everything it
> finds in NextLibrary/Fonts?
> ...

When Adobe FontInstaller installed the new fonts, it also rebuilt the  
index and cache files (".afmcache", ".fontdirectory", ".fontlist", etc.)  
in the folder where the fonts are stored. In order for new fonts to be  
recognized by the system, there are several indexes that have to be  
updated. I suspect that the indexes were not updated when the Word Perfect  
fonts were installed.

The Adobe FontInstaller is a wonderful utility which takes the pains out  
of installing fonts and font maintenance in general. For those who prefer  
water torture, you can update the indexes by deleting the old indexes, and  
running "buildafmdir <fontfoldername>" and "cacheAFMdata". You probably  
have to do those as root.

For more information, read "man buildafmdir" and NeXTAnswers  
Postscript.746. In the NeXTAnswers file (which is a candiate for a  
subfolder in /LocalLibrary), it mentions:
	...
	For applications that use the FontManager when they launch,
	new fonts are incorporated at launch.  For other applications,
	it won't happen until you bring up the Font Panel.  Bringing
	up the Font Panel will always do it.

	The best way to install a font is to just copy it into a font
	directory. In fact, it may also be best to remove .fontdirectory,
	.fontlist, and .afmcache after installing a new font, and
	launching a new application.
	...
Launching a new app has never worked for me! I always have to either use  
FontInstaller (which automatically rebuilds the index and cache files) or  
do the installation manually (i.e. command line).

Joe
--
| Joseph Chin ** jchin@wcraft.wimsey.bc.ca ** NeXTmail welcome |
|         +1-604-879-6830 phone ** +1-604-879-9687 fax         |
|    Frame-authorized consultant**NeRD**The Wordcraft Group    |
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