A method of dressing a tool, which can be used for the gear tooth machining of a workpiece, on a dresser, wherein the dressing takes place with line contact between the dresser and the tool, wherein a specific modification of the surface geometry of the tool is produced in that the position of the dresser with respect to the tool is varied in dependence on the tool width position during dressing, characterized in that the specific modification of the surface geometry of the tool produced by the change of the position of the dresser with respect to the tool when dressing in dependence on the tool width position is specifiable at a rolling angle as a function C 0FS of the position in the tool width direction and at least the pitch of the surface geometry of the tool is specifiable as a function of the position in the tool width direction in a first direction of the tool which has an angle ρ FS to the tool width direction; and/or in that the specific modification of the surface geometry of the tool produced by the change of the position of the dresser with respect to the tool when dressing in dependence on the tool width position is specifiable as a function of the tool width position at at least two rolling angles; and/or in that the specific modification of the surface geometry of the tool produced by the change of the position of the dresser with respect to the tool when dressing in dependence on the tool width position is specifiable as a function of the tool width position at at least one rolling angle and additionally an association of a specific radius of the dresser with a specific radius of the tool takes place, with the association preferably being specifiable as a function of the tool width position; and/or in that at least the pitch of the specific modification of the surface geometry of the tool produced by the change of the position of the dresser with respect to the tool when dressing in dependence on the tool width position is specifiable as a function of the position in the tool width position in a first direction of the tool which has an angle ρ FS to the tool width direction and additionally an association of a specific radius of the dresser with a specific radius of the tool takes place, with the association preferably being specifiable as a function of the tool width position; and/or in that at least the crowning of the specific modification of the surface geometry of the tool produced by the change of the position of the dresser with respect to the tool when dressing in dependence on the tool with position is specifiable as a function of the position in the tool width direction in a first direction of the tool which has an angle ρ FS to the tool width direction; and/or in that a modification of the tool is specifiable or is produced which can be described at least approximately in the generating pattern at least locally in a first direction of the tool by a linear and/or quadratic function, with the coefficients of these linear and/or quadratic function being formed in a second direction of the tool which is perpendicular to the first direction by coefficient functions F FtC,1 for the constant portion and F FtL,1 for the linear portion and/or F FtQ,1 for the quadratic portion, with F FtC,1 depending non-linearly on the position in the second direction and F FtL,1 not being constant; and/or in that a modification of the tool is specifiable or is produced whose pitch and/or crowning varies in dependence on the angle of rotation of the tool and/or on the tool width position, with additionally the tooth thickness varying non-linearly in dependence on the angle of rotation of the tool and/or on the tool width position; and/or in that at least two degrees of freedom of the relative position of the dresser with respect to the tool are specifiable and/or are controlled when dressing in line contact independently of one another as a function of the tool width position.