[SOLVED] preferred source for ttf fonts

mike acker · 01-01-2022, 10:12 AM

I just finished switching to Debian 11.2 and I need to fix up my font library

Is there a preferred source for ttf fonts ?

thanks!

shruggy · 01-01-2022, 11:30 AM

Sorry, I don't understand your question. What do you mean "a preferred source"? A source for what? For installing the fonts? Then the preferred source is Debian repository obviously. All font package names in Debian start with fonts-

Code:

apt-cache pkgnames fonts-|sort|column

Not all of them are TTF though.

But of course, nothing prevents your from installing TTF fonts for your personal use to ~/.local/share/fonts.

mike acker · 01-02-2022, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

Sorry, I don't understand your question. What do you mean "a preferred source"? A source for what? For installing the fonts? Then the preferred source is Debian repository obviously. All font package names in Debian start with fonts-

Code:

apt-cache pkgnames fonts-|sort|column

Not all of them are TTF though.

But of course, nothing prevents your from installing TTF fonts for your personal use to ~/.local/share/fonts.

thanks,--
I found the font manager in the repos and disabled as many fonts as I could that I don't need

the one that I really like to use is 'georgia' but that one didn't appear in font manager -- so -- I couldn't activate it.
installing the font in local/share/fonts -- would be 'the way to go', however: what I'm looking for is a reliable source for fonts. obviously I don't want to install something that might be..... tainted

it's quite possible I can find the georgia font on one of my other machines.... I'll have to go looking.

shruggy · 01-02-2022, 03:05 PM

Well, an older version of Georgia can be installed with ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Code:

sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

mike acker · 01-02-2022, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shruggy

Well, an older version of Georgia can be installed with ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Code:

sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

thanks

I'm running a brand-new Debian 11.2, and all has been going quite well. It looks like mscorefonts may have been depricated,...

Code:

$ sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer
[sudo] password -
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
Package ttf-mscorefonts-installer is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source

E: Package 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer' has no installation candidate

I've found a number of web sites from which I might obtain the font. I don't know if the font files contain any executable code, ....

I looked at a sample .ttf file and the permissions were set to read|write for the administrator; read only for others suggesting .ttf file would be innocuous. I do remember MSFT got zapped by a hacker who used the font installer as an attack vehicle.....

mrmazda · 01-03-2022, 12:22 AM

Do you have any Windows PCs? I have 3 with Win10. Each has 4 Georgia .ttf files in \Windows\Fonts. WinXP also had 4 Georgia .ttf files in \Windows\Fonts. I used them in Linux simply by copying them to /usr/local/share/fonts/, since they were the same files as provided by the msttf installer.

shruggy · 01-03-2022, 02:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike acker

It looks like mscorefonts may have been depricated,...

It looks like you don't have enabled the contrib component of the repository. Run software-properties-gtk and enable it. Then retry installing ttf-mscorefonts-installer.

Of course, copying the fonts from Windows is also an option.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike acker

I don't know if the font files contain any executable code, ...

No, they don't.

mike acker · 01-03-2022, 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrmazda

Do you have any Windows PCs? I have 3 with Win10. Each has 4 Georgia .ttf files in \Windows\Fonts. WinXP also had 4 Georgia .ttf files in \Windows\Fonts. I used them in Linux simply by copying them to /usr/local/share/fonts/, since they were the same files as provided by the msttf installer.

thanks,..... I do have a W-10 system on the Research Box; I'll look into getting the fonts from that system

mike acker · 01-03-2022, 05:07 AM

I tried the software-properties-gtk program with the --help switch:

Code:

$ software-properties-gtk --help
ERROR:root:Cannot import UbuntuDrivers: No module named 'UbuntuDrivers'
Usage: software-properties-gtk [options]

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -d, --debug           Print some debug information to the command line
  -m, --massive-debug   Print a lot of debug information to the command line
  -n, --no-update       No update on repository change (useful if called from
                        an external program).
  -t TOPLEVEL, --toplevel=TOPLEVEL
                        Set x-window-id of the toplevel parent for the dialog
                        (useful for embedding)
  -e ENABLE_COMPONENT, --enable-component=ENABLE_COMPONENT
                        Enable the specified component of the distro's
                        repositories
  --open-tab=OPEN_TAB   Open specific tab number on startup
  --enable-ppa=ENABLE_PPA
                        Enable PPA with the given name
  -k KEYSERVER, --keyserver=KEYSERVER
                        URL of keyserver. Default:
                        hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80/
  --data-dir=DATA_DIR   Use data files (UI) from the given directory

interestingly the explanation of the purpose of this program is to "manage the repositories that you install software from"

so,-- I may have a repository called "CONTRIB". this would probably be listed in /etc/apt/sources.list ?
a "source" would be an internet address of a location where apt packages might be obtained ...

this is a good learning experience for me; I appreciate the help !!

=>I am working with a straight Debian 11.2 system -- not a ubuntu version

shruggy · 01-03-2022, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike acker

so,-- I may have a repository called "CONTRIB". this would probably be listed in /etc/apt/sources.list?

Yes. sudo apt edit-sources should open the file. I guess it is listed there, but commented out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike acker

=>I am working with a straight Debian 11.2 system -- not a ubuntu version

While software-properties-gtk indeed originates from Ubuntu, it should work in Debian as well. It's just a simple alternative to editing /etc/apt/sources.list in a text editor. And it automatically does sudo apt update for you after that.

mrmazda · 01-03-2022, 07:54 PM

If you show us here exactly what /etc/sources.list contains, we can tell you what, if anything, needs to be changed, and how.

mike acker · 01-04-2022, 03:44 PM

the Debian 11.2 has a "font manager" program that can be used to activate added fonts.
this seems to have worked ok

it might be better to use an official source of some kind for the .ttf files I tend to worry about downloading stuff from sources I don't know are safe.