Hello, for a few days I have been looking at how to make a git repository to store a free font so that everyone can use it, modify it and redistribute it, the thing is that many have different ways of distributing the source code, and it is not very clear how. Do it in a way that is similar to an open source program. The typography is being made with fontforge, what would be the most optimal way to distribute this font to make it open source?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] manito_manopla@lemmy.ml 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The thing is, could an otf or ttf file be considered a file suitable for the free modification and redistribution of a font? That's the question I have, because for me, sharing any of those file formats is not enough for a font to be considered open source, especially since those two files are binary. Would I have to share the sfd file that fontforge generates so that the font can be open source? Because that file is editable through a code editor

[–] h3ndrik@feddit.de 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I think the more important file is the fontforge one. As this is the thing people can edit and build upon. (the "source")

The otf, ttf and woff are just a bonus for people who don't want to install fontforge and and go through the process of exporting it themselves.

Ultimately it's your decision what you release. It's a similar concept whether you share a cake, or a recipe for a cake. The free software / open-source movement is concerned with sharing the recipes. That's why they share source code and files in the format they've edited it in. (And often include instructions on how to build it, since that is usually a bit more complicated with software.) It enables people to also load it in their editors and customize it, adapt it to their use-cases and fix issues.

You can also just publish the end-result, which are the otf and ttf files in your case. But people can't really modify or customize those. It'd be called a freeware font, then. It'd help people who just want to use it, but doesn't provide much more.

I'd invite you to upload both the sfd and the resulting otf and ttf. Usually that's how people do it. Distributing digital files comes at practically no cost. On the internet you can share a recipe and the actual cake alongside at no extra cost.