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From: "Dennis E. Hamilton" <dennis.hamilton@acm.org>
To: <ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org>
Cc: "'Gianluca Turconi'" <public@letturefantastiche.com>,
	"Bart Hanssens " <Bart.Hanssens@fedict.be>,
	"'Jos van den Oever'" <jos.van.den.oever@kogmbh.com>
Subject: [FONTS] Inclusion in ODF (was RE: old colored vs new monochrome
 icons)
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:47:02 -0800
Organization: NuovoDoc
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A short time before the most-recent ODF Plugfest, Jos van den Oever =
demonstrated that ODF already has a means by which fonts can be embedded =
in the ODF document.  (I will dig up appropriate links when I am more =
awake.)

So, in fact, a *technical* solution seems to exist.  (Most of the =
debates about font embedding that I have been party to are around the =
legal and licensing niceties and avoiding becoming a contributory =
infringer by not handling this well. This is not entirely unlike issues =
around bundling of extensions that have license limitations [;<)

Staying on the technical side of the issue, the following is now known:

 1. Fonts can be embedded in ODF documents, using existing and =
long-present provisions of the ODF specification.  [There was some =
confusion about using CSS and XLink provisions but, as I recall, it is =
actually very simple and does not require any extension to the format or =
schema.  I will have to double-check that.)

There is now need for the following:

 2. Some (more) proof-of-concept sample documents that demonstrate such =
embedding need to be collected as test vehicles.  [Any solution applies =
to all ODF formats - text, spreadsheet, presentation, ... - that have a =
font section and definable styles in the format.]

 3. It needs to be determined what happens with ODF consumers when such =
unexpected documents are encountered.

 4. There needs to be some staging among ODF producers to support =
embedding in implementations (LO, AOO, Microsoft Office), etc.  There =
also needs to be upgrading of conversion software so that font =
embeddings can now be ported between formats that support them (and will =
make very many people very happy).  Consumers need to be upgraded at the =
same time or even ahead of producers.  There is also a concern for what =
happens when a down-level release encounters one of these ODF files, of =
course.

 5. A GREAT DEAL OF INTEROP TESTING AND RELEASE STAGING IS CALLED FOR.  =
(More security analysis is also needed because font injection is an =
exploit path and there have been past vulnerabilities around fonts.) =20

 6. The next ODF Plugfest is scheduled for April in Brussels.  Now is a =
great time for moving proof-of-concept/prototype/finished/collaborative =
work forward for introduction and presentation on the agenda of that =
event.  The OASIS ODF Interoperability and Conformance TC has some =
resources (even an SVN for sample documents and test cases) and the =
Plugfest mailing list can be a valuable neutral forum.  (The last TC =
call of 2011 is tomorrow, 12-13, and this will definitely be discussed.)

 7. With regard to pro-active support and the interfaces necessary to =
control embedding, embedded-font usage, and when and how embedded fonts =
can be extracted and/or repurposed in other documents, there may need to =
be some technical support, and that will be a longer discussion that may =
require extended staging to be fully functional.  (It is in the nature =
of the ODF format that direct extraction of fonts embedded in the =
current structure is trivial for any teen-age hacker, with no =
cooperation of an ODF consumer required.)  Down the road, there may need =
to be more-specific consideration of font embedding in the ODF =
Specification beyond the current, simple hook.

 8. I suspect that there are cases that can be handled without too much =
difficulty and useful embedding can happen soon, with enrichment of the =
feature and functionality over time.


 - Dennis E. Hamilton
   tools for document interoperability,  <http://nfoWorks.org/>
   dennis.hamilton@acm.org  gsm: +1-206-779-9430  @orcmid


-----Original Message-----
From: Gianluca Turconi [mailto:public@letturefantastiche.com]=20
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 09:13
To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Re: old colored vs new monochrome icons

[ ... ]

P.S. to whom is interested, the most wanted future by the usenet
Italian community (IMO) is font inclusion in OO Writer documents. It
caused flame wars, endless legal discussions starting
from Agfa vs. Adobe trial and a huge addition to my kill file. :-P=20
--=20
Lettura gratuita o acquisto di libri e racconti di fantascienza,=20
fantasy, horror, noir, narrativa fantastica e tradizionale:
http://www.letturefantastiche.com/