janssen@parc.xerox.com (Bill Janssen) (10/13/90)
Why not put the "DownloadFont" into the font server? Your application contacts a font server (presumably an appropriate one is discoverable with some simple mechanism, perhaps examining the font path), and sends a font to it, then asks the X server for that font, which the server gets from that server. Perhaps this calls for a special font server, customized for the task of downloading fonts from applications. Bill -- Bill Janssen janssen@parc.xerox.com (415) 494-4763 Xerox Palo Alto Research Center 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, California 94304
marbru@auto-trol.UUCP (Martin Brunecky) (10/16/90)
In article <JANSSEN.90Oct12193201@holmes.parc.xerox.com> janssen@parc.xerox.com (Bill Janssen) writes: >Why not put the "DownloadFont" into the font server? Your application >contacts a font server (presumably an appropriate one is discoverable >with some simple mechanism, perhaps examining the font path), and >sends a font to it, then asks the X server for that font, which the >server gets from that server. > Sorry, but this sounds like when I have to ask my daughter to tell my wife (which is on bad terms with me for this afternoon) that .... My vision of XLoadFont is far simpler than that, lets say: int XLoadFont ( Display* dpy, XFontStruct* fs, Drawable bitmap ) As a user, I'd have to populate the XFontStruct, create a bitmap, write my icons into a bitmap assuming that for 8bit character set my bitmap would represent a single row of characters, for 16bit character sets multiple rows of characters ... The requets would return status and fill my font->fid (taking al my XFontStruct data it needs, incl properties ...). The "sends font to it" clause scares me, as it assumes that my font is a (BDF?) file. What if I generate my "font" on fly - do I have to produce a BDF file to get to your server ? Do I have to be on (God forbid) NFS crapwork to get this file to the server ? What if my client's filesystem is incompatible with the one of the server ? Should my application use ftp to pass the file through ??? Your solution introduces TWO more network connections, each with its own set of security and authenization problems. I am sorry, but for lots of users just to get the X client/server connection work is a task tough enough. Now, I am shipping an application. I have NO IDEA where in customer's environment will the server live, how do I get to it, what kind of access controls are in place. Theoretically, I could use your server. But in reality, I won't even try. -- =*= Opinions presented here are solely of my own and not those of Auto-trol =*= Martin Brunecky [BORN TO BASH UIL] marbru@auto-trol.COM (303) 252-2499 {...}ncar!ico!auto-trol!marbru Auto-trol Technology Corp. 12500 North Washington St., Denver, CO 80241-2404