[comp.text.tex] PFM->AFM?

NORM@IONAACAD.BITNET (Norman Walsh) (06/20/91)

Greetings,
I've seen several references to a program called AFM2TFM that can convert
PostScript AFM files into the appropriate TFM files for TeX but I've
also noticed that most public domain PS fonts that I've seen come with
PFB and PFM files but no AFM files.  Is it possible to create the AFM
file from the combination of PFB/PFM files?
                                              Thanks, in advance,
                                                norm

bkph@wheat-chex.ai.mit.edu (Berthold K.P. Horn) (06/21/91)

PFM files contain character width and kerning information, 
but nothing about ligatures - or all those other goodies found in AFM files.

Character widths can also be extracted from the PFB (painfully), 
but there is no kerning information in a PFB file.

So the answer is that you can get an incomplete AFM file from a PFM file,
which perhaps you could then hand-edit to insert the missing stuff.  

To be useful, PFB files should always come with AFM files attached...