Adobe non free code in type 1 fonts
The problem
Font hinting uses some proprietary code from adobe. The non free code is described here:
Black book page 97 available here (via archive.org)
How can I check
Lintian help see report here
Install the t1utils package and run the following command on the pfb file:
t1disasm file.pfb
Check if you see the non free code.
If you only the the lines
{systemdict /internaldict known not {pop 3} {1183615869 systemdict /internaldict get exec dup /startlock known {/startlock get exec} {dup /strtlck known {/strtlck get exec} {pop 3} ifelse} ifelse} ifelse } executeonly ] noaccess def
you may be on the good side, since this fragment was created by Adobe but is now under Apache 2.0 license, brought to us via AFDKO (Adobe Font Development Kit for Opentype), see t1write_hintothers.h in afdko packge.
Lintian may be a little too aggressively here and complain about the above lines, see lintian bug #1029555.
How to solve
Rewriting is difficult:
- the adobe code is part of the language
- some printers search and replace the adobe code by their own routine. Rewritting this code could crash your printer.
- the adobe code is buggy (leaks memory) and postscript interpreters patch it at run time. Modifying it could change the postscript interpreter behavior.
Adobe seems willing to relicense see mail here.
I found this bug
Please report this bug by adding to the bug header the following usertag:
user: debian-qa@lists.debian.org usertags: adobe-font-license severity: serious
See usertags documentation for more information about usertags.
List of this kind of bug
Please see the list