Ubuntu Manpage: hbf2gf - convert a CJK bitmap font into subfonts usable by TeX and Omega.

Provided by: latex-cjk-common_4.8.5-1_amd64

NAME

       hbf2gf - convert a CJK bitmap font into subfonts usable by TeX and Omega.

SYNOPSIS

       hbf2gf [-q] configuration-file[.cfg]
       hbf2gf [-q] [-p] [-g] [-n] subfont-name x-resolution [y-scale | y-resolution]
       hbf2gf -t [-q] subfont-name
       hbf2gf --version | --help

DESCRIPTION

CJK bitmap fonts can't be directly used with TeX because the number of characters in such fonts ex‐
ceeds 256, the limit of a TeX font. Thus it is necessary to split these fonts into subfonts, and this is
exactly what hbf2gf does.

As the name says, hbf2gf uses CJK fonts in a certain format which is called Hanzi Bitmap Font (HBF) for‐
mat. It simply consists of the CJK bitmap file(s) and a text file in a format very similar to the BDF
format of the X Window System which describes the bitmap font files: the encoding, the size, etc. The
produced GF files can then be converted with gftopk into standard PK files.

hbf2gf can be called in three modes:

hbf2gf [-q] configuration-file[.cfg]

This call normally creates a set of GF files, one PL file, and a batch file which must be executed
after hbf2gf has finished. This script will then call gftopk to convert all GF files into PK files,
and it will call pltotf to convert the PL file into a TFM file. Finally it will copy the TFM file
so that each PK file has its TFM file (which are all identical).

If ofm_file is set to ‘yes’ in the configuration file, OFM and OVF files will be created too.

-q makes hbf2gf quiet.

hbf2gf [-q] [-p] [-g] [-n] subfont-name x-resolution [y-scale | y-resolution]

This mode is intended for use with mktexpk and its derivates. Only one GF file together with a PL
file for the given subfont will be computed, taking the horizontal resolution and a vertical scaling
factor (if the value is smaller than 10) resp. the vertical resolution (otherwise) from the command
line, ignoring the nmb_fonts parameter of the configuration file. The last two characters (which
are interpreted as the subfont number) are stripped to get the name for the configuration file
(which must end with ‘.cfg’). No job file will be created. If option -p is set, no PL file is cre‐
ated. If -g is set, no GF file is created. The extension can be controlled with -n; if set, the
extension is ‘.gf’, otherwise ‘.<resolution>gf’. -q makes hbf2gf quiet.

hbf2gf -t [-q] subfont-name

This mode is intended for use with scripts like mktexpk; it tests whether the specified subfont name
leads to an hbf2gf configuration file. It returns 0 on success and prints out the name of that con‐
figuration file (provided the -q switch isn't set). This test isn't a thorough one; it only removes
the last two characters and checks whether a configuration file with that name exists.

See the next section for more details about configuration files.

Specifying the option --version returns the current version of hbf2gf and the used file search library
(e.g. kpathsea). Usage information is shown with the --help parameter.

CONFIGURATION FILE

Here a sample configuration file (gsfs14.cfg) for a 56×56 Chinese font in GB encoding; note that all in‐
formation about the font is in the jfs56.hbf file. See the FILE SEARCHING section how HBF fonts and
hbf2gf configuration files are found. See the AVAILABILITY section where to get CJK fonts together with
its HBF files:

hbf_header jfs56.hbf
mag_x 1
threshold 128
comment jianti fansongti 56x56 pixel font

design_size 14.4

y_offset -13

nmb_files -1

output_name gsfs14

checksum 123456789

dpi_x 300

pk_files no
tfm_files yes

coding codingscheme GuoBiao encoded TeX text

pk_directory $HBF_TARGET/pk/modeless/gb2312/gsfs14/
tfm_directory $HBF_TARGET/tfm/gb2312/gsfs14/

A configuration file is a plain text file consisting of keywords and its arguments. A keyword must start
a line, otherwise the whole line will be ignored. If the word starting a line is not a keyword, the line
will be ignored too. Empty lines will also be skipped. The search for keywords is case insensitive; in
contrast, the arguments will be taken exactly as given (except ‘yes’ and ‘no’ which can be written with
uppercase or lowercase letters). Each keyword has one argument which must be separated by whitespace
(blanks or tabs) from the keyword and must be on the same line. Each line must not be longer than 256
characters.

You can use environment variables in the configuration file. The escape character starting an environ‐
ment variable in the configuration file is always ‘$’, even for operating systems like DOS which has oth‐
er conventions. hbf2gf recognizes only environment variable names which start with a letter or an under‐
score, followed by alphanumeric characters or underscores. You can surround the variable with braces to
indicate where the variable name ends, for example ${FOO}. To get a dollar sign you must write ‘$$’.
The expansion of environment variables in hbf2gf itself (without the help of either kpathsea, emtexdir,
or MiKTeX searching routines) is very limited; this feature has been carried over from previous versions.
It can't expand variables set in texmf.cnf; it also can't handle more than one directory as the vari‐
able's value. Don't use it except for the ‘pk_directory’ and ‘tfm_directory’ parameters!

This is the list of all necessary keywords:

hbf_header
The HBF header file name of the input font(s). hbf2gf uses the given searching mechanism (kpath‐
sea, emtexdir, or MiKTeX) to locate this file.

output_name
The name stem of the output files. A running two digit decimal number starting with ‘01’ will be
appended. For Unicode fonts see the keyword unicode below. This value is in almost all cases
identical to the name of the configuration file.

And now all optional keywords:

x_offset
Increases the character width. Will be applied on both sides; default for non-rotated glyphs is
the value given in the HBF header (HBF_BITMAP_BOUNDING_BOX) scaled to design_size (in pixels).

y_offset
Shifts all characters up or down; default for non-rotated glyphs is the value given in the HBF
header (HBF_BITMAP_BOUNDING_BOX) scaled to design_size (in pixels).

design_size
The design size (in points) of the font. x_offset and y_offset refer to this size. Default
is 10.0.

slant The slant of the font (given as Delta_x / Delta_y). Only values in the range 0 ≤ slant ≤ 1 are
allowed. Default is 0.0.

rotation
If set to ‘yes’, all glyphs will be rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise. The default offsets as
given in the HBF header will be ignored (and set to 0). Default is ‘no’.

mag_x
mag_y Scaling values of the characters to reach design size. If only one magnification is given, x and
y values are assumed to be equal. Default is mag_x = mag_y = 1.0.

threshold
A value between 1 and 254 defining a threshold for converting the internal graymap into the output
bitmap; lower values cut more pixels. Default value is 128.

comment
A comment describing the font; default is none.

nmb_fonts
The number of subfonts to create. Default value is -1 for creating all fonts.

unicode
If ‘yes’, a two digit hexadecimal number will be used as a running number, starting with the value
of the first byte of the first code range. Default is ‘no’.

min_char
The minimum value of the encoding. You should set this value to get correct subfile offsets if it
is not identical to the lowest character code in the HBF file.

dpi_x
dpi_y The horizontal and vertical resolution (in dpi) of the printer. If only one resolution is given,
x and y values are assumed to be equal. Default is 300.

checksum
A checksum to identify the GF files with the appropriate TFM files. The default value of this un‐
signed 32bit integer is 0.

coding A comment describing the coding scheme; default is none.

pk_directory
The destination directory of the PK files; default: none. Attention! The batch file will not
check whether this directory exists.

tfm_directory
The destination directory of the TFM files; default: none. Attention! The batch file will not
check whether this directory exists.

pk_files
Whether to create PK files or not; default is ‘yes’.

tfm_files
Whether to create TFM files or not; default is ‘yes’.

ofm_file
Whether to create an OPL file or not; default is ‘no’. The batch file will then use ovp2ovf of
the Omega distribution to convert it into an OFM and an OVF file. The OPL file simply maps all
subfonts back to a single Omega font.

long_extension
If ‘yes’, PK files will include the resolution in the extension (e.g. gsso1201.300pk). This af‐
fects the batch file only (default is ‘yes’).

rm_command
The shell command to remove files; default: ‘rm’.

cp_command
The shell command to copy files; default: ‘cp’.

job_extension
The extension of the batch file which calls gftopk and pltotf to convert the GF and the PL files
into PK and TFM files respectively; default is none.

FILE SEARCHING

hbf2gf uses either the kpathsea, emtexdir, or MiKTeX library for searching files (emtexdir will work only
on operating systems which have an MS-DOSish background, i.e., MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows; MiKTeX is for Win32
systems).

kpathsea
The actual version of kpathsea is displayed on screen if you call hbf2gf --version.

Here is a table of the file type and the corresponding kpathsea variables.

.hbf MISCFONTS
.cfg HBF2GFINPUTS

Please consult the info files of kpathsea for details on these variables. The decision which naming
scheme to use for variables will be done during compilation.

You should set the TEXMFCNF variable to the directory where your texmf.cnf configuration file resides.

Here is the proper command to find out to which value a kpathsea variable is set (we use MISCFONTS as an
example). This is especially useful if a variable isn't set in texmf.cnf or in the environment, thus
pointing to the default value which is hard-coded into the kpathsea library.

kpsewhich -progname=hbf2gf -expand-var='$MISCFONTS'

We select the program name also since it is possible to specify variables which are searched only for a
certain program – in our example it would be MISCFONTS.hbf2gf.

A similar but not identical method is to say

kpsewhich -progname=hbf2gf -show-path='misc fonts'

[A full list of format types can be obtained by saying ‘kpsewhich --help’ on the command line prompt.]
This is exactly how hbf2gf searches for files; the disadvantage is that all variables are expanded which
can cause very long strings.

emtexdir
Here the list of suffixes and its related environment variables to be set in autoexec.bat (resp. in con‐
fig.sys for OS/2):

.hbf HBFONTS
.cfg HBFCFG

If one of the variables isn't set, a warning message is emitted. The current directory will always be
searched. As usual, one exclamation mark appended to a directory path causes subdirectories one level
deep to be searched, two exclamation marks causes all subdirectories to be searched. Example:

HBFONTS=c:\fonts\hbf!!;d:\myfonts\hbf!

Constructions like ‘c:\fonts!!\hbf’ aren't possible.

MikTeX
Please consult the documentation files of MiKTeX for more details.

LIMITATIONS

       The x and y output size must not exceed MAX_CHAR_SIZE, which is defined at compile time; its default val‐
       ue is 1023 (pixel).

FILES

       *.cfg  The hbf2gf configuration scripts.

       *.hbf  HBF header files which describe fixed-width bitmap fonts.  Note that the bitmap font name(s) them‐
              selves as specified in the header files are irrelevant for hbf2gf.

AVAILABILITY

       hbf2gf is part of the CJK macro package for LaTeX 2e available at the CTAN hosts and its mirrors.

       CJK fonts together with HBF header files can be found at ftp.ifcss.org and its mirrors.

AUTHORS

       Werner Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>
       Ross Paterson (the HBF API) <ross@soi.city.ac.uk>

CJK Version 4.8.5                                  16-Oct-2021                                         HBF2GF(1)