[Tex/LaTex] Using OTF/TTF fonts that are installed with TeXLive

fontspectexlive

I've noticed that there are plenty of OTF and TTF fonts packaged with my new TexLive 2012. For example, the Asana-Math OTF font is in

$TEXMFDIST/fonts/opentype/public/Asana-Math

And there is a TTF in a different location. Can I use it in fontspec without intalling it in my system fonts, or specifying its absolute path?

Best Answer

If you only want to use fonts with UTF-8 TeX derivatives (XeTeX and LuaTeX) then you do not need to install them in your system font folder. Depending on your operating system and engine choice, using the font name may be less reliable than using the font file name. I would therefore favour doing the latter whether you are using system-wide or TeX tree fonts.

For example,

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmathfont{Asana-Math.otf}
\begin{document}
$y = mx + c$
\end{document}

works on my system with both XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX, but I do not have Asana Math installed system-wide (i.e. not available in for example Word).

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