[Tex/LaTex] What are the steps for installing ‘xcharter’

fontsinstallingpackages

I would like to install and use the xcharter package, but am unclear on the steps involved. There are what appear to be instructions provided with the package, but I don't understand them.

Is it sufficient to install the package using Tex Live Utility (on OS 10.9), or are there additional steps required to build and place fonts in various directories? Will the installation disturb any existing fonts?

Best Answer

As far as I can see there are four different cases. The first three cases concern fonts with direct LaTeX support (there are packages) with different licenses, while the fourth addresses fonts without direct LaTeX support, no matter how they are licensed:

a) Free fonts in the TL repository like xcharter

On a well maintained, recent distribution like TL2013 on MacOS it is very likely, that simply updating your system with the TeX Live Utility will install everything needed.

If you don’t have a full installation, just install the package with TeX Live Utility or by running sudo tlmgr install xcharter in a terminal. (The instructions on font installation, which are often found in the documentation of font packages, are only of import if you are not using a package manager.)

This applies to a whole range of fonts like dejavu, utopia, libertine, mathpazo and gentium to name just a few.

b) Non-free fonts like garamondx

There is a number of fonts, including garamondx, which can be installed using the script getnonfreefonts. In order to do so, follow the instructions here.

c) Non-free fonts with LaTeX support like Minion Pro

Other popular fonts like Minion Pro have LaTeX support but need to be installed manually. Usually there are detailed instructions accompanying the packages. In some cases, like Minion Pro, you can even find scripts that do the work for you.

d) Fonts without direct support

There is a huge class of commercial and free fonts without direct LaTeX support. They can be used with fontspec (this option requires XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX).

More on manual font installation here.

So, to generalize a bit: if a package contains a font and the package is in the TL repository then installing it with a package manager (like tlmgr) should suffice.

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