bugGNU roff - Bugs: bug #55300, configure script tells users to...

 
 

bug #55300: configure script tells users to look for URW fonts at dead URL

Submitter:  Eli Zaretskii <eliz>
Submitted:  Thu 27 Dec 2018 05:21:26 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  Core Severity:  3 - Normal
Item Group:  Build/Installation Status:  Duplicate
Privacy:  Public Assigned to:  gbranden
Open/Closed:  Closed Planned Release:  None
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Fri 24 Feb 2023 03:02:54 AM UTC, comment #4: 

Narrowing scope to just the URL issue and treating as a duplicate of bug #60604 (which was filed later).

I also re-validated the URLs in the current configuration notice this week.

Never heard from back from the submitter regarding my query.

At the same time, the issues of gropdf's dependencies have been worked on extensively since the last time this bug saw traffic.

  • groff's Autoconf checks for Ghostscript and the availability of URW Type 1 fonts have been improved.
  • The messages omitted at configuration time when either of these is missing have been recast to describe the consequences of their absence more clearly.
  • The INSTALL.extra file in the distribution archive also discusses the URW fonts and why groff wants them.


Bug #63808 has more on this subject.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Fri 25 Jun 2021 10:30:49 PM UTC, comment #3: 

Setting status to "Need Info"; awaiting response from submitter.

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Sun 16 May 2021 01:50:02 AM UTC, comment #2: 

Ghostscript is not required, but we do have configure checks for it and they do warn.


checking for gs... no
[...snip...]
configure: WARNING: missing program:

  The program
     'gs'
  cannot be found in the PATH.
  Consequently, groff's HTML backend (grohtml) will not work properly;
  therefore, it will neither be possible to prepare, nor to install,
  documentation in HTML format.

configure: WARNING: missing program:

  The program 'gs' cannot be found in the PATH.
  Consequently, groff's PDF formatter (pdfroff) will not work properly;
  therefore, it will neither be possible to prepare, nor to install,
  documentation and most of the examples in PDF format.


The above checks are old, present even in groff 1.22.3, which is several years old (the current release, 1.22.4, was made in December 2018).

But I can tweak the text in question (about URW fonts) to mention HTML and PDF output, I reckon.  That violates the DRY principle--but this is user-facing, trying-to-get-the-damn-thing-to-build stuff.

What do you think, Eli?

G. Branden Robinson <gbranden>
Group administrator
Sat 15 May 2021 05:41:44 AM UTC, comment #1: 

Commit d6b6183a fixed the 404 URL (among other changes to the message you quoted).

Dave <barx>
Group Member
Thu 27 Dec 2018 05:21:26 PM UTC, original submission:  

If one doesn't have URW fonts installed, the Groff configure script emits the following message:

     configure:
       No URW fonts in .pfb format were found on your system, URW fonts
       generation for 'devpdf' will not work properly.  These fonts can be
       downloaded here:

http://downloads.ghostscript.com/public/fonts/urw-base35-v1.10.zip

       By default groff will search these fonts in the paths given by `gs
       -h' and in these 2 default directories:
       '/usr/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts/' and
       '/opt/local/share/fonts/urw-fonts/' (paths used by
       font/devpdf/Foundry.in).  You can also pass the option
       '--with-urw-fonts-dir=DIR' to 'configure' to set a custom path.  You
       would need to re-run the 'configure' script after installing these
       fonts.

First, the URL is outdated: it yields 404.

More importantly, the configure script insists on using GhostScript, even if one finds and installs the fonts, and then invokes the configure script with '--with-urw-fonts-dir=DIR'.  If GhostScript is indeed required, it should be mentioned in the above text.

Eli Zaretskii <eliz>

 

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    Follow 8 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2023-02-24 gbranden StatusNeed Info Duplicate
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
        Summaryconfigure script tells users to look for URW fonts at dead URL and doesn't say why they'd want 'em configure script tells users to look for URW fonts at dead URL
    2021-06-25 gbranden StatusIn Progress Need Info
    2021-05-16 gbranden StatusNone In Progress
        Assigned toNone gbranden
        SummaryURW fonts issues in Groff 1.22.4 configure script tells users to look for URW fonts at dead URL and doesn't say why they'd want 'em
    2021-05-15 barx Carbon-CopyRemoved 93119 -

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