font-Roboto

Setup

Create a clean directory for roboto:

mkdir -p $HOME/roboto-src
cd $HOME/roboto-src

Download the code and dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/google/roboto.git
git clone https://github.com/behdad/fonttools.git
git clone https://github.com/robofab-developers/robofab.git
git clone https://github.com/jamesgk/feaTools.git
git clone https://github.com/typemytype/booleanOperations.git

download Cython and extract it into the current directory.

For OTF generation:

git clone https://github.com/typesupply/ufo2fdk.git

To build the FDK yourself:

git clone https://github.com/adobe-type-tools/afdko.git

download the latest version of Python 2.7 here and extract it into the current directory.

If you're not building the FDK yourself, download the pre-built version here and unzip it into the current directory.

For TTF generation, on Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install fontforge python-fontforge

For post-production:

git clone https://code.google.com/p/noto/
git clone https://github.com/rougier/freetype-py.git

download the latest tarball release of HarfBuzz here and extract it into the current directory.

Install dependencies:

cd fonttools
sudo python setup.py install
cd ../robofab
sudo python setup.py install
cd ../feaTools
git checkout expanded
sudo python setup.py install
cd ../Cython-0.22
sudo python setup.py install
cd ../booleanOperations/cppWrapper
sudo python setup.py build_ext --inplace
cp pyClipper.so ../Lib/booleanOperations
cd ..
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

For OTF generation:

cd ufo2fdk
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

If building the FDK yourself, follow the instructions in afdko/FDK/FDK Build Notes.txt:

cd Python-2.7
./configure --prefix=AFDKOPythonBuild
make install
mv AFDKOPythonBuild ../afdko/FDK/Tools/osx/Python
cd ../fonttools
sudo ../afdko/FDK/Tools/osx/Python/bin/python setup.py install
cd ../afdko/FDK/Tools/Programs
./BuildAll.sh
cd ../..
./FinishInstallOSX
cd ../..

Otherwise:

cd FDK
./FinishInstallOSX
cd ..

In either case, use whatever install scripts and directory (FinishInstall[OSX|Linux|Windows.cmd], BuildAll[.sh|Linux.sh|.cmd], FDK/Tools/[osx|linux|win]) are appropriate for your platform (more detailed information can be found in FDK/Read_Me_First.html).

For post-production:

cd harfbuzz
./configure
make
sudo make install
cd ../noto
sudo python setup.py install
cd ../freetype-py
sudo python setup.py install
cd ..

Running the toolchain:

cd roboto
make

Dependencies

The Roboto build toolchain depends on:

• FontTools (https://github.com/behdad/fonttools)
• RoboFab (https://github.com/robofab-developers/robofab)
• NumPy and SciPy (http://www.numpy.org/)
• An expanded version of Tal Leming's feaTools (https://github.com/jamesgk/feaTools/tree/expanded), for feature handling.
• BooleanOperations (https://github.com/typemytype/booleanOperations), for glyph overlap removal.
  • (requires Cython to install: http://cython.org/)

OTF Generation

OTF generation depends on:

• ufo2fdk (https://github.com/typesupply/ufo2fdk)
• Open-source portions of the AFDKO (https://github.com/adobe-type-tools/afdko/releases)

The AFDKO from GitHub can be time consuming to setup. It is easier to just use the variety which includes closed-source tools (http://www.adobe.com/devnet/opentype/afdko.html), though these closed-source portions are not used to build Roboto.

TTF Generation

TTF generation depends on:

• FontForge (https://github.com/fontforge/fontforge)

Whose Python interface should be availabe on Ubuntu by default via apt-get install fontforge python-fontforge.

Post-Production

Post-production scripts (most of the code outside of the fontbuild directory, e.g. for testing output) depend on:

• The nototools module, installed as part of Noto (https://code.google.com/p/noto/)
  • (Noto subsequently depends on HarfBuzz: https://github.com/behdad/harfbuzz)
• freetype-py (https://github.com/rougier/freetype-py)