Remove autohinting

.github/workflows/build.yaml

@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install sys tools/deps
       run: |
         sudo apt-get update
-        sudo apt-get install ttfautohint libcairo2-dev python3-cairo-dev pkg-config python3-dev
+        sudo apt-get install ttfautohint libcairo2-dev python3-cairo-dev pkg-config python3-dev fontforge xmlstarlet
         sudo snap install yq
     - uses: actions/cache@v4
       with:
@@ -42,10 +42,19 @@ jobs:
       #       bumpfontversion sources/$src --new-version $TAG_NAME;
       #     done
 
+    # original build process used sfdlib to convert .sfd files to .ufo and then built the .ufo files with gftools/fontmake
     - name: Convert .sfd files to .ufo
-      run: make convert
+    #  run: make convert # convert using sfdlib/sfd2ufo
+      run: ./scripts/convert.sh
     - name: Build font
       run: make build
+
+    # generate fonts directly with FontForge, which retains hinting information
+    #- name: Generate fonts with FontForge
+    #  run: make fontforge # I'm not smart enough for makefiles...
+    #  run:
+    #    ./scripts/build.sh
+
     - name: Check with fontbakery
       run: make test
       continue-on-error: true

Makefile

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ help:
 	@echo
 	@echo "  make convert: Converts FontForge .sfd source files to .ufo
 	@echo "  make build:  Builds the fonts and places them in the fonts/ directory"
+        @echo "  make fontforge: Generate fonts directly with FontForge (recommended)
 	@echo "  make test:   Tests the fonts with fontbakery"
 	@echo "  make proof:  Creates HTML proof documents in the proof/ directory"
 	@echo "  make images: Creates PNG specimen images in the documentation/ directory"
@@ -38,15 +39,15 @@ venv-test/touchfile: requirements-test.txt
 	. venv-test/bin/activate; pip install -Ur requirements-test.txt
 	touch venv-test/touchfile
 
-test: venv-test build.stamp
+test: venv-test #build.stamp # skip build step
 	TOCHECK=$$(find fonts/variable -type f 2>/dev/null); if [ -z "$$TOCHECK" ]; then TOCHECK=$$(find fonts/ttf -type f 2>/dev/null); fi ; . venv-test/bin/activate; mkdir -p out/ out/fontbakery; fontbakery check-googlefonts -l WARN --full-lists --succinct --badges out/badges --html out/fontbakery/fontbakery-report.html --ghmarkdown out/fontbakery/fontbakery-report.md $$TOCHECK  || echo '::warning file=sources/config.yaml,title=Fontbakery failures::The fontbakery QA check reported errors in your font. Please check the generated report.'
 
-proof: venv build.stamp
+proof: venv #build.stamp # skip build step
 	TOCHECK=$$(find fonts/variable -type f 2>/dev/null); if [ -z "$$TOCHECK" ]; then TOCHECK=$$(find fonts/ttf -type f 2>/dev/null); fi ; . venv/bin/activate; mkdir -p out/ out/proof; diffenator2 proof $$TOCHECK -o out/proof
 
 images: venv $(DRAWBOT_OUTPUT)
 
-%.png: %.py build.stamp
+%.png: %.py #build.stamp # skip build step
 	. venv/bin/activate; python3 $< --output $@
 
 clean:
@@ -58,3 +59,6 @@ update-project-template:
 
 update:
 	echo 'update' breaks any customization, manually update from google font template
+
+fontforge:
+	echo I don't understand makefiles... run ./scripts/build.sh instead

scripts/build.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"
+
+rm -rf ../fonts
+mkdir ../fonts
+mkdir ../fonts/ttf
+mkdir ../fonts/webfonts
+for sfd in ../sources/*.sfd;
+do 
+    font=${sfd##*/}
+    fontforge -c 'open(argv[1]).generate(argv[2])' $sfd ../fonts/ttf/${font%.*}.ttf
+    fontforge -c 'open(argv[1]).generate(argv[2])' $sfd ../fonts/webfonts/${font%.*}.woff2
+done

scripts/convert.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"
+
+for sfd in ../sources/*.sfd;
+do
+    fontforge -c 'open(argv[1]).generate(argv[2])' $sfd ${sfd%.*}.ufo
+
+    # fontforge bug #5450 does not properly export 'use typo metrics' bit
+    xmlstarlet ed --inplace -s '//plist/dict[last()]' -t elem -n "key" -v "openTypeOS2Selection" -s '//plist/dict[last()]' -t elem -n "array" -s '//plist/dict[last()]/array[last()]' -t elem -n "integer" -v 7 ${sfd%.*}.ufo/fontinfo.plist
+
+    # fontforge exports tags that are interpreted weird by fontbakery/Google Fonts. Just delete them
+    xmlstarlet ed --inplace -d '//plist/dict/key[contains(text(),"styleMapFamilyName")]/following-sibling::string[1]' ${sfd%.*}.ufo/fontinfo.plist
+    xmlstarlet ed --inplace -d '//plist/dict/key[contains(text(),"styleMapFamilyName")]' ${sfd%.*}.ufo/fontinfo.plist
+    xmlstarlet ed --inplace -d '//plist/dict/key[contains(text(),"styleMapStyleName")]/following-sibling::string[1]' ${sfd%.*}.ufo/fontinfo.plist
+    xmlstarlet ed --inplace -d '//plist/dict/key[contains(text(),"styleMapStyleName")]' ${sfd%.*}.ufo/fontinfo.plist
+done