[Bug 873713] Re: MIR: promote 'bdf2psf' binary (console bitmap conversion utility)

[Michael Terry]

** Changed in: console-setup (Ubuntu)
     Assignee: (unassigned) => Didier Roche (didrocks)

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Title:
  MIR: promote 'bdf2psf' binary (console bitmap conversion utility)

Status in “console-setup” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  In connection with bug #873705 for 'otf2bdf'.

  MIR for 'bdf2psf' binary package (built by 'console-setup') per:

    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuMainInclusionRequirements

  'bdf2psf' is a command-line utility that takes a bitmap font in a
  generic format called BDF and converts it to a specific format for the
  Linux console, for use by 'setfont' . In conjunction with 'otf2psf' it
  allows converting vector-based fonts (.ttf files) into a common bitmap
  font form called '.psf' via the intermediate form 'BDF' . The specific
  desire is to use the recently added hinting information in "Ubuntu
  Mono" from the Ubuntu Font Family to enable usage on the server
  console.

  1. The binary package is built by 'console-setup' and the binary deployed to universe.
  2. Promoting to main will allow the build-dependency in 'ttf-ubuntu-font-family' to be uncommented, allowing the generation of 'fonts-ubuntu-font-family-console' bitmaps fonts for use on the Linux Console and server environments (a Blueprint goal).
  3. The specific 'bdf2psf' component of the package does not have a history of security issues and is not generally installed or used directly by end-users, other than those specifically involved with the generation of bitmap console fonts for the Linux console.
  4. No configuration is needed, and no Debconf questions are asked.  The tool itself does not appear to have any direct bugs, although bug #190746 ("Some console fonts (i.e.Lat2-VGA8.psf.gz) have bad Unicode maps") may be indicative of a possible bug in certain combinations of input files.  Because of the simple nature of the tool, this is more likely and error at the point of (manual) generation of the those fonts, and should not affect its present or intended automated use: 

    http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?package=bdf2psf
    https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/console-setup/+bugs

  5. 'bdf2psf' is a command-line tool, which does not install daemons,
  nor run as root.

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