Building from sources...

[fubarhouse]

A cool little thing I was playing with earlier today was the ability to build specific fonts from their sources.

I couldn't get it working locally or via Ansible but I was pressed for time.

It'd be a cool little feature to have here - so here's the issue!

[fubarhouse]

So building seems to be working with the following: https://github.com/adobe-type-tools/afdko

But, should best practice state we use a specific standard or simply run shell scripts? Theres a dependency issue here... The build script will then fire off a makeInstancesUFO command, or alternatively the makeotf command.

So we could do a few things here:

• ignore the potential for having this feature, or
• fix the dependency problem through this role in a new tasks file to install afdko, or
• install a new role dependency and create a new role for afdko, or
• introduce logic to get things working, to ensure problems are eliminated prior to execution, and
• it should be noted that there are currently no ansible roles for afdko and this is an opportunity to create something useful and unique.

Things to consider:

• should we specify an optional build_script variable for those that want to use it, and it simply runs the shell script from the repository extraction point?
• should we make proper use of makeInstancesUFO where an array is defined || !empty?
• should we make proper use of makeotf where an array is defined || !empty?
• should we have an optional build_from_source boolean in case we want to turn this on/off and not limit users from configuring it exactly to their needs, or should it be simple if defined logic?

I know which way I'm swinging for - despite not planning it previously.