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googlefonts / roboto-2

The Roboto family of fonts
Apache License 2.0
3.85k stars 309 forks source link

Is the project abandonned ? #351

Open DXwangg opened 1 year ago

DXwangg commented 1 year ago

I need your help with a few questions.

  1. Is Roboto still Google Fonts' long-maintained font software? The project has not been updated since August 2, 2017.
  2. If the Roboto has been abandoned, is there any replacement software available?
NiklasBr commented 1 year ago

It's hard to know what Google is up to, there is also this repo: https://github.com/googlefonts/roboto-classic

And this one: https://github.com/google/fonts/tree/main/apache/roboto

Both with contributions more recent than the one we are on right now.

My guess is that Google does with font repositories like they do with chat apps: Create new ones and forget about the old ones ;)

ak2 commented 1 year ago

The "classic" in that "roboto-classic" repo appears to be in contrast to this new "roboto-flex":

https://github.com/googlefonts/roboto-flex

The classic release still contains static and hinted fonts, whereas the flex one is variable fonts only.

NiklasBr commented 1 year ago

Ah yes, four repositories? Sure, why not.

barmadrid commented 1 year ago

Would like to see this repo dropped or renamed since it includes the older version (2.xx) of Roboto. Many Linux distros are still using this to package the font, which is outdated compared to Roboto-Classic repo.

ticoeteco23gb commented 2 months ago

So, the "Roboto Classic" is the more recently active repository?

davelab6 commented 1 day ago

Hi everyone

I'm the lead project manager for font development on the Google Fonts team, since 2010, and I am only just seeing this issue existing now, which does tell you something about the question, "Is the project abandoned?" ha.

Yes and no. Yes, this repo is completely abandoned, because it is the source repo for the 2.x line of the Roboto project; it was superceded by the 3.x line which is codenamed Roboto Classic - which is now in the 'central' github.com/google/fonts repo (which stores binaries only) - and it was then deprecated by the new Roboto Flex project within the overall Roboto brand umbrella - which is itself soon to be superceded by the Roboto Flex avar2 project, likely released under the family name Roboto Delta. So there's really 5 repositories ;)

It is a good suggestion to rename this repo, and I've now done so to roboto-2 and marked it archived too.

I agree that GNU+Linux distros and other places should not use the releases in this repo, they should use the releases in the Roboto-Classic repo, for the classic Roboto design. However, the "Roboto Classic" project is also no longer actively maintained, and is unlikely to see any further activity from Google.

Roboto Flex may see some minor bug patches, but real development is happening in https://github.com/googlefonts/roboto-flex-avar2

Cheers Dave