Re: Why does Pandoc fail to create a PDF for certain fonts, but works for other fonts with otherwise the same command?

[Joost Kremers <joostkremers-97jfqw80gc6171pxa8y+qA@public.gmane.org>]

On Tue, Feb 11 2020, tutiluren via pandoc-discuss wrote:
> This command WORKS (creates a PDF with the "Arial" font):
>
>     pandoc --pdf-engine=xelatex -V pagestyle="empty" -V 
>     mainfont="Arial" -V monofont="Arial" -V fontsize=10pt 
>     --verbose -V papersize="A4" -V margin-top="2cm" -V 
>     margin-right="2cm" -V margin-bottom="2cm" -V 
>     margin-left="2cm" "test.md" -o "out.pdf"
>
> This command also WORKS (creates a PDF with the "Courier New" 
> font):
>
>     pandoc --pdf-engine=xelatex -V pagestyle="empty" -V 
>     mainfont="Courier New" -V monofont="Courier New" -V 
>     fontsize=10pt --verbose -V papersize="A4" -V 
>     margin-top="2cm" -V margin-right="2cm" -V 
>     margin-bottom="2cm" -V margin-left="2cm" "test.md" -o 
>     "out.pdf"
>
> However, both these commands FAIL (no PDF created at all):
>
>     pandoc --pdf-engine=xelatex -V pagestyle="empty" -V 
>     mainfont="Courier" -V monofont="Courier" -V fontsize=10pt 
>     --verbose -V papersize="A4" -V margin-top="2cm" -V 
>     margin-right="2cm" -V margin-bottom="2cm" -V 
>     margin-left="2cm" "test.md" -o "out.pdf"
>
>     pandoc --pdf-engine=xelatex -V pagestyle="empty" -V 
>     mainfont="Courier Standard" -V monofont="Courier Standard" 
>     -V fontsize=10pt --verbose -V papersize="A4" -V 
>     margin-top="2cm" -V margin-right="2cm" -V 
>     margin-bottom="2cm" -V margin-left="2cm" "test.md" -o 
>     "out.pdf"
>
> From the massive dump of output (containing lots of private 
> paths and stuff), I was able to extract out these clues:
>
>     xdvipdfmx:fatal: This font using the "seac" command for 
>     accented characters...
>     No output PDF file written.
>
> What does it mean? What exactly is wrong? In Windows' font dir, 
> there is a "Courier Standard", which, when opened, is simply 
> called "Courier". Both of those strings result in the 
> nonsensical error.

DuckDuckGo is your friend. :-) The info I'm finding on the net is 
that this indicates the font you're using is a Postscript Type 1 
font, which XeTeX doesn't fully support. It should work if you use 
is a TTF or an OTF font. (The file name should have a `.ttf` or 
`.otf` file extension. Type 1 fonts will have `.pfb`, `.pfm` or 
`.afm`, according to Wikipedia.)

Note that the name under which a font is known to the system (and 
under which XeLaTeX would search for it) is not necessarily 
identical to the file name of the font on disk. The Windows 
control panel should have an option to view the fonts installed on 
your system. (Just quoting what I read online here. I can't check 
myself because I don't have access to Windows.)

HTH

-- 
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments