Re: Bug with fonts in subdirectory?

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

On Sun, Nov 13 2022, Terence Eden wrote:
> I am trying to convert a .md file to a .pdf using a specific TTF font.
> Pandoc doesn't work unless the .ttf is in the same directory as the .md 
> file.  Is that normal?
>
> This works:
> pandoc in.md --pdf-engine=xelatex -V mainfont="font.ttf" -o test.pdf
>
> I get a PDF in my specific font.
>
> But this fails:
> pandoc in.md --pdf-engine=xelatex -V mainfont="fonts/fontname/font.ttf" -o 
> test.pdf
>
> It gives the error:
>
> Error producing PDF.
> ! Missing number, treated as zero.
> <to be read again> 
>                    f
> l.19 \fi
>
> I know Pandoc can read the directory, because if I try to use a .ttf which 
> doesn't exist, I get the error "! Package fontspec Error: The font 
> "fonts/foo/bar" cannot be found."
>
> Is this a bug, or me not understanding how to use Pandoc properly (a 
> distinct possibility!)

The mainfont variable is not a Pandoc option but something that's passed to the
fontspec package used by XeLaTeX. It doesn't take a font file as value, but a
font name.

For it to work, you need to make sure that XeLaTeX can find the font. As far as
I know, this means that the font must be installed on your system. If that's OK
for you, you can simply double-click the ttf file in your file manager and your
system should install the font automatically, or open it in a application that
will allow you to install it.

If you do not wish to install the font, you'll need to figure out if XeLaTeX can
be taught to use fonts from fonts file that aren't installed. I don't know if
that's possible.


-- 
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments