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dsr_

"apt for fonts" is called apt.

If you want the testing fonts, you add:

/etc/apt/sources.d/fonts.list:

deb http://http.debian.net/debian sid main contrib non-free

and

/etc/apt/preferences.d/pinning:

Package: fonts-* Pin: release a=testing Pin-Priority: 600

(priority between 500 and 989 means "causes a version to be installed unless there is a version available belonging to the target release or the installed version is more recent")

and after you apt update, you have access to sid.

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Yes why use this simple tool when you can:

1. add a limited set of fonts (requires sudo privileges)

2. pin those using an arbitrary number between two more arbitrary numbers, hope it doesn't break anything else. if it does break I'm sure there's a few pages of documentation you can sift through (also requires sudo privileges)

3. run another sudo command to update your local list of available packages

4. finally, use sudo to install your font

While I agree this looks like a nice simple tool for managing fonts, bringing up the differences between it and apt is hardly an argument for how this is the "apt for fonts".

I'm not the target user here since I'm usually happy enough with whatever font is available by default from apt, but that makes this tool (as nice as I'm sure it is for the intended users):

1. Install new package manager for a special category of packages

2. Learn/use different syntax for installing/searching/updating/removing

3. Remember in 6 months I even installed this thing, when I feel like a font change

You don't need sudo for any of this.

You do need root privileges if you want to install font packages so that everyone on the system can use them. If you only have yourself as a user, you can just drop ttf or otf files in an appropriate $HOME subdir.

You can also build yourself a read-only disk image and run overlay, or run NIXos, or guix, or whatever. I find it baffling that you find it desirable to sneer at instructions on how to do things appropriately for the specific system that is being referenced.

Hopefully other people will find some value in what I wrote.

Huh, so I bet someone could write a manager to handle that in a single command right?

And god help you if you'd like to add a font. You'll need to read hundreds of pages of mostly out of date documentation. Then track down brusque gatekeepers on IRC and obscure communication channels to plead your case, only to be mocked and told simply, "No." You will be told it's not "the Debian way" and hundreds of pages of more documentation will be thrown at you. Almost certainly someone will quiz you on your knowledge of obscure 90's unix minutia and the writings of Eric S. Raymond. And once you pass that gauntlet your font might be accepted in a few months, at which time it's already way out of date and you start the whole process over again.

Pretty sure I just wrote out all the steps for you.

I'm glad I could save you from that nightmare. Next time try posting to the debian-users mailing list, we hardly ever mock anyone.

I believe they were talking in that comment about adding a new font to Debian.

It seems unlikely to be that difficult, given that there are

apt search "font"|grep fonts-|wc -l

roughly 600 font families packaged in the Debian repositories right now.

This tool just downloads .debs from sid:

https://github.com/alexmyczko/fnt/blob/c9204949ddf77e31fd519...

then it copies any fonts in them to a per-user directory. I don’t see any real benefit to debian users vs apt pinning (apt pinning supports auto update; fnt does not), but it does support installing to other operating systems, which is nice for those people.

Don't forget getting ridiculed for a "Useless Use of Cat"

not every linux or system has apt. not every user has root permissions. not every system has sudo.

Yes, exactly. I think we're saying the same thing: the submitted tool doesn't need apt or any sort of root permissions. While the instructions the parent posted required root, apt, knowledge of pinning, and acceptance of any issues that brings up.

Much more complicated than just installing a font.

To me, "apt for fonts" is something similar to apt, but centered around and specialized in fonts. Like, say, eprairie, the "ebay for bison" – I can list those rare bison I need to get rid of on ebay, but people won't be able to search for horn curvature, but I expect eprairie will have that.

Good to know there are some fonts on apt, though!

And fnt has little to do with apt; it's a wrapper around curl + ar + tar, that doesn't support any of the important features of APT (signature checking, dependencies, updates, keeping track of what is installed, uninstalls, ...)

that is true. but everyone knows apt, so if you want to explain something similar in usage, i'd refer to something people know about. of course your description: "wrapper around curl/ar/tar" is on point, but would anyone have understood it? the missing important features are a good idea.

...unless you're not on a Debian-based distribution.

Then you won't have apt in the first place ;)

But you can have fnt, they support macOS too it seems

THIS is the main reason I wrote it.

Maybe the problem is that there's no equivalent of the AUR for Debian-based repos, and/or that packaging for Debian is a serious pain the ass.

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