Fonts with XeLaTeX : tips and troubleshooting

• First, one thing about fonts with XeLaTeX. How do I know what fonts I could use for the language I want to typeset ? Open a terminal (with ubuntu, enter alt+f2, and enter gnome-terminal in the prompt), and copy the following :
  

  fc-list :lang=en

  It will give you all fonts with their style that you can use for each language you specify. If you want to specify another language, then replace the “en” after “lang=” with any other language. For example, if i want to know what are the japanese fonts I can use, I replace “en” with “ja”, it returns :

  $ fc-list :lang=ja
  YOzFontNF:style=Bold
  YOzFont:style=Regular
  YOzFontEF:style=Bold
  YOzFontCF:style=Bold
  YOzFontAF:style=Bold
  IPA X0208 P明朝,IPAX0208PMincho:style=Regular
  YOzFontN90:style=Regular
  YOzFontNF:style=Italic
  YOzFontEF90:style=Regular
  YOzFontEF:style=Italic
  YOzFontAF:style=Italic
  YOzFontCF:style=Italic
  YOzFont:style=Bold
  YOzFontE:style=Regular
  YOzFontF:style=Regular
  YOzFontA:style=Regular
  YOzFontC:style=Regular
  YOzFontN:style=Regular
  YOzFontEF90:style=Bold
  文泉驛等寬正黑,WenQuanYi Zen Hei Mono,文泉驿等宽正黑:style=中等,Medium
  文泉驛等寬微米黑,WenQuanYi Micro Hei Mono,文泉驿等宽微米黑:style=Regular
  YOzFontEF90:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontA90:style=Italic
  IPA X0208 Pゴシック,IPAX0208PGothic:style=Regular
  YOzFont90:style=Italic
  YOzFont:style=Italic
  YOzFontC90:style=Italic
  YOzFont:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontE90:style=Italic
  YOzFont90:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontNF90:style=Bold
  YOzFontF90:style=Italic
  YOzFontCF90:style=Regular
  YOzFontF:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontE:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontNF90:style=Italic
  YOzFontC:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontA:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontN:style=Bold Italic
  さざなみ明朝,Sazanami Mincho:style=Regular,Mincho-Regular
  YOzFontEF:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontAF:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontCF:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontNF:style=Bold Italic
  Takao P明朝,TakaoPMincho:style=Regular
  文泉驛正黑,WenQuanYi Zen Hei,文泉驿正黑:style=中等,Medium
  YOzFontN90:style=Italic
  IPAexゴシック,IPAexGothic:style=Regular
  YOzFontEF90:style=Italic
  YOzFontCF90:style=Bold Italic
  東風ゴシック,Kochi Gothic:style=標準,Regular
  YOzFontNF:style=Regular
  YOzFontAF:style=Regular
  YOzFontCF:style=Regular
  YOzFontEF:style=Regular
  東風明朝,Kochi Mincho:style=標準,Regular
  IPA X0208 UIゴシック,IPAX0208UIGothic:style=Regular
  YOzFontAF90:style=Regular
  Takaoゴシック,TakaoGothic:style=Regular
  YOzFont90:style=Regular
  IPA X0208 明朝,IPAX0208Mincho:style=Regular
  YOzFontAF90:style=Bold
  YOzFontN90:style=Bold
  IPAゴシック,IPAGothic:style=Regular
  YOzFontCF90:style=Italic
  YOzFontN90:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontAF90:style=Bold Italic
  文泉驛微米黑,WenQuanYi Micro Hei,文泉驿微米黑:style=Regular
  YOzFontA90:style=Bold Italic
  IPA Pゴシック,IPAPGothic:style=Regular
  YOzFontC90:style=Bold
  YOzFontC90:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontA90:style=Bold
  IPA X0208 ゴシック,IPAX0208Gothic:style=Regular
  YOzFontE90:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontF90:style=Bold
  YOzFontNF90:style=Bold Italic
  YOzFontF90:style=Bold Italic
  Takao Pゴシック,TakaoPGothic:style=Regular
  YOzFontE90:style=Bold
  TakaoExゴシック,TakaoExGothic:style=Regular
  YOzFont90:style=Bold
  YOzFontC90:style=Regular
  YOzFontCF90:style=Bold
  YOzFontA90:style=Regular
  YOzFontF:style=Italic
  YOzFontN:style=Bold
  YOzFontE:style=Italic
  YOzFontC:style=Italic
  YOzFontA:style=Italic
  YOzFontN:style=Italic
  YOzFontF:style=Bold
  YOzFontE:style=Bold
  YOzFontC:style=Bold
  YOzFontA:style=Bold
  IPAex明朝,IPAexMincho:style=Regular
  IPA明朝,IPAMincho:style=Regular
  TakaoEx明朝,TakaoExMincho:style=Regular
  Takao明朝,TakaoMincho:style=Regular
  YOzFontF90:style=Regular
  YOzFontAF90:style=Italic
  YOzFontNF90:style=Regular
  IPA P明朝,IPAPMincho:style=Regular
  YOzFontE90:style=Regular

  If you don’t know how you could know what is the abbreviation for your language, then copy the following line in your terminal :

  ls /usr/share/locale

  It will return all locales :
  
  The locales show you the abbreviation for each language, which you can use with the “fc-list :lang=*” command. For example, if I want to know the fonts for arabic :

  fc-list :lang=ar
  Times New Roman:style=Normal,obyčejné,Standard,Κανονικά,Regular,Normaali,Normál,Normale,Standaard,Normalny,Обычный,Normálne,Navadno,thường,Arrunta
  Nazli:style=Bold
  Scheherazade:style=Regular
  PakType Naqsh:style=Regular
  FreeSerifb:style=Regular
  Times New Roman:style=Negreta,tučné,fed,Fett,Έντονα,Bold,Negrita,Lihavoitu,Gras,Félkövér,Grassetto,Vet,Halvfet,Pogrubiona,Negrito,Полужирный,Fet,Kalın,Krepko,đậm,Lodia
  FreeSerif:style=Mittel,µεσαία,Medium,Normal,Gemiddeld,navadno
  Courier New:style=Normal,obyčejné,Standard,Κανονικά,Regular,Normaali,Normál,Normale,Standaard,Normalny,Обычный,Normálne,Navadno,thường,Arrunta
  PakType Tehreer:style=Regular
  KacstOne:style=Medium
  MPH 2B ダマセ,MPH 2B Damase,MPH 2B 大媽賊,MPH 2B 다마세,MPH 2B 大妈贼:style=Regular
  Arial:style=Normal,obyčejné,Standard,Κανονικά,Regular,Normaali,Normál,Normale,Standaard,Normalny,Обычный,Normálne,Navadno,thường,Arrunta
  DejaVu Sans,DejaVu Sans Condensed:style=Condensed,Book
  Homa:style=Regular
  DejaVu Sans,DejaVu Sans Condensed:style=Condensed Bold,Bold
  Courier New:style=Negreta,tučné,fed,Fett,Έντονα,Bold,Negrita,Lihavoitu,Gras,Félkövér,Grassetto,Vet,Halvfet,Pogrubiony,Negrito,Полужирный,Fet,Kalın,Krepko,đậm,Lodia
  RupeeTechFat:style=Regular
  DejaVu Sans:style=Bold
  DejaVu Sans:style=Book
  Arial:style=Negreta,tučné,fed,Fett,Έντονα,Bold,Negrita,Lihavoitu,Gras,Félkövér,Grassetto,Vet,Halvfet,Pogrubiony,Negrito,Полужирный,Fet,Kalın,Krepko,đậm,Lodia
  Titr:style=Bold
  Nazli:style=Regular
  DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Book
  DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Bold

• Secondly, if you use XeLaTeX for the first time with, let say, Ubuntu 10.04, you are likely to get a problem with your fonts. Indeed, with Ubuntu 10.04 I got error messages when I wanted to use TeX Gyre Pagella. Here is a post to show you how to solve this problem if you get it. Notice that if you have installed TeXlive with your package manager, maybe you won’t get this problem, I don’t know.

  Unfortunately, I am not aware of how XeLaTeX behaves with Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or Seven. For this reason, if you use those operating system, I can try to help you if you post a comment, but I can’t ensure you I can sucessfully help you. If you use a Unix system, then the following method might work, and has been tested with Ubuntu 10.04.

  First, you need to copy texlive-fontconfig.conf in an other part of your system. For this, you need administrator privileges. To do so, you have two ways.

  1. The first way, faster, depends on how you have installed your TeX distribution. If you have installed TeXlive with your package manager (Synaptic or Ubuntu software center in Ubuntu), then copy the following line in a terminal (to run this application, alt+f2 and enter gnome-terminal in the prompt) :

  sudo cp /usr/share/texmf-texlive/fonts/conf/texlive-fontconfig.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d/09-texlive.conf

  Since I don’t have installed TeXlive with my package manager, this line may not be correct. If so, don’t hesitate to leave a comment, I can modify it and tell you how to find the right line by yourself. Otherwise, if you are not familiar with the command line, then use your file manager. For this, type Alt+F2, and in the prompt enter gksu nautilus. Here is a screenshot :
  

  Then, look at the device section in the panel on your left, and go in the file system section :

  
  Then, search for the right directory in usr, share, something like texmf-texlive (since I can’t try I am not sure), fonts, conf, and copy texlive-fontconfig.conf. Then return select once again the file system directory, go in etc, fonts, conf.d, past the file in this directory and rename it as 09-texlive.conf. Then run the following line in a terminal :

  sudo fc-cache -fsv

  2. If you have installed TeXlive with the install script install-tl, then copy the following line in your terminal :
     

     sudo cp /usr/local/texlive/2010/texmf-var/fonts/conf/texlive-fontconfig.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d/09-texlive.conf

     And this one :

     sudo fc-cache -fsv

  For more details, see the texlive guide, section 3.4.5, p. 14. To do so, type alt+F2, enter texdoc texlive-en in the prompt. Or look here.

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2010

09/24

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