Automated builds

[tphinney]

So, Google would be happy if we had an Action like this, and automatically did builds on check-in:

https://github.com/Omnibus-Type/Texturina/blob/master/.github/workflows/build_and_check.yml

There are some interesting questions about how feasible that is for us. Currently it can take Glyphs or UFO files, but not FontLab VFC as far as I am aware.

[tphinney]

So, whether it is a Github action per se, we do need to have a one-step build process. See https://googlefonts.github.io/gf-guide/upstream.html and look for the "sources" section. We can either have a config.yaml file for Builder, or a build.sh file if there is more than Builder involved.

Currently, I think we need to:

• start storing our sources as VFJ for new builds
• make a build.sh file that uses babelfont (https://github.com/simoncozens/babelfont) to convert VFJ > Glyphs, and then uses Builder (https://simoncozens.github.io/gf-docs/build.html#gftools-builder) to convert Glyphs > TTF.

Some day we may need to go to a process that simply builds on check-in. But at the very least we need single-step command-line builds.

Some day we might need to store the data in a format Builder can use directly/natively. But that is not required this moment, and I would rather not abandon FontLab native data storage until we have to; it might make updates harder if some bit of extra metadata is lost.

[tphinney]

Update: no, BabelFont does not do that yet. So, the thing to try is:

Save/export to .glyphs format. Can we then use Builder to convert that to TTF?

Obvious potential problems:

• can this handle all our masters? (I thought we had 42, but I count 36.) I don’t think Glyphs App can, but can the .glyphs format as exported from FL and consumed by Builder?
• will anything else get lost? Our designspace swaps for the dollar sign and a few other glyphs survive ok?