Added some workarounds to AppArmor + color messages as bonus :-)
[mirrors/ArchLinux-Packages.git] / ocr-a / README
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1Really free OCR A
2
3This font is the one that's supposed to be used for the human-readable
4numbers in the bar code labels on consumer products, including book ISBN
5labels. It's also quite similar, but not identical, to the font used for
6the embossed numerals on credit cards.
7
8A freely distributable version seems to be sorely needed. Until now, it's
9been very difficult to find the font in computer-usable format except by
10paying a high fee to a commercial font vendor. Even many serious commercial
11publishers have so much trouble getting it right that they just go ahead and
12use Helvetica instead, or even (shudder) Arial. Since the OCR A font is
13required by an international standard, it seems like it ought to be free.
14So here it is. The font in this package is not a "ripped", pirated, or
15shadily reverse engineered version; every effort has been made to ensure
16that it genuinely derives from free sources and all the creators involved
17have actually intended it for free public use.
18
19Converted by Matthew Skala from Metafont format to Postscript and TrueType
20formats, July 27, 2006, using mftrace 1.2.4 by Paul Vojta, which is
21available from
22 http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanwen/mftrace/
23and Autotrace 0.31.1 available from
24 http://autotrace.sourceforge.net/
25
26The mftrace output was edited slightly to add a "space" character, which
27seemed to be missing.
28
29The Metafont files (included) were coded by Richard B. Wales in 1988 and
301989, based on an earlier version by Tor Lillqvist, in turn based on ANSI
31Standard X3.17-1977, approved January 20, 1977 by the American National
32Standards Institute, Inc.
33
34PLEASE NOTE: The copyright notice by Richard Wales in ocra.mf forbids
35charging more than "a reasonable copying or communications charge" for this
36font. As far as I (Matthew Skala) am concerned, in this day and age
37Internet communication is so cheap that any fee at all is more than the
38reasonable cost of providing a download. If you post this font on a
39so-called "free fonts" Web site that charges any fee whatsoever, or one that
40purportedly provides the font for free but makes the visitor jump through
41hoops to actually get the free font, and also offers a more convenient
42download for a fee, then I will consider you to be in violation of the
43copyright and may take action against you. Free fonts are rare treasures,
44and OCR A in particular is extremely difficult to find in the non-commercial
45world despite being an international standard that ought to be free if
46anything is. It took a lot of effort - hours of work valued at far more
47than the cost of just paying one of those commercial vendors for the font -
48and my unique expertise in obsolete computer systems, which didn't come
49cheap either - to get a really free version that I could share with everyone
50at no charge. So let's keep it really free, eh?
51
52Matthew Skala
53mskala@ansuz.sooke.bc.ca
54http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/
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