Hartmut Henkel wrote:

All this only as long as the font is not yet in use, right?

depends on what 'in use is', but i assume that it follows the same strategy as map lines, so 'as long as not yet frozen by usage' is ok -)

Another maybe more simple way would be some font aliasing mechanism, creating a "virtual" tfmname, e. g. \pdffonttfmalias{cmr10 hcmr10} (while no hcmr10.tfm exists), and then you can create a normal map line starting with hcmr10...

i've been thinking about that, but the problem is that it will overload all usages of fonts since tex shares them, so \font\a=cmr10 at 10pt \pdfsetfontenc\a{< one.enc} \font\b=cmr10 at 10pt \pdfsetfontenc\b{< two.enc} would indeed mean two different mapping for each instance; while an alias would apply the enc to both instances (sorry, bit fuzzy explanation) btw, aliasing could be a nice feature for other reasons, think of: $someenc=blabla.enc $someenc-bla1

Hartmut Henkel wrote:

yes, but it could be implemented without sharing like:

\pdfmapline{+ cmr10 CMR10

ok, that could work (and is a useful feature too) but in y case it would mean that i'd have to use different font definitions, so i'd gain nothing; actually i want to avoid new font definitions: \def\SetFont#1{\font#1=cmr10 at 10pt} \SetFont\a \SetFont\b \pdfsetenc\b{

i thought it would be just another independent tfmname, aliased to cmr10 only for tfm/vf read. TeX wouldn't notice at all (but i don't have any preference what to implement/if time :-)

sure, but it should be a bit of a challenge for you -)

yes, only what can't be done by macros :-)

indeed, Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------