Allsorts: font parser and shaping engine implemented in Rust

This would certainly be beneficial for the XeTeX &quot;oxidation&quot; efforts[1] for fonts parsing and shaping[2]. There is also a number of existing alternatives: font-kit[3], Skribo[4], RustType[5], ttf-parser[6]. Some of them are just parsers, some - font shapers. Still all of them are relevant to the subject.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;crlf0710&#x2F;tectonic" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;crlf0710&#x2F;tectonic</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;crlf0710&#x2F;tectonic&#x2F;issues&#x2F;117" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;crlf0710&#x2F;tectonic&#x2F;issues&#x2F;117</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;servo&#x2F;font-kit" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;servo&#x2F;font-kit</a><p>[4] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;linebender&#x2F;skribo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;linebender&#x2F;skribo</a><p>[5] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gitlab.redox-os.org&#x2F;redox-os&#x2F;rusttype&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gitlab.redox-os.org&#x2F;redox-os&#x2F;rusttype&#x2F;</a><p>[6] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;RazrFalcon&#x2F;ttf-parser" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;RazrFalcon&#x2F;ttf-parser</a>

Great to see more work in this space. Diversity of font parsing and shaping engines is important to make sure the ecosystem doesn&#x27;t become reliant on bug-for-bug compatibility with the existing engines. (It&#x27;s dangerously close already, due to the quirks of DirectWrite, GDI, and FreeType.)

So cool, I was going to ask what was the relationship with something like pathfinder [1], but you already addressed it in your github README.<p>Thanks for contributing in this space<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;servo&#x2F;pathfinder&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;README.md" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;servo&#x2F;pathfinder&#x2F;blob&#x2F;master&#x2F;README.md</a>

Cool. Are you in contact with the Runebender devs at all?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;linebender&#x2F;runebender" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;linebender&#x2F;runebender</a>

Obligatory article: Text Rendering Hates You [0][1]<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gankra.github.io&#x2F;blah&#x2F;text-hates-you&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;gankra.github.io&#x2F;blah&#x2F;text-hates-you&#x2F;</a><p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21105625" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=21105625</a>

I used Prince for everything I wrote in grad school. A truly beautiful PDF maker. It&#x27;s cool that they&#x27;re releasing part of it.

How does this compare to harfbuzz?

I&#x27;m curious about why they decided to develop Allsorts instead of just using Harfbuzz.