READ-BDF: A few fixes and performance improvements

[MattHeffron]

A few fixes and performance improvements.
Added a parameter to help testing the apparent memory leak issue.

[pamoroso]

On Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon I get a filesystem protection violation error when calling WRITE-BDF-TO-MEDLEYDISPLAYFONT-FILE:

The fonts directory seems to have the right permissions:

drwxrwxr-x 4 paolo paolo   4096 Feb 25 12:18 fonts

What am I doing wrong?

[MattHeffron]

What am I doing wrong?

Your {DSK}<fonts> directory corresponds to /fonts/, i.e., a root level directory. Is that actually correct?
Can you create any other file there? For example, (DRIBBLE "{DSK}<fonts>test.dribble")
WRITE-BDF-TO-MEDLEYDISPLAYFONT-FILE and MEDLEY.WRITE.FONT don't do anything special with the destination.

[rmkaplan]

Do I really have {DSK}<fonts> ? Should be either {MEDLEY}/fonts/ or (MEDLEYDIR "fonts")

…

On Feb 26, 2026, at 3:49 PM, Matt Heffron ***@***.***> wrote: MattHeffron left a comment (Interlisp/medley#2519) <#2519 (comment)> What am I doing wrong? Your {DSK}<fonts> directory corresponds to /fonts/, i.e., a root level directory. Is that actually correct? Can you create any other file there? For example, (DRIBBLE "{DSK}<fonts>test.dribble") WRITE-BDF-TO-MEDLEYDISPLAYFONT-FILE and MEDLEY.WRITE.FONT don't do anything special with the destination. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2519 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AQSTUJKL7K6B2Y6CEI7RQOT4N6BCHAVCNFSM6AAAAACV66AM4KVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTSNRZHEYDMOJYGU>. You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.

[MattHeffron]

Do I really have {DSK} ?

@pamoroso has {DSK} in the call to WRITE-BDF-TO-MEDLEYDISPLAYFONT-FILE which constructs the full path for MEDLEY.WRITE.FONT

[pamoroso]

My fonts directory is ~/il/fonts/ and I have this in my init:

(SETQ DISPLAYFONTDIRECTORIES (APPEND '(NIL "{DSK}<home>paolo>il>fonts>Commodore>" 
                                                      "{DSK}<home>paolo>il>fonts>ComicSans>" 
                                                      "{DSK}<home>paolo>il>fonts>")
                                               DISPLAYFONTDIRECTORIES))

(DRIBBLE "{DSK}<fonts>test.dribble") yields the error Protection violation: {DSK}<fonts>test.dribble;1, so it looks like I'm trying to write outside of my home directory.

[pamoroso]

At commit 8474e63 nothing unusual to report on Linux Mint 22.1 Cinnamon.

[pamoroso]

I updated to commit 7b2b6ef and tried to call READ-BDF on a font downloaded from here. I renamed the font file to test.bdf, copied it to my Medley user directory, and called READ-BDF but got this error:

5_ (BDF:READ-BDF 'test.bdf)
In IL:ERROR:
ISO8859/1 is not an external format

Is this expected?

[rmkaplan]

Format ISO8859/1 is defined on lispusers/ISO8859IO. Should it be moved into MCCS and included in the loadup?

…

On Apr 23, 2026, at 12:59 AM, Paolo Amoroso ***@***.***> wrote: pamoroso left a comment (Interlisp/medley#2519) <#2519?email_source=notifications&email_token=AQSTUJJF7JPFY3JC2HE5D4T4XHENHA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTIMZQGI3DKNZUGQZ2M4TFMFZW63VHMNXW23LFNZ2KKZLWMVXHJNLQOJPWG33NNVSW45C7N5YGK3S7MNWGSY3L#issuecomment-4302657443> I updated to commit 7b2b6ef <7b2b6ef> and tried to call READ-BDF on a font <https://ha1tch.github.io/bdf-fonts/font_catalogue.html#10x20> downloaded from here <https://ha1tch.github.io/bdf-fonts/font_catalogue.html>. I renamed the font file to test.bdf, copied it to my Medley user directory, and called READ-BDF but got this error: 5_ (BDF:READ-BDF 'test.bdf) In IL:ERROR: ISO8859/1 is not an external format Is this expected? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2519?email_source=notifications&email_token=AQSTUJJF7JPFY3JC2HE5D4T4XHENHA5CNFSNUABFM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2JONZXKZKDN5WW2ZLOOQXTIMZQGI3DKNZUGQZ2M4TFMFZW63VHMNXW23LFNZ2KKZLWMVXHJNLQOJPWG33NNVSW45C7N5YGK3S7MNWGSY3L#issuecomment-4302657443>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AQSTUJOPL2YEGHABRKFGNOT4XHENHAVCNFSM6AAAAACV66AM4KVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHM2DGMBSGY2TONBUGM>. You are receiving this because you commented.

[masinter]

the preferred IANA name is ISO-8859-1 and I think we should follow IANA registry with keywords matching when possible. No /.

https://www.iana.org/assignments/character-sets