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[cliddell <1438494@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The root problem here is that the Ubuntu package contains cidfmap
mappings that provide substitutions for various CIDFonts that may not be
embedded in incoming files. But the Ghostscript package does not depend
on the package(s) containing those font files, so those font files are
often not available.

Historically, Ghostscript has assumed that such "system level"
configuration was correct, and did minimal error checking on them, thus
by the time Ghostscript realises the font files are not available, it is
too late to recover gracefully, and we have to error out.

The most recent Ghostscript releases are more rigorous in that area, and
should cope better.

Nevertheless, it would be preferable if the fonts references in the
mappings were made dependencies of the Ghostscipt package.

*Or* remove those mappings altogether, as they are much less relevant
since we now have a built-in CIDFont substitution in Ghostscript, using
DroidSansFallback.ttf.

A final suggestion would be to remove the mappings from the default
Ghostscript package, and rely on the DroidSansFallback.ttf substitution,
and move the existing mappings to a separate package which holds the
mapping configuration, and depends on the packages containing the
relevant font files.

I feel the last suggestion would be the most desirable, since the
DroidSansFallback.ttf substitution will work work just fine for the vast
majority of people, who don't need to be forced to install a load of
KANJI fonts, but allows the flexibility for those who genuinely need
more accurate CIDFont substitution than simply falling back to
DroidSansFallback.ttf.

Finally, the "generic" mappings such as "Adobe-Identity" and "Adobe-
Japan1" should be removed altogether as, except in very rare
circumstances, those should all fall through to the
DroidSansFallback.ttf substitution.

I can provide a complete list of those "generic" mappings if
required.....

Chris

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1438494

Title:
  ghostscript fails to correctly substitute cidf fonts

Status in ghostscript package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  I reported this bug first with ghostscript
  (http://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=695874), but it is
  apparently a packaging issue.

  The general issue is that when there is a CIDF font in a .pdf that is
  not embedded in the document, ghostscript will stop processing the
  file at that font (see the file attached to the ghostscript bug).  The
  packaging issue is that CIDF fonts that are not on the system are in
  the default Ubuntu cidfmap file.

  System info is:

  $ lsb_release -a
  No LSB modules are available.
  Distributor ID: Ubuntu
  Description:    Ubuntu 14.10
  Release:        14.10
  Codename:       utopic

  $ ghostscript --version
  9.14

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