Using TrueType and OpenType fonts

TrueType and OpenType fonts are stored in UNIX files (HFS or zFS files). These fonts can be in the printer, inline in the print data set, in user path libraries, or in system font path libraries. TrueType and OpenType fonts are referenced in the print data set by using the Map Data Resource (MDR) structured field. PSF supports TrueType and OpenType fonts only on printers that support Unicode. See your printer documentation to determine whether your printer supports Unicode.

To use TrueType and OpenType fonts with PSF, you or the system administrator must do these steps:

  1. Make sure that you have access to one of these products:
    • The z/OS Font Collection, a base feature of z/OS®, which contains prebuilt RATs for TrueType and OpenType fonts that are installed during the z/OS installation. For more information about the z/OS Font Collection, see z/OS Font Collection.
    • A product that supplies TrueType and OpenType fonts, such as WorldType Fonts for AFP Print Servers, which is an optional feature of Infoprint Fonts for Multiplatforms (Program Number 5648-E77). See IBM Infoprint Fonts: Font Summary for more information about Infoprint Fonts for Multiplatforms.

      You also need an AFP resource installer program, such as Font Installer for AFP Systems (available as a priced feature of Infoprint Fonts for Multiplatforms), to install and build resource access tables (RATs) for the TrueType and OpenType fonts and install the fonts in path libraries.

      Attention: PSF can successfully process RATs that are created with either the Font Installer for AFP Systems or another AFP resource installer. However, a RAT created with the Font Installer for AFP Systems is not compatible with a RAT created with an AFP resource installer. Though an AFP resource installer can process a RAT created with the Font Installer for AFP Systems and migrate it into the new format, the opposite is not true. When the Font Installer for AFP Systems processes a RAT created with an AFP resource installer, it might lose the RAT information or an error might occur. Therefore, IBM® suggests that you do not use the Font Installer for AFP Systems after you create a RAT with another AFP resource installer.
  2. Identify the path libraries where the fonts are found:
    • Identify the system font path libraries in the PSF startup procedure with the FONTPATH parameter on the PRINTDEV statement. See PSF for z/OS: Customization.
    • Identify user path libraries with the USERPATH parameter on the OUTPUT JCL statement. See USERPATH.
  3. Use z/OS UNIX System Services to set access permissions to the directories and files in the user path and font path libraries. Read permissions must be set in PSF for each path directory and file it is accessing. If the permissions for each directory or file are not set correctly, PSF cannot access the path library. For more information about z/OS UNIX System Services, see z/OS UNIX System Services Command Reference.

For more information about TrueType and OpenType fonts, see Using OpenType Fonts in an AFP System.