[license issue] Midan font, used in Farsi and Arabic translation, is not copyleft.
Hey, Today, @mokazemi (Farsi translator on Pepper&Carrot) reported to me on our chat that the font family Midan we are using has a license issue: our repository shows an X11 MIT license (copyleft) while the FontForge info dialog of the ttf says:
Copyright (c) 2006 Linotype GmbH, www.linotype.com. All rights reserved. This font software may not be reproduced, modified, disclosed or transferred without the express written approval of Linotype GmbH. Midan is a trademark of Linotype GmbH and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. This typeface is original artwork of Almohtaraf Assaudi. The design may be protected in certain jurisdictions.
After an investigation, it appears that most distributors of the font on the web distributes it is a commercial font and the only source distributing as a X11 MIT font is https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/midan-normal .
So, the user Moe Kaakati https://fontlibrary.org/en/member/kaakati shouldn't have uploaded the Midan family to this well known FLOSS font website. They "poisoned the well" in a way, and we took this info about the license of Midan from fontlibrary.org as a source of trust.
But now the mistake is done, here is the TODO and procedure we'll engage to repair the mistake from today, step by step:
-
Find a replacement font candidate for Farsi and Arabic with a copyleft license ( a todo for @mokazemi ). -
Port the new font to this repo, delete Midan from this repo. -
Batch replace Midan in all SVGs using it. -
Check visually the placement and geometry of the new font on all page impacted. -
Re-render -
Report the issue to fontlibrary.org
We already had a case of font replacement in the past, and I think I still have a script that handle the subsitution in the SVGs.
I'll also ask here help or assistance in the process to @fici . It's possible some magic automation can be done over the SVgs I can't even imagine for this future font substitution and I'm sure @fici will know better about it.