feamerge

Python scripts to merge all feature fea file in a designspace in common variable feature.fea file

This is an attempt to vibe code a solution to problem that fontc can not compile designspace with varying Opettype features.

Key Features

Designspace Integration

The script uses fontTools.designspaceLib.DesignSpaceDocument to read the designspace file and extract all UFO source references. It handles both absolute and relative paths correctly.

UFO Feature Reading

Using fontTools.ufoLib2.Font, the script opens each UFO and reads the features.fea content [1] [2]. This provides access to the complete feature definitions from each master.

Variable Font Syntax Generation

The script generates the variable font positioning syntax you requested:

• Combines glyph classes from all masters

• Creates positioning rules with coordinate:value pairs

• Supports both regular and enum positioning statements

• Formats output like:

pos A A (wdth=100,wght=400:10 wdth=100,wght=900:20)

Intelligent Merging

• Glyph Classes: Merges and deduplicates glyph classes across masters

• Kerning Values: Collects kerning values from each master and formats them with proper axis coordinates

• Feature Preservation: Maintains other OpenType features beyond kerning

Usage

Installation Requirements

• Create a python virtual environmet and activate it

python3 -m venv venv
./venv/bin/activate

• Install the required fontTools components:

pip install fonttools[ufo]

Command Line

python3 combine_features.py MyFont.designspace variable_features.fea

Programmatic Usage

python

from combine_features import VariableFeatureCombiner

combiner = VariableFeatureCombiner("path/to/font.designspace")
combiner.save_combined_features("output/variable_features.fea")

This script provides a solid foundation for combining UFO feature files into variable font syntax. You may need to extend the parsing logic for more complex feature definitions or specific kerning patterns in your font sources. The feaLib module can also be used for more sophisticated feature file manipulation if needed.[3]

References

1. Fonttools UFOlib Documentaion
2. Designspace specification
3. Fonttools Fealib Documentation

Preprocessing Python scripts

Two preprocesessing scripts are added to the repository for modifying feature.fea files before applying the features.

A script to break kerning groups:

• Reads the feature.fea file from a UFO directory,

• Detects the kerning groups definitions,

• Expands groups in kerning pairs into individual glyph-to-glyph pairs,

• Outputs a new feature.fea file with only individual kerning pairs, no groups.

This will facilitate feamerge merging by having a consistent non-grouped kerning state in the UFO feature file.

To use the sript run

python3 break_groups_in_fea.py path/to/YourFont.ufo

A script to break other positioning groups

• Reads a UFO's feature.fea file,

• Parses groups defined as @GroupName = [...];

• Finds mark, abvm, blwm positioning statements containing group references,

• Replaces group references with all individual glyph references,

• Outputs a new feature.fea with expanded single-glyph anchor positioning rules (no group references) for these mark positioning tables.

It will write an expanded feature file (features_expanded_mark.fea) with all group references in mark positioning lines expanded to single glyphs, facilitating consistent merging or further processing.

To use the script run

python3 break_groups_in_mark_pos.py path/to/font.ufo

After the groups are broken into induvidual glyph entries they can be merged