VPTOVF(1)

📦 version 2026.0, in alpine 3.24

✨ VPTOVF(1) ✨

okay so real quick, before we get into it: this is a page from the General Commands Manual, and it's all about vptovf. buckle up bestie 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

vptovf — the lil glow-up machine that converts TeX virtual property list (vpl) files into virtual font metric (vf) files, no cap 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

vptovf [-verbose] vpl_file[.vpl] [vfm_file[.vf] [tfm_file[.tfm]]]

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

okay so picture this: you've got a (plain text) property list file, and vptovf literally translates it into a pair of (binary) files — one in vf (virtual font) format and one in tfm (TeX font metric) format. two files, one glow-up. iconic. ✨

the whole point? a virtual font file can be edited, and its exact contents can be displayed mnemonically. so you're not staring at binary goo — you get the readable version. and you can also create brand-new virtual fonts this way: fonts that map characters as seen by TeX into an arbitrary sequence of low-level typesetting operations. main character energy fr fr 👑

if you want the detailed references on virtual fonts, go peek at vftovp(1) — it's giving lore 💀

and here's the practical bit, don't skip it: all three filenames — vpl_file, vf_file, and tfm_file — get extended with the appropriate suffix if necessary. also, no path searching is done for the vpl_file. nope. none. you gotta hand it over properly 🫶

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • by default, the program operates silently. yes, silently. it's that lowkey friend who just does the thing 😌
  • -verbose — with this, some reports are written to stdout. now it's chatty. now it's in the group chat 🗣️
  • the standard -help and -version options are also supported. classic. always there for you 🌈

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

pltotf(1), tftopl(1), vftovp(1). go read them, they're the friend group 🫶💜

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Donald E. Knuth wrote the program, based in part on an idea of David Fuchs, starting with the code for pltotf(1). and Karl Berry adapted it for compilation with web2c. legends only, honestly 🎀

Public discussion list and bug reports: https://lists.tug.org/tex-k — fr fr, that's the place 🍓

and that's the whole vibe check done 💖 this page is brought to you by Web2C 2026, dated 30 January 2026, and it was literally called VPTOVF(1) the entire time. slay, go convert some fonts 🌸✨

📦 where this page comes from