Difference between fonttools and harfbuzz subsettter

[typoman]

Hi all,

It was recently that I realized besides fonttools, harfbuzz also has a font subsetter. This made me confused as to why two subsetters are maintained by the same group of developers. Does any of these subsetters have an advantage over the other?

Thanks,
Bahman

[anthrotype]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vDbMhZFkj52F1YbG7X7KeHCc1VUB7hRHgsx4rYwBQls/edit?usp=sharing

[typoman]

Thank you Cosimo! if I summarize it, it's mainly to gain performance using C++ and fontTools is older. I thought harfbuzz is more tested since it's being actively developed recently.

[chrissimpkins]

Any differences in the vf->static instantiation functionality between the harfbuzz subsetter and varLib.mutator?

[anthrotype]

Instancing is not supported yet, but it is planned and currently being worked on

[chrissimpkins]

Thanks Cosimo! Good to hear that.

[behdad]

why two subsetters are maintained by the same group of developers.

Fonttools one always will be more feature-rich, since it's much easier to implement things in Python. The HarfBuzz one is much faster...

[typoman]

Thank you Behdad!