ConTeXt: Using system-installed TrueType/OpenType fonts

Question

I'm trying to use Cambria for text and Calibri for headings in a ConTeXt document, but I don't understand what is happening at all, nothing seems to have any effect and in the end it falls back to LMRoman/LMSans.

As a minimal starting point, I'm trying to recreate this document. I can just compile it with lualatex and it finds my fonts, they are installed system-wide through fontconfig. pdffonts shows that two TrueType faces from each family are embedded, nothing else.

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Cambria}
\setsansfont{Calibri}
\begin{document}
Cambria \textsf{Calibri}
\emph{Cambria \textsf{Calibri}}
\end{document}

How do I create this document using ConTeXt? I tried this:

\setupbodyfont[Cambria]
%no idea how to set sans
\starttext
Cambria \sans{Calibri}
\em{Cambria \sans{Calibri}}
\stoptext

But only got LM, the log contained an error about loc, which isn't mentioned in my file, is this a bug in the typefile? It seems to try to do something with the argument but fails before loading...

fonts           > typescripts > unknown library 'loc'
(/usr/local/texlive/2013/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/type-imp-cambria.mkiv)

As far as I understand, both fontspec and ConTeXt use luatex' facilities to locate and load the fonts, so I don't have to install them manually, is that true? In my installation, type-otf.mkiv is empty except for a comment claiming that it's unnecessary since OTF fonts can be found by name.

---

With

\setupbodyfont[libertine]
\starttext ...

I get Biolinum as the roman font and Libertine as sans, but only for the first \sans, everything in \em is roman.

Answer 1

There are three ways to use system fonts.

1. Write your own typescript. ConTeXt comes with the typescripts for most system fonts. See type-imp-*.mkiv for details. For example, the typescript for calibra is defined in type-imp-calibra.mkiv and the typescript for calibiri is defined in type-imp-cleartype.mkiv. To use them, you need to define your own typescript that sets the serif and sans serif fonts. For example (not that \em is font switch, not a font command):

   \usetypescriptfile[cleartype]
   
   \starttypescript[mainface]
     \definetypeface  [mainface] [rm] [serif] [cambria] [default]
     \definetypeface  [mainface] [ss] [sans]  [calibri] [default]
     \definetypeface  [mainface] [tt] [mono]  [consolas][default]
     \definetypeface  [mainface] [mm] [math]  [cambria] [default]
   \stoptypescript
   
   \setupbodyfont[mainface]
   
   \starttext
   Cambria \sans{Calibri}
   {\em Cambria \sans{Calibri}}
   \stoptext
   

   which gives

   

2. The other option is to use the simplefonts module, which will automatically create appropriate typescript fonts. For example:

   \usemodule[simplefonts]
   
   \setmainfont[Cambria]
   \setsansfont[Calibri]
   

   which gives the same result as before.

3. In recent versions of ConTeXt MKIV the simplefonts module has been superseded by \definefontfamily which is part of the core.

   \definefontfamily [mainface] [rm] [Cambria]
   \definefontfamily [mainface] [ss] [Calibri]
   \definefontfamily [mainface] [tt] [Consolas]
   \definefontfamily [mainface] [mm] [Asana Math]
   
   \setupbodyfont[mainface]
   

   This has the same effect as the above. Keep in mind though that you have to set all typefaces, i.e. rm, ss, tt, mm. Otherwise strange things might happen.

Answer 2

As easy as executing the following command...

If your OSFONTDIR environment variable is set correctly, then installing (new) system fonts in modern versions of ConTeXt should be as easy as executing the following command:

$ mtxrun --script fonts --reload