What is the FontForge Project?

FontForge is libre software, which means free as in freedom (like free speech) and not merely free as in price (like free beer.) Software freedom means that each user has an equal amount of power as the developers over what the software does: everyone who has a copy has access to the source code, and is free to modify the code to change what the program does.

Additionally, each user has an equal amount of power as the developers over when and how copies of the work are distributed. Everyone can redistribute copies, unchanged or with their improvements, with or without a fee.

With cheap internet access everywhere, that freedoms mean that libre software is usually available free of charge.

But more importantly, the ongoing development of the software is done in a very public way: A project.

When users make changes to the code to improve their lives, they can keep their changes private. But they are invited by the project to contribute their work back ‘upstream.’ The frequent contributors review the work, and perhaps after some discussion and revision include it in the next release for all other users to enjoy and build on further. (The Git version control system and the GitHub website make the process convenient.)

Doing something in public inevitably invites discussion, critique, and even criticism of what you do. Yet making contributions can be very rewarding, and we hope you will find the FontForge project fun to contribute to.