Add parallel font build scripting

[chrissimpkins]

Significant decrease in build time with this new tool:

https://github.com/source-foundry/fontmake-mp

Details on README.

TODO:

• implement in build scripting
• add make target for concurrent font builds

[paride]

Great, but please also retain the current non-parallel build targets (even renamed as you see fit).

[chrissimpkins]

Are you using our scripts in your build Paride?

[chrissimpkins]

I ask because I assumed based upon conversations with the Fedora group that these get tweaked in a distro specific manner. In any case, yes we will absolutely keep the non-parallel build target in our Makefile.

[chrissimpkins]

Does the inclusion of my fontmake-mp script (MIT licensed) as an embedded script in this repo lead to licensing / new approval problems with your build? Does this lead to problems if we pull it from an external repository as part of the build process?

As an aside, have a look at the README on that repo. It dramatically speeds up our compiles for users with multiprocessor architectures. I don't know if you intend to compile and distribute the compiled binaries to users or compile locally on their boxes. If the latter, there is a dramatic improvement in compile times for multiprocessor boxes (we can use up to 4 in parallel in our case, one for each ttf compile) and the number of processors is automatically detected by the script so it replicates the current sequential build process on single processor machines.

[paride]

I am using your build scripts with almost no modification.

There is no problem in including the MIT licensed fontmake-mp script in this repo, while remotely pulling it at build time would not be acceptable in Debian.

Normally the Debian users install a compiled "binary" package, so the speedup won't really matter, and I would personally favor simplicity and solidity. I think this is true for most distributions, but probably not for all (e.g., Gentoo).

[chrissimpkins]

Thanks for the additional information. This is helpful. We will not modify the sequential build target and this will remain the default. MP builds will be optional through a separate make target for users who need it. Thanks Paride.