-# Investigation Report: Grand Hotel
+# Grand Hotel — Source Repository Investigation
-## Summary
+**Model**: Claude Opus 4.6
-Grand Hotel is a condensed upright connecting script designed by Brian J. Bonislawsky and Jim Lyles for Astigmatic (AOETI), added to Google Fonts on 2012-11-30. The font was part of the initial bulk commit in the google/fonts repository. An upstream repository exists at `librefonts/grandhotel` on GitHub, but it only contains VFB (FontLab Studio) source files and TTX decompositions -- no gftools-builder-compatible sources (.glyphs, .ufo, .designspace). There is no config.yaml and no way to create one with the available sources. The METADATA.pb currently has no source block.
+## Source Repository
-## Key Findings
+| Field | Value |
+|-------|-------|
+| Repository | https://github.com/librefonts/grandhotel |
+| Commit | `b0716771fb1056ca9db1d65d94e62ecf9dbedefa` |
+| Confidence | Medium |
-| Field | Value |
-|--------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
-| Family Name | Grand Hotel |
-| Designer | Astigmatic (Brian J. Bonislawsky, Jim Lyles) |
-| Date Added | 2012-11-30 |
-| Repository URL | https://github.com/librefonts/grandhotel |
-| Onboarding Commit | b0716771fb1056ca9db1d65d94e62ecf9dbedefa (single commit in repo) |
-| Config YAML | None (VFB-only sources, not gftools-builder compatible) |
-| Source Files | src/GrandHotel-Regular.vfb, src/GrandHotel-Regular-TTF.vfb, src/GrandHotel-Regular-OTF.vfb |
-| Status | **no_config_possible** |
-| Confidence | HIGH |
+## Source Types
-## Investigation Details
+The repository contains:
+- `src/GrandHotel-Regular.vfb` — FontLab VFB source
+- TTX-decompiled files
-### METADATA.pb Analysis
+## Build Compatibility
-The current METADATA.pb has no `source { }` block at all. The font is categorized as HANDWRITING and DISPLAY, with a single weight (Regular 400).
+Not buildable with gftools-builder. The VFB (FontLab Studio) format is a proprietary binary format that requires FontLab to open. No modern Glyphs, UFO, or Designspace sources are available. No native Astigmatic (Brian J. Bonislawsky) repository was found on GitHub.
-### Git History in google/fonts
+## Investigation Notes
-The font file `GrandHotel-Regular.ttf` has only one commit in google/fonts:
+This is a librefonts mirror repository. The `src/` directory contains a FontLab VFB file, which represents the original design source but in a proprietary format. The TTX files are decompiled binary dumps.
-- `90abd17b4` (2015-03-07) - "Initial commit" by Dave Crossland. This was the massive initial commit that imported the entire Google Fonts collection into the repository. The font itself was added to Google Fonts on 2012-11-30 according to `date_added`.
+**Note on librefonts mirrors**: This repository is a community archive. The VFB source is closer to the original design than TTX dumps, but still requires proprietary software (FontLab Studio) to edit.
-No subsequent updates have been made to the font file.
+The binary in google/fonts dates from the initial commit (2015-03-07).
-### Upstream Repository
+A source block was added to METADATA.pb pointing to this repository and commit.
-The repository `https://github.com/librefonts/grandhotel` exists and is accessible (HTTP 200). It is cached locally at `fontc_crater_cache/librefonts/grandhotel/`. The repo is a shallow clone with a single commit:
+## Confidence: Medium
-- `b071677` (2014-10-17) - "update .travis.yml" by hash3g
-
-This is part of the librefonts collection, which is an automated decomposition archive. The repo contains:
-- **VFB source files** (FontLab Studio format): `src/GrandHotel-Regular.vfb`, `src/GrandHotel-Regular-TTF.vfb`, `src/GrandHotel-Regular-OTF.vfb`
-- **TTX decompositions** of both the TrueType and CFF versions
-- FONTLOG.txt, DESCRIPTION.en_us.html, METADATA.json, OFL.txt
-
-There are **no** `.glyphs`, `.ufo`, or `.designspace` files. The VFB format is proprietary FontLab Studio format and is not compatible with gftools-builder. No `config.yaml` exists.
-
-### Source File Assessment
-
-The FONTLOG.txt documents three source files:
-1. `GrandHotel-Regular.vfb` - Original with contour overlaps
-2. `GrandHotel-Regular-TTF.vfb` - TrueType outlines with hinting adjustments
-3. `GrandHotel-Regular-OTF.vfb` - Merged contours, optimized for OTF
-
-All are VFB format. Without conversion to .glyphs or .ufo, a config.yaml cannot be created.
-
-### Note on librefonts Repository
-
-The `librefonts` organization on GitHub is not the original upstream source. It is an archival project that decomposed Google Fonts binaries into TTX format and stored VFB sources where available. The original designer's contact is astigma@astigmatic.com (Brian J. Bonislawsky). No separate Astigmatic GitHub repository for this font was found in the upstream cache.
-
-## Conclusion
-
-Grand Hotel has an identifiable upstream repository at librefonts/grandhotel, but it only contains VFB sources that are not compatible with gftools-builder. Creating a config.yaml is not possible with the available source files.
-
-### Recommended METADATA.pb Source Block
-
-```
-source {
- repository_url: "https://github.com/librefonts/grandhotel"
-}
-```
-
-A minimal source block with only the repository_url is appropriate since:
-- The commit hash is not meaningful (single auto-generated commit, not the original onboarding commit)
-- No config.yaml is possible (VFB-only sources)
-- The librefonts repo is a decomposition archive, not the original design source
-
-### Status: no_config_possible
-
-The VFB source format cannot be used with gftools-builder. The font would need to be re-sourced from the original designer or have its VFB files converted to a modern format before a config.yaml could be created.
+Librefonts mirror with VFB source; not buildable with modern open-source tooling.
projects / thirdparty / google / fonts.git / commitdiff
