The TDS specifies using a single directory `modeless/' as the mode name for those utilities which generate bitmaps, e.g., `texmf/fonts/modeless/times/'. This has the considerable advantage of not requiring each such directory name to be listed in a search path.
An alternative was to use the utility name below which all such directories could be gathered. That has the advantage of separating, say, `gsftopk'-generated bitmaps from `ps2pk'-generated ones. However, we decided this was not necessary; most sites will use only one program for the purpose. Also, we specify that every font identifies its creator in specials in the font file itself.
We are making an implicit assumption that METAFONT is the only program producing mode-dependent bitmaps. If this becomes false we could add an abbreviation for the program to mode names, as in `mfcx' vs. `xyzcx' for a hypothetical program Xyz, or we could at that time add an additional program name level uniformly to the tree. It seemed more important to concisely represent the current situation than to worry about hypothetical possibilities that may never happen.
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