freetype in 7.6-1810

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upnort
Posts: 62
Joined: 2014/10/21 20:37:57

freetype in 7.6-1810

Post by upnort » 2018/12/10 03:58:29

Updating freetype in 7.6-1810 renders my fonts not smooth and ugly. I don't know if the hinting or subpixelation is the cause but one or both seems to be crippled.

I created /etc/fonts/local.conf but no change.

I'm using MATE.

The problemis definitely the newer freetype package. If I start with a fully updated 7.5 install and only update freetype then the fonts get hammered.

Any ideas?

Thanks again. :)

upnort
Posts: 62
Joined: 2014/10/21 20:37:57

Re: freetype in 7.6-1810

Post by upnort » 2018/12/10 05:10:40

Some new info and clarification:

freetype in 7.5: 2.4.11
freetype in 7.6: 2.8

Changes were made in freetype 2.7 affecting TrueType fonts.

I do use TrueType fonts. Those fonts seem to be the ones affected.

Looks like a solution might be:

/etc/environment:

Code: Select all

FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=35 cff:no-stem-darkening=1 autofitter:warping=1"
Still tinkering but welcoming suggestions.

Yeah, I know the snarky solution -- don't use TrueType fonts. ;)

chemal
Posts: 776
Joined: 2013/12/08 19:44:49

Re: freetype in 7.6-1810

Post by chemal » 2018/12/10 15:13:58

See here: https://www.freetype.org/freetype2/docs ... nting.html

Basically, they have declared Arial et al to be fonts from the 90s.

upnort
Posts: 62
Joined: 2014/10/21 20:37:57

Re: freetype in 7.6-1810

Post by upnort » 2018/12/10 16:37:58

Basically, they have declared Arial et al to be fonts from the 90s.
There is nothing in the release notes. Traditionally the Red Hat policy is not updating packages in order to support "long term stability." This kind of change upsets that stability.

Moreso, freetype changes affect the desktop only. Red Hat systems, although usable for the desktop, are primarily focused on servers. So updating the freetype package makes little sense to me. :(

schadfield
Posts: 45
Joined: 2014/12/21 01:03:40

Re: freetype in 7.6-1810

Post by schadfield » 2018/12/11 00:23:20

I imagine this change is what has improved font rendering in NetBeans. Prior to CentOS 7.6 I used JetBrain's version of OpenJDK with their font patches on Linux because the fonts looked horrid with the default OpenJDK. Now everything looks fine with the default OpenJDK.

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