How to Optimize Fonts in Slackware

Daedra · 12-23-2016, 03:33 PM

Well it turns out that the reason the subpixel rendering was not working on certain things like I mentioned above was not because I was missing the .Xresources file it was because I forgot to symlink the 11-lcdfilter-default.conf option to my conf.d file. So chalk this up to carelessness on my part lol. However the .Xresources file is still important, it fixed some font irregularities I was having with some wine programs.

dugan · 01-29-2017, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

Code:

sed -i 's/\/\* #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING  2[[:space:]]\+\*\//#define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING  2/g' include/freetype/config/ftoption.h

A bit more elegantly:

Code:

sed -i 's/\/\* (#define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING  2)[[:space:]]\+\*\//\1/g' include/freetype/config/ftoption.h

montagdude · 06-12-2017, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by archfan

Please try my updated version. I've just recompiled it and it worked fine on my machine.

https://github.com/archfan/bob-infinality-bundle

Thanks for this. I built and installed it, and it makes a huge difference that you notice right away upon restarting X. Just one note. After installing, fonts looked really nice and clear everywhere, except for some places in the browser. To fix this, I symlinked all the files from /etc/fonts/conf.avail.infinality/ms into /etc/fonts/conf.d.

travis82 · 06-15-2017, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montagdude

After installing, fonts looked really nice and clear everywhere, except for some places in the browser. To fix this, I symlinked all the files from /etc/fonts/conf.avail.infinality/ms into /etc/fonts/conf.d.

This worked for me as well. Many thanks.

Aeterna · 08-04-2017, 08:26 AM

Hello,
trying to install https://github.com/archfan/bob-infinality-bundle
however install script generated the following error:
fcfreetype.c:71:2: warning: #warning "No FT_Get_BDF_Property: Please install freetype 2.1.4 or later" [-Wcpp]
#warning "No FT_Get_BDF_Property: Please install freetype 2.1.4 or later"
^~~~~~~
fcfreetype.c:75:2: warning: #warning "No FT_Get_PS_Font_Info: Please install freetype 2.1.1 or later" [-Wcpp]
#warning "No FT_Get_PS_Font_Info: Please install freetype 2.1.1 or later"
^~~~~~~
fcfreetype.c:2000:2: warning: #warning "No FT_Get_Next_Char: Please install freetype version 2.1.0 or newer" [-Wcpp]
#warning "No FT_Get_Next_Char: Please install freetype version 2.1.0 or newer"
^~~~~~~
fcfreetype.c:2017:1: warning: ‘FcHashGlyphName’ defined but not used [-Wunused-function]
FcHashGlyphName (const FcChar8 *name)
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
fcfreetype.c:2010:23: warning: ‘prefer_unicode’ defined but not used [-Wunused-const-variable=]
static const FcChar32 prefer_unicode[] = {
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
fcfreetype.c:988:1: warning: ‘FcStringIsConst’ defined but not used [-Wunused-function]
FcStringIsConst (const FcChar8 *string,
^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CC fcfs.lo
CC fcinit.lo
CC fclang.lo
CC fclist.lo
CC fcmatch.lo
fcmatch.c:324:63: error: ‘PRI_CHAR_WIDTH_STRONG’ undeclared here (not in a function); did you mean ‘PRI_WIDTH_STRONG’?
#define FC_OBJECT(NAME, Type, Cmp) { FC_##NAME##_OBJECT, Cmp, PRI_##NAME##_STRONG, PRI_##NAME##_WEAK },
^
fcobjs.h:54:1: note: in expansion of macro ‘FC_OBJECT’
FC_OBJECT (CHAR_WIDTH, FcTypeInteger, NULL)
^~~~~~~~~
fcmatch.c:324:84: error: ‘PRI_CHAR_WIDTH_WEAK’ undeclared here (not in a function); did you mean ‘PRI_WIDTH_WEAK’?
#define FC_OBJECT(NAME, Type, Cmp) { FC_##NAME##_OBJECT, Cmp, PRI_##NAME##_STRONG, PRI_##NAME##_WEAK },
^
fcobjs.h:54:1: note: in expansion of macro ‘FC_OBJECT’
FC_OBJECT (CHAR_WIDTH, FcTypeInteger, NULL)
^~~~~~~~~
make[3]: *** [Makefile:595: fcmatch.lo] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory '/tmp/bob-infinality-bundle/fontconfig-2.11.95/src'
make[2]: *** [Makefile:497: all] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory '/tmp/bob-infinality-bundle/fontconfig-2.11.95/src'
make[1]: *** [Makefile:583: all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/bob-infinality-bundle/fontconfig-2.11.95'
make: *** [Makefile:467: all] Error 2

How can I fix this?
Thank you for your help

Note:
after searching a little bit I have found this explanation:
https://github.com/voidlinux/void-packages/issues/5693
?

Daedra · 08-04-2017, 03:43 PM

Are you trying to install infinality on 14.2 or -current? The infinality patches don't work/compile on -current because of the newer harfbuzz package. If you are running -current you really don't need infinality because most of that code has been merged into freetype. You just have to change a few settings.

Aeterna · 08-04-2017, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedra

Are you trying to install infinality on 14.2 or -current? The infinality patches don't work/compile on -current because of the newer harfbuzz package. If you are running -current you really don't need infinality because most of that code has been merged into freetype. You just have to change a few settings.

Which setting should I change aside from anti-aliasing?

Thank you

Martinus2u · 08-05-2017, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedra

You just have to change a few settings.

I didn't find it quite as simple as changing a few settings. I followed the recipes on http://duganchen.ca/writings/slackware/fonts/ and got decent looking fonts on my 4k monitor.

Daedra · 08-05-2017, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeterna

Which setting should I change aside from anti-aliasing?

Thank you

You didn't say if you were on -current or not. I am going to assume you are. If you want your fonts to look like infinality then do the following steps.

1) Download the freetype-2.8. source from a current mirror, edit the buildscript and enable the freetype.subpixel.rendering.diff.gz patch by uncommenting the patch line in the buildscript. Build and install using upgradepkg

if you want to quickly download the freetype source copy and paste this command

Code:

lftp -c "open http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware64-current/source/l/ ; mirror freetype"

Now you will have a directory called freetype with the source and the slackbuild in it.

2) change directory to /etc/fonts/conf.d and symlink these entries into the directory using the below commands..
ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/10-hinting-slight.conf
ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/11-lcdfilter-default.conf

3) Create a .Xresources file in your home directory with the following settings...

Xft.dpi: 96
Xft.antialias: 1
Xft.hinting: 1
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight
Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault
Xft.rgba: rgb
Xft.autohint: 0

4) make sure you are using either mode 38 or 40 in the /etc/profile.d/freetype.sh file. (40 is default unless otherwise specified I believe)
38 is infinality mode, but after testing I did not see any difference in the two

5) make sure you are running 96 DPI (optional, you may desire a higher or lower DPI). See dugan chen's webpage mentioned above to set your DPI

6) log out of X and restart X

6) Done.

Your fonts wont look exactly like 14.2 because the default fonts were switched from deja vu to liberation. and the new version of freetype implemented a patch that disables metric scaling on true type fonts so some of your fonts may look larger than they did before.

Here is a screenshot of my -current VM fonts after doing the above https://www.dropbox.com/s/gnh286qtxp...2.7.1.png?dl=0

Aeterna · 08-05-2017, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedra

You didn't say if you were on -current or not. I am going to assume you are. If you want your fonts to look like infinality then do the following steps.

I am sorry, I should indicate what Slackware I am running. I am on -current

Anyway it all worked well

Daedra & Martinus2u thank you both very much.

dugan · 08-06-2017, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daedra

5) make sure you are running 96 DPI.

Ehh...96 dpi is just Windows' default. It's a reasonable one, but it's not more optimal than any other font size.

If you don't specify the DPI, X will usually detect it, and you should probably stick with what's detected. On a regular monitor, it will probably be something close to 96 DPI.

If your display device is a TV (which means you're setting a number of feet away), or if you're running a HiDPI device, then you you probably want to force the DPI to something higher than 96. I run my HTPC at 160 DPI. And the 4K monitor I bought earlier this year looks good at 192 dpi.

Daedra · 08-06-2017, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

Ehh...96 dpi is just Windows' default. It's a reasonable one, but it's not more optimal than any other font size.

If you don't specify the DPI, X will usually detect it, and you should probably stick with what's detected. On a regular monitor, it will probably be something close to 96 DPI.

If your display device is a TV (which means you're setting a number of feet away), or if you're running a HiDPI device, then you you probably want to force the DPI to something higher than 96. I run my HTPC at 160 DPI. And the 4K monitor I bought earlier this year looks good at 192 dpi.

Very true, 96 DPI has always been a windows one size fits all. I just suggested it more out of habit than anything. I edited my post to reflect this.

gegechris99 · 08-09-2017, 02:03 PM

Thanks all for this very useful thread.

I've followed it intermittently for some time but didn't want to tweak my system with the infinality patch.

I recently noticed that a recompiling of freetype and some simple changes in configuration would do the trick on Slackware 14.2.

I followed dugan's tutorial "Optimizing Slackware Linux’s Fonts" and the resulting changes in font rendering greatly improved my user experience !!!

Here are some small feedbacks on this great tutorial:

1) I used the freetype source in patches/source/freetype/ as there was a security fix in 14.2

2) the sed command to enable subpixel hinting doesn't work on 14.2 (freetype 2.6.3). I believe that syntax is for -current. The patch for freetype 2.6.3 is the same as the one shown in post #481. I used this command instead (it can be improved but it worked):

Code:

sed -i 's/\/\* #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING[[:space:]]\+\*\//#define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING/g' include/freetype/config/ftoption.h

montagdude · 08-09-2017, 03:19 PM

It's strange, because when I followed dugan's tutorial on 14.2, I couldn't see a discernible difference. Using infinality made a big difference. Maybe I used the wrong patch.

gegechris99 · 08-09-2017, 05:05 PM

@montagdude,

See my comment on the "sed" command in dugan's tutorial not being applicable to 14.2 (freetype 2.6.3). A properly patched freetype package would show this:

Code:

$cat /usr/include/freetype2/freetype/config/ftoption.h | grep HINTING 
  /* Define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING if you want to compile       */
#define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING

whereas a non-patched version would show:

Code:

cat /usr/include/freetype2/freetype/config/ftoption.h | grep HINTING 
  /* Define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING if you want to compile       */
/* #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING */

Among other things, I can see a difference with a patched freetype and the needed configuration changes simply by looking at the title of this thread: the "k" in "Slackware" is fuzzy without the patch and it's clean and crisp with the patched version (by the way that's how I found out that the sed command in the tutorial didn't work for me).