2007-04-19 - [slackware-security] freetype (SSA:2007-109-01)

Jeebizz · 05-01-2007, 07:19 PM

I will indeed, now I got the jitters until I finally see his reply. I emailed him once already and he did reply, maybe I will get lucky again. When I get the response I will be sure to post it as well.

Franklin · 05-01-2007, 09:15 PM

I wonder if it has something to do with a new parameter included for windows style hinting.

Looking at the SlackBuilds for the original vs. the updated freetype shows the following differences with respect to the ability to enable bytecode and (in the new freetype) windows hinting.

Code:

From updated freetype SlackBuild

# The line below enables code patented by Apple, so don't uncomment it
# unless you have a license to use the code and take all legal responsibility
# for doing so.
# Please see this web site for more details:
#   http://www.freetype.org/patents.html
#zcat $CWD/freetype.bytecode.interpreter.diff.gz | patch -p1 --verbose || exit 1

# The line below enables code patented by Microsoft, so don't uncomment it
# unless you have a license to use the code and take all legal responsibility
# for doing so.
# Please see this web site for more details:
#   http://www.freetype.org/patents.html
#zcat $CWD/freetype.subpixel.rendering.diff.gz | patch -p1 --verbose || exit 1

################################################################################

From original freetype SlackBuild

# The line below enables code patented by Apple, so don't uncomment it
# unless you have a license to use the code and take all legal responsibility
# for doing so.
# Please see this web site for more details:
#   http://www.freetype.org/patents.html
#zcat $CWD/freetype.bytecode.interpreter.diff.gz | patch -p1 --verbose || exit 1

I happened to rebuild the new package enabling both and am not seeing as much of a difference as you seem to be experiencing.

Just a thought.

Ilgar · 05-09-2007, 11:50 AM

I recently upgraded my freetype package (from the 11.0 version) to the one in patches/ and I consider reverting to the previous version. I didn't notice a difference in font sizes (maybe there waz, I haven't used this computer for a while) but I immediately noticed the difference in the hinting style (19" LCD monitor here). Previously I was using full RGB hinting. Now vertical BGR seems to be the best choice but even with that the fonts look far worse than the ones with the old freetype (they look somewhat blurry with colored dots around the edges). By the way, I tried recompiling freetype with the lines mentioned in Franklin's post enabled but it didn't make much difference.

General Failure · 05-14-2007, 12:24 AM

Yeah similar problem here and neither reinstalling nor compiling has helped.

Jeebizz - anything yet?

Jeebizz · 05-14-2007, 06:49 AM

General Failure: It has been two weeks and nothing yet from Pat. I would rather not email him again, don't want to badger him but still I am not sure as to what to do next...

Ilgar · 05-14-2007, 11:12 AM

Since my last post I made a reboot (after an uptime of 47 days) and I think it looks better now. I thought the changes would take effect just by restarting X. Btw, I recompiled freetype as suggested above.

gilead · 05-14-2007, 01:17 PM

I'm having the same symptoms here - I ended up modifying my ~/.fluxbox/overlay file to specify the desktop fonts since that's the only thing I'm having problems with. It's interesting that a re-boot fixed it for you Ilgar, I haven't tried that yet (the GUI only gets used occasionally, so it doesn't seem worth it).

Jeebizz · 05-14-2007, 04:10 PM

Why a reboot though? Assuming that 99.9% of us Slackers have our boxes startup in commandline mode, we have to manually go into an xwindow session, so why wouldn't just ending the xwindow session itself and then restarting it do anything, but a reboot does? I am sure there is something I am not understanding about xwindows, so, could someone explain why?

Alien_Hominid · 05-14-2007, 04:41 PM

Fc-cache is run during boot and maybe it setups fonts file used by X. Only presumption here.

Ilgar · 05-14-2007, 05:05 PM

Also I may have forgotten to run ldconfig (I assumed the script would do it). I will try compiling once more, but this time with the lines I mentioned commented out. Let's see if that is the reason for the difference.

Ilgar · 05-14-2007, 05:17 PM

Ok I've just built and reinstalled the package with the patented code disabled and everything looks fine. I also made a reboot and had no difference this time. I wonder why I had that problem in the first install. Mystery, eh?