.. about how to use the files in "/etc/fonts/conf.d", i. e. those files need to be prefixed by numbers, e. g. 10authint.conf, to be actually included! Furthermore it would be really nice to find a recommendation about how to achieve best results (on gnome, xfce, ... desktops), e. g. # cd /etc/fonts # ln -s autohint.conf 10autohint.conf # ln -s no-sub-pixel.conf 20no-sub-pixel.conf # ln -s no-bitmaps.conf 30no-bitmaps.conf [OPTIONAL] Now enable "anti-aliasing" and "hinting" in gnome (control-center/fonts) or xfce (User Interface Settings) and note that it makes not difference, whether Slight, Medium or Full hinting is selected. Axel
Making /etc/fonts/conf.d links is only something for power users in my experience and those should read up on the config situation anyway. Regular users are better of changing their local config file (~/.fonts.conf). I think the message is adequate. The difference between some hinting settings does not actually exist in software, so it's not a surprise you don't see any difference.
Well, then the question still is, what should be the default "hinting" method. At least on my machines -- one running gnome desktop and the other xfce -- I do not get properly antialiased fonts unless I activate "autohinting" by either editing "/etc/fonts/local.conf", adding symbolic links to "/etc/fonts/conf.d", or editing "~/.fonts.conf". Or is there a way to enable it using the gnome/xfce UI? If not, then maybe different hinting defaults (/etc/fonts/fonts.conf) could be installed or -- as I requested -- a more informative message could be added to the ebuild. // When I installed my xfce desktop I got pretty confused by the files // located in "/etc/fonts/conf.d", for I was assuming that they would // switch on "autohinting", until I've noticed that they provide // (partially) conflicting settings and are actually ignored ... :-) What do you think? Axel
The default gnome/xfce settings usually suffice. I would not suggest to any desktop user to change their font settings in some text file, the GUI tools provided do just fine. Also this kind of stuff is maybe useful in a guide (and there is one iirc), but really have no place in an ebuild.
I do not agree. I've found no way to enable "autohinting" in the UI (neither in gnome nor in xfce) The only document that I've found and that _explains_ fontconfig on gentoo/gnome in sufficient detail is http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Xorg_and_Fonts And they are also suggesting to modify "/etc/fonst/local.conf" for autohinting to be enabled. Furthermore searching (on google) for gnome autohint results in a lot of hits that more or less all say the same thing: You can not enable "autohinting" in Gnome's fonconfig dialog! Please point me to some other source of information. Currently I'm not able to understand (I've tried very hard!), why your are closing the bug... Cheers, Axel
The autohinter is inferior to the bytecode interpreter, nobody in his right mind would want to use it if it wasn't for the patent implications. It is not at all the sort of option you would want to expose to a user.
Hmmh ... I've verified that BIC is enabled in my current (2.1.10-r2) freetype ebuild (it is) and I've tested various hinting settings The results are * BIC is better than autohint, if (grayscale) antialiasing is DISABLED (Rendered TrueType-Fonts look as if there were an optimized bitmap font for the selected size) * Autohint is significantly better than BIC, if (grayscale) antialising is ENABLED. * For bold fonts (weight > medium) BIC rendering results are equal or slightly better than autohint. Using sub-pixel antialiasing is inferior to grayscale, even on a LCD display. So the "local.conf" example configuration given at http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Xorg_and_Fonts actually produces very good (best?) rendering results ... ... and it switches the authinter and grayscale antialiasing ON for (typical desktop) fontsizes 9 to 14. Good to know that there are people beside of me that are "not right in their mind". :-) This leaves us with the following two questions: 1. Why does the gentoo fontconfig ebuild not provide default settings that are known to produce very good rendering results? 2. Why is there no "officical" gentoo (desktop configuration) doc/guide that addresses the fontconfig/freetype configuration? Cheers, Axel
I'm getting tired of this pointless discussion, font settings are a matter of personal preference. The wiki referenced seems to be one man's view of font settings as well. The AH tries to mimic the BI output as best as it can, it is in no way better than the BI given that you use well hinted fonts. I'll leave it with your last 2 questions 1. Our settings mimic upstream unless there is a real good reason not to, I don't see one here. 2. There used to be some effort for an official guide, but it seems discontinued. You might want to pick it up ?
You are right. It's pointless to continue this discussion within a bug thread. The "fontconfig, freetype, xft" field is full of rumors and lacks clarity. This might be due to the split up into at least three separate projects (not counting XRender,pango, ...) which affect the way fonts are displayed. Also personal preferences play a significant role. And last but not least the "ByteCode" patent issue leads to further confusion and/or strange formulations like the following (quoted from http://www.freetype.org/patents.html) ---- Finally, many Linux distributions seem to distribute a patched version of FreeType 2 with the bytecode interpreter activated, unlike to the sources we distribute. Of course, we can only deny any kind of responsibility in this case. It further means that in the event where you need to update the version of FreeType installed on your system from our sources, you should better manually activate the bytecode interpreter at compile time in order to prevent any loss of quality. ---- So shading some light on this matter by writing/continuing a gentoo guide is not a bad idea. It think the guide should focus on how the packages and settings affect the way fonts are displayed and refrain from recommending the "ultimate font configuration". I still believe that "gentoo users" -- in their majority -- can be trusted to be fine with reading the documentation and editing the config files as needed. The problem simply is: There is no such documentation here. Having noticed the need, I would really like to continue the guide. but I need to be somewhat sure that I have access to expert knowledge from gentoo developers like you. If you are willing to contribute your knowledge, send me an email, point me to the existing document (sources) and I'll give it a (serious) try. Cheers, Axel P. S.: The upstream fontconfig package for version 2.3.2 has a README file in "/etc/fonts/conf.d/" which is not installed by your ebuild. :-)
