I recently synced and updated my system, and after I did this all my fonts in X (running xfce as my window manager) and now my fonts in have gone from a rather pleasant rounded font to a smaller, cubic font which, on the whole is difficult and unpleasant to read. I'm not sure whether this is a gnome/GTK related problem or if it is a more basic problem, but I tend towards the latter as the problem appears not only in GTK applications such as gnome-terminal and the desktop, but also in opera and firefox. What really puzzles me about this is that I've got a similar setup at work (gentoo linux, xfce, recently updated) and this problem does not appear there. My home system is an AMD XP-2400+ with an nVidia FX5200 graphics card, work is an Intel P4 3GHz with onboard Intel i810 graphics. I saw some bugs in the database concerning anti-aliasing problems, and I'm not sure whether these problems are related, but as they were timestamped more than a year ago I deemed them of little relevance. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. emerge sync && emerge -U world 2. Restart X11 Actual Results: Fonts are different: chunkier and difficult to read. Expected Results: No change in fonts. emerge info from affected home system: Portage 2.0.50-r8 (default-x86-2004.0, gcc-3.3.3, glibc-2.3.3.20040420-r0, 2.6.5 -mm6) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.5-mm6 i686 AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+ Gentoo Base System version 1.4.16 Autoconf: sys-devel/autoconf-2.59-r3 Automake: sys-devel/automake-1.8.3 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-O2 -march=athlon-xp -fomit-frame-pointer" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="gcc3" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/s hare/config /usr/share/config /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=athlon-xp -fomit-frame-pointer" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs ccache sandbox" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://194.83.57.2/sites/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="3dnow X aalib alsa apm avi berkdb crypt cups encode esd foomaticdb gdbm gif gnome gpm gtk gtk2 imlib java jpeg libg++ libwww mad maildir mikmod mmx motif m peg mysql ncurses nls oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl png python quicktime readline sdl slang spell ssl svga tcpd truetype x86 xml2 xmms xv zlib" emerge info from unaffected work system: Portage 2.0.50-r8 (default-x86-2004.0, gcc-3.3.3, glibc-2.3.3.20040420-r0, 2.6. 7-rc2-mm2) ================================================================= System uname: 2.6.7-rc2-mm2 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz Gentoo Base System version 1.4.16 Autoconf: sys-devel/autoconf-2.59-r3 Automake: sys-devel/automake-1.8.3 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86" AUTOCLEAN="yes" CFLAGS="-march=pentium4 -O2 -pipe" CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu" COMPILER="gcc3" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config /usr/share/config /var/bind /var/qmail/control" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d" CXXFLAGS="-march=pentium4 -O2 -pipe" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FEATURES="autoaddcvs ccache sandbox" GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.oregonstate.edu http://distro.ibiblio. org/pub/Linux/distributions/gentoo" MAKEOPTS="-j2" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" PORTDIR="/usr/portage" PORTDIR_OVERLAY="" SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage" USE="X alsa apm avi berkdb crypt cups encode esd foomaticdb gdbm gif gnome gpm gtk gtk2 imlib java jpeg libg++ libwww mad mikmod motif mpeg mysql ncurses nls oggvorbis opengl oss pam pdflib perl png python quicktime readline sdl slang spell ssl svga tcpd truetype x86 xml2 xmms xv zlib"
The fontpaths have probably changed.. what do you use as desktop font ? Have you updated to a recent X server ? Have you ever added fonts to the system yourself that you used ?
My desktop font is whatever the XFCE default is (the only option I can see in the XFCE config tools is font size), but it's a sans-serif font similar to the Arial font face. I have never manually added any fonts to the system, the X server however was probably updated during the last update.
what is the output of 'fc-list' and 'fc-cache -v' ?
Output of the commands you asked about: $ fc-list Luxi Serif:style=Regular LucidaBright:style=Italic Utopia:style=Bold Italic Arial:style=Regular Webdings:style=Regular Verdana:style=Bold Italic Trebuchet MS:style=Bold Italic Luxi Serif:style=Bold Helvetica:style=Bold Italic Trebuchet MS:style=Italic Comic Sans MS:style=Bold Times:style=Bold Italic Luxi Mono:style=Bold Utopia:style=Bold Charter:style=Bold Italic Bitstream Charter:style=Bold Italic Luxi Sans:style=Bold Trebuchet MS:style=Regular Times New Roman:style=Bold Italic Arial Black:style=Regular Impact:style=Regular Times New Roman:style=Bold Verdana:style=Bold Courier:style=Bold Italic Luxi Sans:style=Regular Courier:style=Regular Charter:style=Bold Cursor:style=Regular Arial:style=Bold Italic LucidaBright:style=Regular Georgia:style=Bold Terminal:style=Bold Courier New:style=Regular Lucida:style=Italic Bitstream Charter:style=Regular Times New Roman:style=Italic Helvetica:style=Italic Trebuchet MS:style=Bold Times:style=Bold Courier 10 Pitch:style=Bold Italic Charter:style=Italic Luxi Mono:style=Regular Bitstream Charter:style=Italic Lucida:style=Regular Times:style=Italic Courier New:style=Bold Italic Georgia:style=Italic Andale Mono:style=Regular New Century Schoolbook:style=Bold Courier 10 Pitch:style=Italic Utopia:style=Italic LucidaTypewriter:style=Regular Georgia:style=Bold Italic LucidaTypewriter:style=Bold Courier New:style=Bold Luxi Serif:style=Oblique Courier New:style=Italic Luxi Serif:style=Bold Oblique Helvetica:style=Bold Times New Roman:style=Regular Times:style=Regular New Century Schoolbook:style=Bold Italic Lucida:style=Bold Luxi Mono:style=Oblique Courier 10 Pitch:style=Regular Helvetica:style=Regular Luxi Sans:style=Oblique Lucida:style=Bold Italic Courier:style=Italic Charter:style=Regular Courier 10 Pitch:style=Bold Terminal:style=Regular Arial:style=Italic Comic Sans MS:style=Regular New Century Schoolbook:style=Italic Luxi Sans:style=Bold Oblique Georgia:style=Regular Luxi Mono:style=Bold Oblique Courier:style=Bold Verdana:style=Regular Utopia:style=Regular Bitstream Charter:style=Bold New Century Schoolbook:style=Regular Verdana:style=Italic Arial:style=Bold # fc-cache -v fc-cache: "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1": skipping, 29 fonts, 0 dirs fc-cache: "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype": skipping, 30 fonts, 0 dirs fc-cache: "/usr/share/fonts": skipping, no such directory fc-cache: "/usr/local/share/fonts": skipping, no such directory fc-cache: "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi": skipping, 397 fonts, 0 dirs fc-cache: "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi": skipping, 397 fonts, 0 dirs fc-cache: "/root/.fonts": skipping, no such directory fc-cache: succeeded fc-cache: succeeded
what xserver + version are you using ?
I am running xfree-4.3.0-r5 according to emerge -p xfree
can you grab a screenshot show us what it looks like ?
Created attachment 33451 [details] Screencap of gnome-terminal and opera @ 1600x1200, 177kB png image Screenshot of my screen at 1600x1200 resolution. Compressed maximally with the gimp and then run through pngcrush. 177kB. I can provide a screenshot of what it's "supposed" to look like around 9:00 CET (7:00 UTC, 3:00 East Coast time, 0:00 PST).
Created attachment 33465 [details] Screen cap of firefox and gnome-termina, @ 1600x1200, non-broken fonts, 234kB png image This is how the screen look on my work computer, running xfree-4.3.0-r5 and the following output from fc-list/fc-cache -v: $ fc-list Luxi Serif:style=Regular LucidaBright:style=Italic Utopia:style=Bold Italic Luxi Serif:style=Bold Helvetica:style=Bold Italic Times:style=Bold Italic Luxi Mono:style=Bold Utopia:style=Bold Charter:style=Bold Italic Bitstream Charter:style=Bold Italic Luxi Sans:style=Bold Courier:style=Bold Italic Luxi Sans:style=Regular Courier:style=Regular Charter:style=Bold Cursor:style=Regular LucidaBright:style=Regular Terminal:style=Bold Lucida:style=Italic Bitstream Charter:style=Regular Helvetica:style=Italic Times:style=Bold Courier 10 Pitch:style=Bold Italic Charter:style=Italic Luxi Mono:style=Regular Bitstream Charter:style=Italic Lucida:style=Regular Times:style=Italic New Century Schoolbook:style=Bold Courier 10 Pitch:style=Italic Utopia:style=Italic LucidaTypewriter:style=Regular LucidaTypewriter:style=Bold Luxi Serif:style=Oblique Luxi Serif:style=Bold Oblique Helvetica:style=Bold Times:style=Regular New Century Schoolbook:style=Bold Italic Lucida:style=Bold Luxi Mono:style=Oblique Courier 10 Pitch:style=Regular Helvetica:style=Regular Luxi Sans:style=Oblique Lucida:style=Bold Italic Courier:style=Italic Charter:style=Regular Courier 10 Pitch:style=Bold Terminal:style=Regular New Century Schoolbook:style=Italic Luxi Sans:style=Bold Oblique Luxi Mono:style=Bold Oblique Courier:style=Bold Utopia:style=Regular Bitstream Charter:style=Bold New Century Schoolbook:style=Regular $ su -c fc-cache\ -v Password: fc-cache: "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1": skipping, 29 fonts, 0 dirs fc-cache: "/usr/share/fonts": skipping, no such directory fc-cache: "/usr/local/share/fonts": skipping, no such directory fc-cache: "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi": skipping, 397 fonts, 0 dirs fc-cache: "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi": skipping, 397 fonts, 0 dirs fc-cache: "/root/.fonts": skipping, no such directory fc-cache: succeeded
it could be several things... i'm not completely sure they are the same fonts, but confident they are and then it's probably the freetype version and how it was compiled. At work you seem to have freetype with autohinting (bindist in USE, like it is on GRP cds), at home you probably have freetype with the bytecode interpreter, which is better quality in itself. But in this case you seem to use Luxi Sans as your desktop font, which isn't that great and does look better in my opinion with the autohinter. These are all assumptions just based on the screenies, i might be wrong. My proposed solution is actually installing the ttf-bitstream-vera ebuild on both machine, its a good quality, well hinted font set. If you install them XFCE probably picks them up immediatly as default. To get exactly the same look at home & at work, you should probably recompile your freetype at work with the same USE flags as the one at home (USE=-bindist)
Stale bug, reopen if this is still an issue with up-to-date versions of respective ebuilds...
