[Bug 1513579] New: Fonts inside Console Applications look much smaller and worse compared to F26
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
Bug ID: 1513579 Summary: Fonts inside Console Applications look much smaller and worse compared to F26 Product: Fedora Version: 27 Component: freetype Assignee: mkasik@redhat.com Reporter: mwoodson@redhat.com QA Contact: extras-qa@fedoraproject.org CC: ajax@redhat.com, alexl@redhat.com, caillon+fedoraproject@gmail.com, fonts-bugs@lists.fedoraproject.org, gnome-sig@lists.fedoraproject.org, john.j5live@gmail.com, kevin@tigcc.ticalc.org, mbarnes@fastmail.com, mclasen@redhat.com, mkasik@redhat.com, rhughes@redhat.com, rstrode@redhat.com, sandmann@redhat.com
Description of problem:
I know that this is a subjective bug. But I want to bring it up nonetheless.
In Fedora 26 I spent a lot of time adjusting my fonts. I ended up with, what I thought, very nice looking fonts in my GUI console apps (Terminator is my choice, but I could do it in gnome-terminal, konsole, etc...) I spend about 80% of my day inside of these apps, so this is kinda important to me.
I have applied the hinting as suggested all over. I was really happy. I am using freetype-freeworld, and I am using these settings:
======================================= $ xrdb -query | grep Xft Xft.antialias: 1 Xft.dpi: 96 Xft.hinting: 1 Xft.hintstyle: hintslight Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault Xft.rgba: rgb =======================================
I did the system upgrade from F26 -> F27. The fonts inside of my console apps are now uglier. They feel smaller, and more squished together, blockier.
I have read a lot, and apparently freetype has changed the default renderer in 2.7. It also seems a new default is coming in 2.8.1, but that doesn't seem to have landed in Fedora yet. It's now using a v40 as opposed to v35. This changed seemed to happen last year, so I'm not sure if F26 had v35 or v40. This is talked about here.
https://www.freetype.org/freetype2/docs/subpixel-hinting.html
It also has a suggestion of reverting to the "old" style of 35, by adding this to your profile:
"FREETYPE_PROPERTIES=truetype:interpreter-version=35"
I have tried this, but it didn't seem to do anything different.
I am looking for suggestions on how to make this look better. I feel the fonts regressed.
Again, I understand this is subjective, and maybe after a few weeks I will just get used to it, but I wanted to bring it up. In IRC they suggested I file a bug, so here it is.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
Matt Woodson mwoodson@redhat.com changed:
What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary|Fonts inside Console |F27: Fonts inside Console |Applications look much |Applications look much |smaller and worse compared |smaller and worse compared |to F26 |to F26
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
--- Comment #1 from Marek Kašík mkasik@redhat.com --- Hi Matt,
which fonts do you use? I would like to reproduce the issue. Do you have the freetype-freeworld installed on your F27?
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
--- Comment #2 from Matt Woodson mwoodson@redhat.com --- I have tried a bunch of fonts.
The one I keep coming back to is DejaVu Sans Mono. This is the one that I am currently seeing issues with.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
--- Comment #3 from Marek Kašík mkasik@redhat.com --- The new hinting engine was already present in F26. This issue seems to be the one mentioned in freetype's 2.8 release notes:
- `Light' auto-hinting mode no longer uses TrueType metrics for TrueType fonts. This bug was introduced in version 2.4.6, causing horizontal scaling also. Almost all GNU/Linux distributions (with Fedora as a notable exception) disabled the corresponding patch for good reasons; chances are thus high that you won't notice a difference.
If optical backward compatibility for legacy applications is necessary, you might enable the AF_CONFIG_OPTION_TT_SIZE_METRICS configuration option. However, it is strongly recommended to avoid that, adjusting font sizes instead.
Could you attach here screenshots from F27 and F26 ("dnf downgrade freetype* --releasever=26")? I see a difference in sharpness, the F27 version seems a little sharper than the one from F26.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
--- Comment #4 from Matt Woodson mwoodson@redhat.com --- Created attachment 1352802 --> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=1352802&action=edit fedora 26 freetype
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
--- Comment #5 from Matt Woodson mwoodson@redhat.com --- Created attachment 1352803 --> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=1352803&action=edit freetype f27
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
--- Comment #6 from Matt Woodson mwoodson@redhat.com --- I attached a picture of each F26 and F27.
These are the exact same terminal, exact fonts, nothing changed but the freetype version.
Now, the difference is there. I think that looking at them, you wouldn't notice the differene. But, the difference in using it is MUCH greater while using than what can be shown in the screen shots, I promise. The F26 is much fuller characters than F27.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
--- Comment #7 from Kevin Kofler kevin@tigcc.ticalc.org --- The F27 rendering is how the font is supposed to look like. The F26 rendering has too high and too close together lines.
The aspect ratio is how DejaVu Sans Mono always looked like with my combination of size, dpi and hinting settings (I use medium hinting), so I'm pretty sure this is how the designers intend it to be scaled, and the F26 version got the metrics wrong.
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
Marek Kašík mkasik@redhat.com changed:
What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|NEW |CLOSED Resolution|--- |NOTABUG Last Closed| |2017-11-23 08:53:29
--- Comment #8 from Marek Kašík mkasik@redhat.com --- I've bisected the change and it is really the fix mentioned in the 2.8 changelog. Details can be found here
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/freetype/freetype2.git/commit/?id=bcc74f4da...
and here
https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/index.php?50470.
I'm closing this as notabug since this was intentional change.
Regards
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
Kevin Kofler kevin@tigcc.ticalc.org changed:
What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC| |peljasz@yahoo.co.uk
--- Comment #9 from Kevin Kofler kevin@tigcc.ticalc.org --- *** Bug 1513999 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
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