Arch Linux

jlmr

Member

Registered: 2014-10-26

Posts: 14

[SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

Hi,

I'm now working on my very first ArchLinux installation. I have XMonad up and running (took some doing). However some applications like Geary and Sonata (eg. GTK applications?) have really awful fonts.

Running

fc-cache -f -v

and restarting said applications fixes the problem temporarily. However, after a reboot the fonts are back to ugly again and I have to rebuild the font-cache again. I could just add the rebuild command to .xinitrc but it doesn't seem the right solution.

As I said, I'm rather new to ArchLinux so any advice on how to diagnose or fix the problem would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Last edited by jlmr (2014-10-29 06:33:54)

olive

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2008-06-22

Posts: 1,490

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

Try to run fc-cache as root. Global fonts need some cache in global directories. Otherwise, this may be a badly confired /etc/fonts/* . Run

fc-match Sans
fc-match Serif
fc-match monospace

to view what fonts are choosed for the default Sans, Serif, monospace fonts and be sure you like these fonts.

Last edited by olive (2014-10-26 07:39:35)

jlmr

Member

Registered: 2014-10-26

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

Thanks for the fast reply olive! I ran fc-cache as root (using sudo) and reboot. It didn't fix the problem: after a reboot fonts in Geary still look ugly. I also ran fc-match like you said and they all map to FreeFont versions. While perhaps not the greatest font, they are fine as long as they render fine.

Perhaps I should have said this before: the fonts in GTK apps look really "grainy", like they aren't rendered right.

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

look really "grainy"

A screenshot would be helpful.

Check the file permissions on your fonts, and the fontconfig cache files (e.g. in /var/cache/fontconfig/) - they should be globally readable.

jlmr

Member

Registered: 2014-10-26

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

I checked the files in /var/cache/fontconfig; they are all readable by everyone. Although the problem has become slightly less with installing some new fonts and/or gtk-themes, it still persists.

Screenshot before:
http://i.imgur.com/q85ZKXp.png

Screenshot after running fc-cache, but before another system reboot:
http://i.imgur.com/kEsDTWF.png

Moderator edit:  Converted over sized images to links. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … s_and_Code

Last edited by ewaller (2014-10-26 22:14:42)

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

You should be running fc-cache as *root*, then you wouldn't see:

/var/cache/fontconfig: not cleaning unwritable cache directory

jlmr

Member

Registered: 2014-10-26

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

I've run fc-cache as root before, and it didn't help.

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

Your "before" pic looks like fontconfig's antialias setting is turned off, for some fonts.

Bizarre.

ooo

Member

Registered: 2013-04-10

Posts: 1,638

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

did you try

fc-cache --really-force

The screenshot with the broken fonts looks like the subpixel rendering doesn't work as it should. How did you set that up?
Also have you tried this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/fo … me_systems

Tom B

Member

Registered: 2014-01-15

Posts: 187

Website

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

Your "before" pic looks like fontconfig's antialias setting is turned off, for some fonts.

Bizarre.

I had this problem. The fix is to disable bitmap fonts as described in the wiki here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/fo … tmap_fonts

jlmr

Member

Registered: 2014-10-26

Posts: 14

Re: [SOLVED] Font-cache rebuild isn't persistent: ugly fonts

I solved it: it appears that in an effort to style urxvt I copied the following line into my .Xresources"

Xft.antialias:              false

Of course setting this to "true" solved it.