[Solved] Missing fonts in Firefox and other applications

ping21 · 2016-04-28 13:30:36

A few days ago I did a system upgrade via sudo pacmatic -Syu. Afterwards I realised that this must have broken font rendering in my login manager, but also in Firefox, Thunderbird, Chrome and many other applications.
They all look like this Firefox window: http://imgur.com/feldGc5
Every char is replaced by a framed "A". So it's completely unusable at the moment...

I am using the infinality-bundle, which also has been upgraded according to my pacman log file:

[2016-04-25 13:24] [PACMAN] Running 'pacman -Syu'
[2016-04-25 13:24] [PACMAN] synchronizing package lists
[2016-04-25 13:24] [PACMAN] starting full system upgrade
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] transaction started
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded archlinux-keyring (20160215-1 -> 20160402-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Appending keys from archlinux.gpg...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] gpg: marginals needed: 3  completes needed: 1  trust model: PGP
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] gpg: depth: 0  valid:   1  signed:   7  trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] gpg: depth: 1  valid:   7  signed:  66  trust: 1-, 0q, 0n, 6m, 0f, 0u
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] gpg: depth: 2  valid:  66  signed:   7  trust: 66-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 0u
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] gpg: next trustdb check due at 2016-10-19
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Locally signing trusted keys in keyring...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Locally signing key 0E8B644079F599DFC1DDC3973348882F6AC6A4C2...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Locally signing key 684148BB25B49E986A4944C55184252D824B18E8...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Locally signing key 91FFE0700E80619CEB73235CA88E23E377514E00...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Locally signing key 44D4A033AC140143927397D47EFD567D4C7EA887...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Locally signing key 27FFC4769E19F096D41D9265A04F9397CDFD6BB0...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Locally signing key AB19265E5D7D20687D303246BA1DFB64FFF979E7...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Importing owner trust values...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Disabling revoked keys in keyring...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key F5A361A3A13554B85E57DDDAAF7EF7873CFD4BB6...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key 7FA647CD89891DEDC060287BB9113D1ED21E1A55...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key D4DE5ABDE2A7287644EAC7E36D1A9E70E19DAA50...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key BC1FBE4D2826A0B51E47ED62E2539214C6C11350...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key 9515D8A8EAB88E49BB65EDBCE6B456CAF15447D5...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key 4A8B17E20B88ACA61860009B5CED81B7C2E5C0D2...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key 63F395DE2D6398BBE458F281F2DBB4931985A992...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key 0B20CA1931F5DA3A70D0F8D2EA6836E1AB441196...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key 8F76BEEA0289F9E1D3E229C05F946DED983D4366...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key 66BD74A036D522F51DD70A3C7F2A16726521E06D...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key 81D7F8241DB38BC759C80FCE3A726C6170E80477...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   -> Disabling key E7210A59715F6940CF9A4E36A001876699AD6E84...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] ==> Updating trust database...
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] gpg: next trustdb check due at 2016-10-19
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded file (5.25-1 -> 5.26-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded freetype2-infinality-ultimate (2.6.3-2 -> 2.6.3-3)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   If you are using [multilib], please install/upgrade
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET]   lib32-freetype2-infinality-ultimate, too.
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded fontconfig-infinality-ultimate (2.11.95-3 -> 2.11.95-4)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Updating font cache... 
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Done.
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded gzip (1.6-1 -> 1.7-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded jre8-openjdk-headless-infinality (8.u77-1 -> 8.u92-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded jre8-openjdk-infinality (8.u77-1 -> 8.u92-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded logrotate (3.9.1-1 -> 3.9.2-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] warning: /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist installed as /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.pacnew
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded pacman-mirrorlist (20160421-1 -> 20160424-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded python-packaging (16.6-1 -> 16.7-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded python2-packaging (16.6-1 -> 16.7-1)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] upgraded vlc (2.2.2-3 -> 2.2.2-4)
[2016-04-25 13:25] [ALPM] transaction completed
[2016-04-25 13:25] Exited with code 0

So I think this must be a clue for my missing fonts. Has anybody an idea how to get my fonts working again?
Any help is greatly appreciated!

Last edited by ping21 (2016-05-01 17:50:55)

JohnBobSmith · 2016-04-28 14:01:01

It looks like your fonts have undergone multiple version upgrades in one update. The only way to really try and fix this is to downgrade to the earliest version listed in the log, freetype2-infinality-ultimate 2.6.3-2 and fontconfig-infinality-ultimate 2.11.95-3. Afterwards if really required, upgrade versions one at a time until you hit a snag or a fix. Here is a tutorial:

#Query pacman's cache for needed packages. 
#As an example and an EXAMPLE ONLY I will use libgcrypt because I had to recently downgrade it.
#Enter the cache...
cd /var/cache/pacman/pkg/
#List the files, searching for what we want...
##SAMPLE OUTPUT##
[jbs@dmb-gaming-laptop pkg]$ ls | grep -i libgcrypt
lib32-libgcrypt-1.6.4-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
lib32-libgcrypt-1.6.5-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
lib32-libgcrypt-1.7.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
libgcrypt-1.6.4-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
libgcrypt-1.6.5-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
libgcrypt-1.7.0-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
##END##
#Install the earlier version
pacman -U libgcrypt-1.6.4-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz ...
#pacman will warn about downgrading, this is good.
#if it works, you're done!

I hope this helps!

EDIT: As this is your first post, welcome to the arch boards!

Last edited by JohnBobSmith (2016-04-28 14:03:17)

ping21 · 2016-04-29 10:07:11

Hi JohnBobSmith,
thank you very much for your help and your warm welcome

I identified the package fontconfig-infinality-ultimate-2.11.95-4 to be the cause of my problem. Apart from disabling the upgrade in pacman.conf, what options do I have to prevent this kind of problem in the future (or better to solve it)?

Lone_Wolf · 2016-04-29 13:26:18

Those packages don't come from AL official repos or AUR .
I'm guessing you got them from the unofficial infinality-bundle repository?

For now, try to contact the person who manages that repo and alert them to the problem.

I recommend you start reading the wiki about AUR ,makepkg, AUR helpers etc .
And PLEASE remove pacmatic ( or disable it) , atleast until you understand how arch / aur / unofficial repos work together.

Last edited by Lone_Wolf (2016-04-29 13:26:34)

ping21 · 2016-05-01 17:50:17

Yes, I am using the infinality-bundle repo.

Alright, now I've got some hints what to do next. Thank you all for your help!

Arch Linux

#1 2016-04-28 13:30:36

[Solved] Missing fonts in Firefox and other applications

#2 2016-04-28 14:01:01

Re: [Solved] Missing fonts in Firefox and other applications

#3 2016-04-29 10:07:11

Re: [Solved] Missing fonts in Firefox and other applications

#4 2016-04-29 13:26:18

Re: [Solved] Missing fonts in Firefox and other applications

#5 2016-05-01 17:50:17

Re: [Solved] Missing fonts in Firefox and other applications

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