Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

Gullible Jones · 2006-02-01 01:17:24

Ya know, guys, some of us still use Artwiz fonts... :?

stonecrest · 2006-02-01 03:32:31

Then go enable it.

ozar · 2006-02-01 04:11:30

This is the first time ever I've had good browser fonts in Arch without having to mess with them, so the disabling of the bitmap fonts has been helpful on my end.

Gullible Jones · 2006-02-01 11:57:30

Ahh... I'm thinking in terms of Xorg 7, where you can opt to not install the 100dpi and 75dpi fonts... My bad.

elasticdog · 2006-02-01 13:47:02

Also breaks <code>terminus</code> in the Terminal, which I believe is a fairly popular font. Why did the default config change? Check out what I was greeted by after the upgrade (it really doesn't like wide letters):

Is there anything we have to do aside from deleting <code>/etc/fonts/conf.c/10-nobitmaps.conf</code> and restarting X?

--==EDIT==--
Answered my own question...yes that's all you have to do. After shot:

elasticdog · 2006-02-01 16:45:35

Looks like the <code>fontconfig</code> package was just updated again (now I'm using version 2.3.2-5), and the technique for disabling/enabling bitmap fonts has changed a bit. Looks like the <code>README</code> file needs to be updated as well...is that something I should bug report?

Now, there's a file <code>10-bitmaps.conf</code> in the <code>/etc/fonts/conf.d/</code> directory that should be symlinked to whichever option you want. By default, it is symlinked to <code>no-bitmaps.conf</code> in the same directory. To enable bitmap fonts, all you have to do is change the symlink:

$ sudo ln -sf yes-bitmaps.conf 10-bitmaps.conf

Hopefully that will help some people straighten their fonts out...

JGC · 2006-02-01 18:23:35

I put the instructions in the font wiki. The README file shipped with the fontconfig package is the same README file as in the source conf.d directory. Before reading that file, I had no idea how the conf.d directory worked.

The reason for disabling the bitmap fonts is that most apps pick up the ugly ones instead of the scalable ones. Users who insist in using bitmap fonts are free to revert the change, the latest package will keep the change permanent on upgrades, if you follow the right instructions to do so

ozar · 2006-02-01 19:14:00

JGC wrote:

The reason for disabling the bitmap fonts is that most apps pick up the ugly ones instead of the scalable ones.

Thanks for disabling them, as the bitmapped fonts were looking terrible on my box and have been ever since I started using Arch.

I'm glad they are easy to enable, though, for those that want them. 8)

Gullible Jones · 2006-02-01 20:33:33

The problem here isn't so much bitmap fonts per se, but Xorg's 100dpi and 75dpi bitmap fonts, which are very ugly. Perhaps Xorg (pre 7) can be built so as not to include those fonts, and a separate package made for them, as with Totem and its plugin? Or perhaps there is a way to make truetype fonts preferentially selected over bitmap ones as defaults, unless otherwise specified... This isn't a huge deal, but disabling a whole class of fonts by default seems to me a bit of an ugly solution.

dtw · 2006-02-26 14:21:23

I had problems with this here.

I use the terminus font and I like it. What is trade-off of using bitmap fonts to allow using terminus/artwiz?

Gullible Jones · 2006-02-26 19:35:51

You're using Xorg 7 now, so you can just enable bitmap fonts and uninstall xorg-fonts-75dpi and xorg-fonts-100dpi (those are the ugly ones).

tier · 2007-05-02 16:32:17

Hi. I'd like to ask Gullible how can I enable bitmap fonts in Arch 0.8.
ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/70-yes-bitmaps.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d/70-bitmaps.conf
doesn't work

JGC · 2007-05-02 20:25:50

After symlinking you need to restart the fontconfig-using application. Running applications don't re-read the fontconfig policy on the fly, they only read it at startup.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-02-01 01:17:24

Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#2 2006-02-01 03:32:31

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#3 2006-02-01 04:11:30

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#4 2006-02-01 11:57:30

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#5 2006-02-01 13:47:02

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#6 2006-02-01 16:45:35

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#7 2006-02-01 18:23:35

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#8 2006-02-01 19:14:00

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#9 2006-02-01 20:33:33

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#10 2006-02-26 14:21:23

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#11 2006-02-26 19:35:51

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#12 2007-05-02 16:32:17

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

#13 2007-05-02 20:25:50

Re: Why does the new fontconfig disable bitmap fonts?

Board footer