Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

humilleitor · 2010-02-22 02:42:16

Hello all.

I'm trying to deal with a very strange issue since some time, that is driving me crazy, because I have no clue where the problem may lay:

In my Archlinux system, some, and only some QT applications (for example Skype, or Qtconfig) don't display properly certain characters in the unicode set (for example "ń" or "ł") when I use certain fonts (for example Terminus, Clean or Verdana), and those applications substitute those characters with the corresponding ones from the Bitstream Vera Sans font type.

So, when I write, say, the Polish word "Toruń", the four first letters (T, o, r and u) are rendereed in the desired font type (let's say Terminus). However, the last letter (ń) is rendered in Bitstream Vera Sans, thus making the writing appear really ugly and uneven.

However, this doesn't happen in Opera (the browser), which is a QT application, but where I get the whole unicode character set displayed properly in the desired font type (Terminus in this example).

Also, this doesn't happen in the rest of non-QT applications I have in my system: all of them render perfectly the whole unicode set of characters in the desired font type, no matter which.

But! it's not a problem of those QT applications, because I have another partition with Ubuntu installed, and when I boot that partition I don't have this problem: all applications, including Skype and Qtconfig, display correctly all characters in the whole unicode set, no matter which font type I'm using.

This is totally bewildering me.

Any clue?

Thank you.

kapz · 2010-02-22 14:50:16

Have you tried Qt Config? its in kicker menu.

humilleitor · 2010-02-22 15:42:57

Thank you Kapz, but I've already done that.
If you carefully read my post, you'll see that Qtconfit is, actually, one of the applications that doesn't work properly (which is only normal, I guess, considering that I have this problem with some QT applications only). Some glyphs are missing when using certain fonts. But I know that those fonts include the glyphs, because other programs display them well.
So, hang me if I know that's the problem...
Any other idea?

kapz · 2010-02-22 23:40:17

Oi that was a bummer...sorry mate!

What DE are you using?

Altough I don't have the remote idea as what the issue might be but you can refer the below links and see if it helps:

http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fon … characters
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kde#Fonts

This might be handy:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=63904

besides its a bit tricky problem, so can't pinpoint as to why QT4 is messed that way.

Any other apps are affected apart from skype and Qtconfig? I will test them on my system as well and try to simulate the problem.

humilleitor · 2010-02-23 04:25:10

Thanks again! No problem.

Your questions:
Which DE I'm using?
In my Archlinux I'm using Lxde. However: I have another partition with Sidux installed and exactly the same problem occurs. In that partition, I use Xfce and Kde, and in both DE's I have the same problem. However(bis): I have yet another partition with Xubuntu installed, in wich I use Xfce and... dada! ...that problem doesn't occur. Absolutely bewildering, man.

Any other apps affected apart from Skype and Qtconfig? Not that I'm aware of now, but I'll try some more apps and post here if I find something interesting. Anyhow, I guess that the most "telling" one is Qtconfig.

To reproduce the problem: Install font terminus, open qt4-settings, choose terminus as default font (preferably not in Kde, because the kde default font interferes a bit, I think, with the qt default font), save setttings, and type ń or ś or Ł (that's altGr+L in my keyboard) in the Sample text box. If your system works ok, you won't notice anything wrong. If your system is fucked as mine, you'll see those glyphs from a different font, not Terminus.

As to your suggested links: the first two I had already tried, to no avail. The third one I've read, but didn't help. Actually my Skype looks great, cute and sharp with Terminus, except for those few glyphs.

Last edited by humilleitor (2010-02-23 04:27:17)

bernarcher · 2010-02-23 06:56:37

I am not sure but could this apply (from KDE SC 4.4.0 released news):
"The usage of bitmap fonts like terminus will be broken when using the proprietary nvidia driver."
Which in my understanding might apply to Qt4 (provided you are using nVidia at all).

humilleitor · 2010-02-23 12:16:43

Thanks mate! I'm not using nVidia, but nevertheless I've checked that link and it doesn't seem to be the same kind of problem. If it were graphic-card related I reckon I'd experience it no matter which distribution I'm booting, but, as I say, when I boot my Xubuntu partition everything works ok. Also, it doesn't happen only with Terminus, but also with Clean or Verdana, which aren't bitmapped.

I'm trying to google any combination of qt, glyphs, Skype, Terminus, etc., but none of the results I get is even far related with my problem. Am I the only one who's experiencing it? :-/

Thank you anyhow.

kapz · 2010-02-23 12:52:49

Well I tried it in KDE and it works..altough i didnt know how to type them but I copied and pasted from this thread and they looked fine with other chars.

You might wanna check that you ran fontcache command followed by mkfontscale and mkfontdir after the installation of new fonts...btw is it happening only with terminus or other fonts as well? If it'sonly terminus then not sure what goes wrong

humilleitor · 2010-02-23 14:21:09

*EDIT*

Well, I've just tried that, but no results.

The problem occurs only with some fonts, like Terminus, Clear and Verdana. Perhaps some others as well, as I didn't try one by one. In any case, I know that those fonts have the "missing" glyphs because in non-Qt applications they show well. Even in my Qt4 Opera they show well, which only adds to the puzzle.

Last edited by humilleitor (2010-02-23 17:13:45)

humilleitor · 2010-02-23 15:47:21

One more piece of information, quite interesting I think:

If I setup some font substitution in qtconfig, and specify there a font substitute for Terminus (for example Times, which shows all the glyphs properly in Qt apps), however my Qt applications don't substitute the supposedly missing glyphs (ń,ś,ł, etc) in Terminus with the equivalent in Times, but with what I believe is Bitstream Vera Sans. Exactly the same as if I hadn't specified any font substitution.

I guess that it means that, for Qt, there aren't glyphs missing in Terminus. I mean: probably Qt doesn't consider that the Terminus font lacks those glyphs and therefore doesn't try to substitute them with the ones in Times, as I've told Qt to do...

May all this have something to do with some character encoding set up, in some of the one hundred places where Linux systems set up the encodings?

Last edited by humilleitor (2010-02-23 15:49:34)

humilleitor · 2010-03-18 00:28:54

Nothing about this issue yet?

Nobody can point out a hint where to start solving the riddle?

It seems like if the system is feeding Qt with the wrong glyphs. But why only Qt applications, and not others?

bds · 2010-03-18 12:17:43

The problem is not only in qt applications. I run openbox and this is the output I get when using the command-line script pdfmerge to merge pdf files:

GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=48, glyph=0030 in the font VerdanaBold . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=49, glyph=0031 in the font VerdanaBold . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=31, glyph=001f in the font VerdanaItalic . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=38, glyph=0026 in the font VerdanaItalic . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=37, glyph=0025 in the font VerdanaItalic . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=34, glyph=0022 in the font VerdanaItalic . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=54, glyph=0036 in the font VerdanaBold . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=44, glyph=002c in the font VerdanaBold . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=50, glyph=0032 in the font VerdanaBold . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.
GPL Ghostscript 8.71: Missing glyph CID=77, glyph=004d in the font Verdana . The output PDF may fail with some viewers.

There are visible errors in the pdf output. For example, bold "C" is replaced by a square box, bold "b" is replaced by a space.

It looks like there's bug in the Verdana font or perhaps in Ghostscript 8.71

humilleitor · 2010-03-19 01:23:24

Hmm.... "Merge" is one of those English verbs whose meaning have always been unattainable to me. No matter how carefully I read the definition, the concept still scapes my comprehension... :-)

But, well, I guess I get your point. However, as I say in my post, for me the problem is only in Qt applications. Any other non-qt application I run, where there is some text to input, gets the correct glyphs from the correct font. Also, as I say, in my system the problem isn't that "supposedly missing" glyphs don't get a proper representation. I don't see square boxes where I'm supposed to see an n-tilde, or I don't see a space where I'm supposed to see a crossed l, for example. The problem is that those supposedly missing glyphs in some of the fonts I want to use (Terminus, Clean, Verdana...) are replaced with the equivalent glyphs from Bitstream Vera Sans. (If somebody tells me how to upload an image, I could graphically show what I mean.)

And that problem is driving me crazy because I don't even know where to start looking for. Most of all taking into account that in my Xubuntu it doesn't happen.

Last edited by humilleitor (2010-03-19 01:25:32)

humilleitor · 2010-05-03 15:03:28

Bump! (sorry)

softtower · 2010-06-27 05:03:37

The issue is latest lib32-qt package. It breaks Skype's input. I rolled back to lib32-qt 4.6.2-4 and it solved the problem.

Note: you will have to tell pacman to not try to upgrade Qt. Ad the following to your /etc/pacman.conf:

IgnorePkg = lib32-qt

Last edited by softtower (2010-06-27 05:03:57)

softtower · 2010-06-27 05:04:39

Here is more info:
http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/19768

humilleitor · 2010-06-29 12:23:04

Hmm..... not in my case. I don't have the lib32-qt package, and it doesn't even get listed when doing "pacman -Ss lib32-qt"
??

anonymous_user · 2010-06-29 14:52:03

You are using 64-bit Arch, right?

http://www.archlinux.org/packages/commu … /lib32-qt/

humilleitor · 2010-06-29 16:41:37

No, I'm 32-bit. (Sorry. I should have stated it in my first post.)
So, still no clue about the problem...

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-22 02:42:16

Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#2 2010-02-22 14:50:16

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#3 2010-02-22 15:42:57

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#4 2010-02-22 23:40:17

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#5 2010-02-23 04:25:10

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#6 2010-02-23 06:56:37

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#7 2010-02-23 12:16:43

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#8 2010-02-23 12:52:49

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#9 2010-02-23 14:21:09

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#10 2010-02-23 15:47:21

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#11 2010-03-18 00:28:54

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#12 2010-03-18 12:17:43

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#13 2010-03-19 01:23:24

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#14 2010-05-03 15:03:28

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#15 2010-06-27 05:03:37

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#16 2010-06-27 05:04:39

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#17 2010-06-29 12:23:04

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#18 2010-06-29 14:52:03

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

#19 2010-06-29 16:41:37

Re: Very strange problem. Missing characters in QT applications

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