Debian Bug report logs - #636776
libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Adam Sjøgren <asjo@koldfront.dk>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2011 22:24:07 +0200

Package: libfreetype6
Version: 2.4.6-1
Severity: normal


After upgrading to libfreetype6 2.4.6-1 the line height in GNU Emacs is
changed, so the lines appear squeezed together.

Here is a screenshot with libfreetype6 2.4.6-1:

 * http://koldfront.dk/misc/gnu-emacs/libfreetype6_246.png

Reverting to libfreetype6 2.4.4-2 from testing returns GNU Emacs to the
usual line height:

 * http://koldfront.dk/misc/gnu-emacs/libfreetype6_244.png

-- System Information:
Debian Release: wheezy/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.0.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_DK.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=da_DK.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages libfreetype6 depends on:
ii  libc6                   2.13-14          Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  multiarch-support       2.13-14          Transitional package to ensure mul
ii  zlib1g                  1:1.2.3.4.dfsg-3 compression library - runtime

libfreetype6 recommends no packages.

libfreetype6 suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information

Message #10 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Yves-Alexis Perez <corsac@debian.org>

To: 636844@bugs.debian.org, 636776@bugs.debian.org

Cc: control@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: libfreetype6: rendering change (monospace fonts too wide) after 2.4.6 upgrade

Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2011 11:28:55 +0200

merge 636844 636776
thanks
On sam., 2011-08-06 at 12:10 +0200, Yves-Alexis Perez wrote:
> Package: libfreetype6
> Version: 2.4.4-2
> Severity: normal
> 
> Hey,
> 
> starting with 2.4.6 upgrade, I noticed that my terminal fonts
> (Monospace, alias to DejaVu Sans Mono, 4,5) were too wide (in fact they
> are too short vertically). Attached are screenshots before and after upgrade.
> 
> I'm not exactly sure what it's related too, but I prefer the previous
> rendering, which is more readable here. It seems that it only affects
> Monospace fonts, though I'm not 100% sure.
> 
After doing a git bisect, here are the results:

b0962ac34e66052ccfee7996e5468f30d4bd5a72 is the first bad commit
commit b0962ac34e66052ccfee7996e5468f30d4bd5a72
Author: Steven Chu <steven.f.chu@gmail.com>
Date:   Sat Jul 16 09:12:42 2011 +0200

    [truetype] Fix metrics on size request for scalable fonts.
    
    * src/truetype/ttdriver.c (tt_size_request): Fix copying metrics
    from TT_Size to FT_Size if scalable font.

so it looks that this was done on purpose...

Full  bisect log is:

# bad: [29a7965fd14f0a142965067e04f6b8e4ba354d3e] * Version 2.4.6 released. =========================
# good: [9ec31cea16a492bed96a96a7c30c1a466adb9792] * Version 2.4.4 released. =========================
git bisect start 'VER-2-4-6' 'VER-2-4-4'
# good: [948a8fb674c99ff41ae108b986721a4fd15c6a0e] Fix formatting of autofit debug dumps.
git bisect good 948a8fb674c99ff41ae108b986721a4fd15c6a0e
# good: [f3e2a97d5b8f437efefb0de65a4baceb526feac4] Fix URLs.
git bisect good f3e2a97d5b8f437efefb0de65a4baceb526feac4
# good: [4bf221964ca0f1db75c3fb7b08984fd50314a0a9] Improve documentation of FT_Get_Glyph_Name.
git bisect good 4bf221964ca0f1db75c3fb7b08984fd50314a0a9
# good: [f095744d2db48eddc79bc744c3286e26ebd2c694] [sfnt] Try harder to find non-zero values for ascender and descender.
git bisect good f095744d2db48eddc79bc744c3286e26ebd2c694
# good: [143799d4a95e38eab1e49c761d3c6f116fd80349] [psaux] Fix potential sign extension problems.
git bisect good 143799d4a95e38eab1e49c761d3c6f116fd80349
# bad: [3abf617b5e83a5cbe588169844fe931e7b91e50f] Add FT_CONFIG_OPTION_DISABLE_STREAM_SUPPORT.
git bisect bad 3abf617b5e83a5cbe588169844fe931e7b91e50f
# bad: [77f04cebe8035ac48f52dd1044505a1ba6185ab0] * src/base/ftpatent.c (FT_Face_SetUnpatentedHinting): Fix typo.
git bisect bad 77f04cebe8035ac48f52dd1044505a1ba6185ab0
# bad: [b0962ac34e66052ccfee7996e5468f30d4bd5a72] [truetype] Fix metrics on size request for scalable fonts.
git bisect bad b0962ac34e66052ccfee7996e5468f30d4bd5a72

Even if it was done on purpose I'm not sure what purpose it was since
the results looks less readable here.

Regards,
-- 
Yves-Alexis

Message #19 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: rjs@cs.hut.fi (Riku Saikkonen)

To: 636776@bugs.debian.org

Cc: asjo@koldfront.dk

Subject: Re: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:19:49 +0200

Hi,

Some thoughts on this bug from a typography hobbyist: from a typographic
point of view, good line spacing is not a fixed quantity but depends on
things like line length and the properties of the font, sometimes even
the text itself.

So I think ideally the line spacing should be user-configurable, perhaps
as an additional fontconfig property. I actually looked for such a
property completely unrelated to this bug: I would have liked to use
slightly larger line spacing than is the default in Emacs and xterm in
Debian squeeze. I just now found out that Emacs actually has support for
customizing line spacing (see below); but xterm nor other terminal
programs do not (as far as I know).

In typographic circles, the unit of line spacing is points (i.e., the
same as the size of the font); for instance, a 12-point font with
14-point line spacing (a less common way to state the same is to say
that there are 2 points of leading between lines). (Pixels are also okay
for a display, but not "single-spaced" or "one and a half" or
"double-spaced" as in some word processing programs - these three values
are much too coarse.)

More to the point, could this bug be related to the minspace-property
(the only thing about line spacing that appears to be configurable in
fontconfig):

  http://www.xfree86.org/current/fontconfig.3.html
and
  http://www.freedesktop.org/software/fontconfig/fontconfig-user.html

say that minspace is a boolean that "Eliminate[s] leading from line
spacing". The default value does not seem to be mentioned - but I assume
that a value of true _should_ create the "crammed lines" effect
mentioned in the original bug report and false should give some
additional space.

I don't have an unstable system to test this on, but perhaps you could
try altering the minspace property and seeing if it fixes things: add
":minspace=true" or ":minspace=false" to the end of the font face name.
For instance:

  emacs -fn 'DejaVu Sans Mono-12:minspace=false' &
  emacs -fn 'DejaVu Sans Mono-12:minspace=true' &

(actually, on my Debian squeeze system, both produce the same result,
which I guess is a bug... other properties do work, such as emacs -fn
'DejaVu Sans Mono-12:dpi=200' &)

So maybe this bug could be transformed into a feature request for an
additional fontconfig property that allows user-defined line spacing
(with a reasonable default value)? Or should it be the responsibility of
every application that uses fontconfig to display multiline text to have
an ability to control its line spacing (I don't think this viewpoint is
unreasonable, but it does make font-using programs more complex a bit
unnecessarily)?

Actually, while writing this bug report I found out that Emacs does have
internal support for changing line spacing:

  (setq-default line-spacing 2)

adds two pixels of line spacing to the frame. (Or of course M-x
customize-variable RET line-spacing RET.) At least on Debian squeeze,
Emacs's default is "nil" which means that it does not add additional
space. Since Emacs does not support negative values for line-spacing,
the original bug actually makes line spacing more configurable (i.e., it
can be tightened to smaller values than the previous default).

So, as sort of a summary, changing the line-spacing variable should work
as a workaround for Emacs. But for actually fixing the bug, we should
find out

 a) if the minspace property works and whether its default was and/or
    should be changed,

 b) what should applications expect the default behavior to be (probably
    a reasonable default spacing instead of minimal spacing as seems to
    be introduced by this bug), and

 c) should user-configurable line spacing be the responsibility of every
    application or a fontconfig property.

-- 
-=- Rjs -=- rjs@cs.hut.fi

Message #24 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren)

To: 636776@bugs.debian.org

Cc: rjs@cs.hut.fi (Riku Saikkonen)

Subject: Re: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2012 21:33:52 +0100

On Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:19:49 +0200, Riku wrote:

> More to the point, could this bug be related to the minspace-property
> (the only thing about line spacing that appears to be configurable in
> fontconfig):

>   http://www.xfree86.org/current/fontconfig.3.html
> and
>   http://www.freedesktop.org/software/fontconfig/fontconfig-user.html

> say that minspace is a boolean that "Eliminate[s] leading from line
> spacing". The default value does not seem to be mentioned - but I assume
> that a value of true _should_ create the "crammed lines" effect
> mentioned in the original bug report and false should give some
> additional space.

I just tried upgrading the the newest libfreetype6 again, and now I
notice that GNU Emacs isn't the only program where lines get crammed
together by the upgrade: Text in other programs, such as Pidgin, also
gets changed display - line spacing is decreased a lot.

I wonder if this is due to some configuration in my system, because I
doubt that people wouldn't complain about that look in a newly installed
system.

> Actually, while writing this bug report I found out that Emacs does have
> internal support for changing line spacing:

>   (setq-default line-spacing 2)

Setting this works fine for me - but that doesn't solve the problem for
all the other programs where the newer libfreetype6 decreases the
default line spacing making text hard to read.

I have looked in /etc/fonts/* but I think I need someone to take a swing
at me with a clue bat...


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "My internal clock is on Tokyo time."                        Adam Sjøgren
                                                         asjo@koldfront.dk

Message #29 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren)

To: 636776@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:49:03 +0100

I could not make any of the suggestions presented by Riku Saikkonen
work.

I tried installing testing in a virtual machine and upgraded it to
unstable, to see if my troubles were caused by some left over/special
configuration on my computer. The same squished line problem was present
in the freshly installed virtual machine, so I think it isn't just my
setup.

I wonder what Ubuntu is doing in Precise Pangolin, which ought to have
the same problem.

I have resorted to building a local package with the commit, that
Yves-Alexis Perez was nice enough to find to be the cause, reverted:

 * http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/freetype/freetype2.git/commit/?id=b0962ac34e66052ccfee7996e5468f30d4bd5a72

The graphics on my screen have non-squished lines again (most noticable
in Pidgin and GNU Emacs, but other places as well - menu bar in
Iceweasel, for instance); hooray!

My private repository of unsupported packages with the patched package
is available here, in case someone is interested:

 * http://koldfront.dk/debian/


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "The world is short of delimiters," says Don.                Adam Sjøgren
                                                         asjo@koldfront.dk

Message #34 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Vincent Cheng <vincentc1208@gmail.com>

To: Adam Sjøgren <asjo@koldfront.dk>

Cc: 636776@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#636776: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 21:47:36 -0700

On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Adam Sjøgren <asjo@koldfront.dk> wrote:
[...]
> My private repository of unsupported packages with the patched package
> is available here, in case someone is interested:
>
>  * http://koldfront.dk/debian/

I can confirm that these patched packages fix the line height issue
for me; thanks!

Is there a reason why this patch cannot be applied to the official
Debian freetype packages? If it's simply the desire not to diverge
from upstream, then I guess I'll be keeping my freetype packages
pinned for now.

Regards,
Vincent

Message #39 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Vincent Cheng <vincentc1208@gmail.com>

To: 636776@bugs.debian.org

Cc: control@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2012 18:29:59 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

tag 636776 patch
thanks

Dear Maintainer,

I've attached a patch (the same one that's in Adam Sjøgren's freetype
source package) for your convenience.

Regards,
Vincent

[revert_Fix_metrics_on_size_request_for_scalable_fonts.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

Message #46 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org>

To: Vincent Cheng <vincentc1208@gmail.com>, 636776@bugs.debian.org

Cc: Adam Sjøgren <asjo@koldfront.dk>

Subject: Re: Bug#636776: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:08:31 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

tags 636776 -patch
thanks

Hi Vincent,

On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 09:47:36PM -0700, Vincent Cheng wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 17, 2012 at 1:49 PM, Adam Sjøgren <asjo@koldfront.dk> wrote:
> [...]
> > My private repository of unsupported packages with the patched package
> > is available here, in case someone is interested:

> >  * http://koldfront.dk/debian/

> I can confirm that these patched packages fix the line height issue
> for me; thanks!

> Is there a reason why this patch cannot be applied to the official
> Debian freetype packages? If it's simply the desire not to diverge
> from upstream, then I guess I'll be keeping my freetype packages
> pinned for now.

It's not /simply/ the desire not diverge from upstream; it's that this
divergence does not appear to be regression-free regarding upstream behavior
in other areas, and I don't want to be in the position of arbitrating which
use case should take precedence or which behavior is the correct one.
(Since ultimately, I'm a library guy, not a fonts guy.)

So if you would like this changed in Debian, please discuss it with
upstream.  Their mailing list is at <freetype-devel@nongnu.org>.

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek@ubuntu.com                                     vorlon@debian.org

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #53 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Steve Langasek <vorlon@debian.org>

To: 636776@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2012 15:24:34 -0700

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

It's also been reported that this upstream commit causes a regression for
underlining handling in gtk in Ubuntu.

  https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/software-center/+bug/955030

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek@ubuntu.com                                     vorlon@debian.org

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #58 received at 636776@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Sebastien Bacher <seb128@ubuntu.com>

To: 636776@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2012 11:09:38 +0200

Hi,

Just for info I sent an email on the upstream list to mention the issue:
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/freetype-devel/2012-04/msg00001.html

--
Sebastien Bacher

Message #63 received at 636776-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Andrew Shadura <andrew.shadura@collabora.co.uk>

To: 636776-done@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Fixed upstream: libfreetype6: Line height squeezed in GNU Emacs

Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2018 14:47:21 +0100

Control: tag -1 fixed-upstream
Version: 2.8.1-0.1

Hi,

The upstream has acknowledged the change which is no longer needed now:

http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/freetype/freetype2.git/commit/src/truetype/ttdriver.c?id=bcc74f4dafee25ea89f1d3144646cba7e30f9908


-- 
Cheers,
  Andrew

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