FreeType Patent Issues and Debian
Hi everyone,
My recent experiment trying to get Debian to install on a certain laptop
led to my installing Mandrake on that laptop (I couldn't ever get Debian to
load pcmcia-cs).
I then ran into problems with the fonts in Mandrake 8.2 RC1, fonts looked
absolutely horrible (when using AA). Now, I know this sounds like I'm asking
a MDK question on a Debian list - I'm not.
I resolved the Mandrake font problem by rebuilding FreeType2 with the
possibly patent-infringing TrueType bytecode/hinting system. After doing
this, the font quality is what it is in Debian. This brings me to a question
- does Debian's version of FreeType use the controversial bytecode system, or
is there some other reason Debian's XRendered fonts look good?
I'm curious about this, since Debian has aways been very cautious with
patents, but at least at initial glance it looks like it isn't being very
careful here. Anyone know anything about this?
Thanks,
Tim
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Timothy R. Butler tbutler@uninetsolutions.com
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