Fonts changed after X upgrade in unstable
[Note: I would appreciate a personal CC on any replies since this will
make it easier for me to find them. But don't bother if not convenient.]
Hi folks,
The other day I upgraded my unstable to get the new X.org packages. Most
everything seems okay except that the fonts in many applications are
different. Let's take gaim as an example. The font used throughout
(buddy list, for example) is much smaller than the one I had before, and I
don't like it.
Unfortunately I don't know exactly what font was being used before. I do
have backups from a time when the "right" font was being used, but I don't
know what I should look for as far as changes.
I did have to re-run dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg to get an xorg.conf
file that worked with the new version. However the old and new fonts
sections of those files seem to be equivalent. Here they are:
Old:
Section "Files"
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection
New:
Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection
There are three differences that I see:
1. I used to have "unix:/7100" listed for a font server. But I did not,
and do not, have xfs installed, so this seems to have been an ancient
remnant.
2. I used to have Speedo listed. I understand the Speedo fonts have
gone and are not coming back. But also they "had very few users".
Somehow I doubt that I would have been one of those few users without
knowing it.
3. I now have /var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType listed, at
the end. But I tried removing the x-ttcidfont-conf package, which removes
the fonts from that directory, and that doesn't change things; the gaim
font remains the wrong one.
Any suggestions on how to investigate further? General tips or references
about how fonts in Debian are managed would be helpful as well. I've
always had the impression that this is a very complicated system which
works in large part by black magic, so any enlightenment would be much
appreciated.
Also, if I ever do get back to the status quo, is there any good way to
find out what font an application such as gaim is using? Then I could
make a note for future reference. If I knew what the "good" font was, I
might have a chance of figuring out why it isn't being used anymore.
Many thanks in advance.
Here is the output of "dpkg -l |grep font" in case there is some useful
information there.
ii console-data 20060317 Keymaps, fonts, charset maps, fallback tables for console-too
ii console-tools 0.2.3dbs-60 Linux console and font utilities
rc console-tools-libs 0.2.3dbs-32 Shared libraries for Linux console and font manipulation
ii defoma 0.11.8-0.1 Debian Font Manager -- automatic font configuration framework
rc dfontmgr 0.11.8-0.1 GUI frontend for Defoma, DEbian FOnt MAnager
ii fontconfig 2.3.2-5.1 generic font configuration library - support binaries
ii fontconfig-config 2.3.2-5.1 generic font configuration library - configuration
ii gsfonts 8.14+v8.11+urw-0.2 Fonts for the Ghostscript interpreter(s)
ii gsfonts-x11 0.19 Make Ghostscript fonts available to X11
ii libconsole 0.2.3dbs-60 Shared libraries for Linux console and font manipulation
ii libfont-afm-perl 1.19-1 Font::AFM - Interface to Adobe Font Metrics files
ii libfontconfig1 2.3.2-5.1 generic font configuration library - runtime
ii libfontenc1 1.0.1-5 X11 font encoding library
ii libfreetype6 2.1.10-3 FreeType 2 font engine, shared library files
ii libt1-5 5.1.0-2 Type 1 font rasterizer library - runtime
ii libxfont1 1.0.0-4 X11 font rasterisation library
rc libxft1 4.3.0.dfsg.1-14 FreeType-based font drawing library for X (version 1)
ii libxft2 2.1.8.2-6 FreeType-based font drawing library for X
rc libxft2-dev 2.1.1-2 advanced font drawing library for X (development files)
ii lmodern 0.99.3-2 scalable PostScript fonts based on Computer Modern
ii mplayer-fonts 3.5-2 Fonts for mplayer
ii msttcorefonts 1.2 Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
ii psfontmgr 0.11.8-0.1 PostScript font manager -- part of Defoma, Debian Font Manage
ii t1-cyrillic 4.8 A basic set of free PostScript fonts
rc texmacs 1.0.5-2 WYSIWYG emacs-ish mathematical text editor, using tex fonts
rc texmacs-common 1.0.5-2 WYSIWYG emacs-ish mathematical text editor, using tex fonts
ii ttf-freefont 20060126b-3 Freefont Serif, Sans and Mono Truetype fonts
ii ttf-opensymbol 2.0.2-2 The OpenSymbol TrueType font
ii ttf-thryomanes 1.2-1 A Unicode font covering Latin, Greek, Cyrillic and IPA
rc x-ttcidfont-conf 21 Configure TrueType and CID fonts for X
ii xfonts-100dpi 1.0.0-2 100 dpi fonts for X
ii xfonts-75dpi 1.0.0-2 100 dpi fonts for X
ii xfonts-base 1.0.0-3 standard fonts for X
ii xfonts-dosemu 1.2.2-3 VGA font for the DOS Emulator
ii xfonts-encodings 1.0.0-2 Encodings for X.Org fonts
ii xfonts-scalable 1.0.0-4 scalable fonts for X
ii xfonts-utils 1.0.0-3 X Window System font utility programs
--
Nate Eldredge
nge@cs.hmc.edu
Reply to: