[PATCH 0/4] Fix and improve Freetype/Fontconfig support

[Matthias Dahl]

Hello Andrew...

On 29/12/16 06:22, Andrew Hughes wrote:

> I'll open a bug for getting these into 3.3.0.

Great. Is there currently an estimate for when 3.3.0 will released or at
least be prepared? (rcs, ...)

> Can you elaborate on what kind of option you would expect the new version
> to use and what tests would be required to ensure it will build and run
> correctly against the installed FreeType?
> 
> Currently, we detect if TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING is set to anything
> other than zero. This can mean infinality support is installed, or just
> the new stripped-down 2.7 version.

The infinality patches for OpenJDK never used any special Freetype nor
Fontconfig functionality and thus doesn't depend on it. It just seemed
that way when people started reporting problems against vanilla versions
due to the reasons explained in my patches.

So, basically, there are no special requirements for either Freetype nor
Fontconfig. Both have to be installed -- that's it.

With regards to version requirements, I would have to check closely if
there is any cut-off where the current implementation relies on details
that have been introduced to either Freetype or Fontconfig from a
specific version upwards. But judging from the age of the patches, I
don't think that is relevant anymore.

On my part, I tested with Freetype 2.6.3 and 2.7 and Fontconfig 2.12.1.
Judging from the Changelog of Fontconfig, v2.11.95 would be a good
starting point for support since it introduced the hint style templates.

With Freetype itself, it should be the same version requirements that
OpenJDK currently has. It really uses no fancy new stuff. I simply gets
appropriate font configuration through Fontconfig and sets them through
Freetype.

Last but not least, I would suggest a simple --with-fontconfig option
for configure and the corresponding HAVE_FONTCONFIG or alike as a
symbol. That follows the established semantics, afaik.

> Are you open to maintaining this going forward?

Sure. Do you have anything special in mind?

> I think it should have some time to soak before we> consider enabling it
> by default again.

That's fine with me... as long as at least a few people test it and find
problems that I have actually missed along the way. ;-)

By the way, a few of those patches do also apply to OpenJDK and are not
specific to the fontconfig support. Is there any chance of getting those
upstream? Or will this always imply having to sign a OCA?

Thanks,
Matthias

-- 
Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Matthias Dahl | Software Engineer | binary-island.eu
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