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authorNerdyPepper <[email protected]>2019-08-07 18:26:08 +0100
committerNerdyPepper <[email protected]>2019-08-07 18:26:08 +0100
commit7f39c8d77ed8dd60a60fa1ec3d31b3d8616abc1a (patch)
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parent681a65f85233ec68c3917e72c558cf2ad4e508d1 (diff)
new post - bye bye bdfs
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38 38
39 39
40 <div class="post"> 40 <div class="post">
41 <div class="date">07/08 2019</div>
42 <a id="post-bye_bye_BDFs.md" href="#bye_bye_BDFs.md" class="post-link" onClick="showPost('bye_bye_BDFs.md')" >Bye Bye BDFs</a>
43 <div id="bye_bye_BDFs.md" class="post-text" style="display: none">
44 <p>Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format is no more, as the creators of
45<a href="https://pango.org">Pango</a>, one of the largest text rendering libraries,
46<a href="https://blogs.gnome.org/mclasen/2019/05/25/pango-future-directions/">announced</a>
47a few months back.</p>
48
49<p>Until recently, Pango used FreeType to draw fonts. They will be moving over
50to <a href="https://harfbuzz.org">Harfbuzz</a>, an evolution of FreeType.</p>
51
52<p><em>Why?</em></p>
53
54<p>In short, FreeType was hard to work with. It required complex logic, and
55provided no advantage over Harfbuzz (other than being able to fetch
56opentype metrics with ease).</p>
57
58<p>Upgrading to Pango v1.44 will break your GTK applications (if you use a
59<code>bdf</code>/<code>pcf</code> bitmap font). Harfbuzz <em>does</em> support bitmap-only OpenType fonts
60though, <code>otb</code>s. Convert your existing fonts over to <code>otb</code>s using
61<a href="https://fontforge.github.io">FontForge</a>. It is to be noted that applications
62such as <code>xterm</code> and <code>rxvt</code> use <code>xft</code> (X FreeType) to render fonts, and will
63remain unaffected by the update.</p>
64
65<p>Both <a href="https://github.com/nerdypepper/scientifica">scientifica</a> and
66<a href="https://github.com/nerdypepper/curie">curie</a> will soon ship with bitmap-only
67OpenType font formats.</p>
68 <a href="#bye_bye_BDFs.md" class="post-end-link" onClick="showPost('bye_bye_BDFs.md')">↑ Collapse</a>
69 <div class=separator></div>
70 </div>
71 </div>
72
73 <div class="post">
41 <div class="date">02/08 2019</div> 74 <div class="date">02/08 2019</div>
42 <a id="post-onivim_sucks.md" href="#onivim_sucks.md" class="post-link" onClick="showPost('onivim_sucks.md')" >Onivim Sucks</a> 75 <a id="post-onivim_sucks.md" href="#onivim_sucks.md" class="post-link" onClick="showPost('onivim_sucks.md')" >Onivim Sucks</a>
43 <div id="onivim_sucks.md" class="post-text" style="display: none"> 76 <div id="onivim_sucks.md" class="post-text" style="display: none">
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1Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format is no more, as the creators of
2[Pango](https://pango.org), one of the most widely used text rendering
3libraries,
4[announced](https://blogs.gnome.org/mclasen/2019/05/25/pango-future-directions/)
5their plans for Pango 1.44.
6
7Until recently, Pango used FreeType to draw fonts. They will be moving over
8to [Harfbuzz](https://harfbuzz.org), an evolution of FreeType.
9
10*Why?*
11
12In short, FreeType was hard to work with. It required complex logic, and
13provided no advantage over Harfbuzz (other than being able to fetch
14opentype metrics with ease).
15
16Upgrading to Pango v1.44 will break your GTK applications (if you use a
17`bdf`/`pcf` bitmap font). Harfbuzz *does* support bitmap-only OpenType fonts,
18`otb`s. Convert your existing fonts over to `otb`s using
19[FontForge](https://fontforge.github.io). It is to be noted that applications
20such as `xterm` and `rxvt` use `xft` (X FreeType) to render fonts, and will
21remain unaffected by the update.
22
23Both [scientifica](https://github.com/nerdypepper/scientifica) and
24[curie](https://github.com/nerdypepper/curie) will soon ship with bitmap-only
25OpenType font formats.