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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> | ||
47 | a few months back.</p> | ||
48 | |||
49 | <p>Until recently, Pango used FreeType to draw fonts. They will be moving over | ||
50 | to <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 | ||
55 | provided no advantage over Harfbuzz (other than being able to fetch | ||
56 | opentype 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 | ||
60 | though, <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 | ||
62 | such as <code>xterm</code> and <code>rxvt</code> use <code>xft</code> (X FreeType) to render fonts, and will | ||
63 | remain 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 | ||
67 | OpenType 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"> |
diff --git a/posts/bye_bye_BDFs.md b/posts/bye_bye_BDFs.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..487d7cb --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/bye_bye_BDFs.md | |||
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1 | Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format is no more, as the creators of | ||
2 | [Pango](https://pango.org), one of the most widely used text rendering | ||
3 | libraries, | ||
4 | [announced](https://blogs.gnome.org/mclasen/2019/05/25/pango-future-directions/) | ||
5 | their plans for Pango 1.44. | ||
6 | |||
7 | Until recently, Pango used FreeType to draw fonts. They will be moving over | ||
8 | to [Harfbuzz](https://harfbuzz.org), an evolution of FreeType. | ||
9 | |||
10 | *Why?* | ||
11 | |||
12 | In short, FreeType was hard to work with. It required complex logic, and | ||
13 | provided no advantage over Harfbuzz (other than being able to fetch | ||
14 | opentype metrics with ease). | ||
15 | |||
16 | Upgrading 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 | ||
20 | such as `xterm` and `rxvt` use `xft` (X FreeType) to render fonts, and will | ||
21 | remain unaffected by the update. | ||
22 | |||
23 | Both [scientifica](https://github.com/nerdypepper/scientifica) and | ||
24 | [curie](https://github.com/nerdypepper/curie) will soon ship with bitmap-only | ||
25 | OpenType font formats. | ||