From 7f39c8d77ed8dd60a60fa1ec3d31b3d8616abc1a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: NerdyPepper Date: Wed, 7 Aug 2019 22:56:08 +0530 Subject: new post - bye bye bdfs --- docs/index.html | 33 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ posts/bye_bye_BDFs.md | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 58 insertions(+) create mode 100644 posts/bye_bye_BDFs.md diff --git a/docs/index.html b/docs/index.html index fd6c92a..510e202 100644 --- a/docs/index.html +++ b/docs/index.html @@ -37,6 +37,39 @@ function showPost(id) {
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07/08 2019
+ Bye Bye BDFs + +
+
02/08 2019
Onivim Sucks 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 @@ -0,0 +1,25 @@ +Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format is no more, as the creators of +[Pango](https://pango.org), one of the most widely used text rendering +libraries, +[announced](https://blogs.gnome.org/mclasen/2019/05/25/pango-future-directions/) +their plans for Pango 1.44. + +Until recently, Pango used FreeType to draw fonts. They will be moving over +to [Harfbuzz](https://harfbuzz.org), an evolution of FreeType. + +*Why?* + +In short, FreeType was hard to work with. It required complex logic, and +provided no advantage over Harfbuzz (other than being able to fetch +opentype metrics with ease). + +Upgrading to Pango v1.44 will break your GTK applications (if you use a +`bdf`/`pcf` bitmap font). Harfbuzz *does* support bitmap-only OpenType fonts, +`otb`s. Convert your existing fonts over to `otb`s using +[FontForge](https://fontforge.github.io). It is to be noted that applications +such as `xterm` and `rxvt` use `xft` (X FreeType) to render fonts, and will +remain unaffected by the update. + +Both [scientifica](https://github.com/nerdypepper/scientifica) and +[curie](https://github.com/nerdypepper/curie) will soon ship with bitmap-only +OpenType font formats. -- cgit v1.2.3