Fontconfig - Nov 2005 - gnome-terminal and font selection -- again

Hi Brian,

If you''re ambitious enough to try the attached patches, you''ll
have a
more complete solution, but unfortunately, the maintainers of the
various packages involved don''t seem all that interested (except for
the FreeType folks).

These patches may be a bit out of date at the moment; I''m sure
I''ll
update them next time I feel the urge to update one of the packages
involved.  Until then, this is the best I can do, not being a maintainer
of any of these packages myself.

I''ve commented on the problem a few times to this list, by the way.
The problem is that the XLFD ''setwidth'' attribute was not
carried
forward in any of the font-related packages culminating at
''gnome-terminal''.  The attached patches collectively resolve
the
issue.

Keith Packard commented to this list recently that a new
''width''
attribute has been added to fontconfig.  I defer to his knowledge
of the issue and the packages involved, but with all due respect to
him, I''m sure that''s not enough by itself.  I invite Keith to
look
at my patches, to comment further, and/or to assist me in getting the
rest of the maintainers of these packages to do something, whether that
be considering and adopting my patches, or whatever else.

Or, is there some reason someone doesn''t want ''fixed''
and other common
bitmap fonts to be used in the first place?  All things considered,
it''s
a fair question, I would humbly suggest...

-John

Brian J. Murrell wrote:
> My appologies if you see this more than once.  I tried a couple of times
> to post via Gmane but that does not seem to be making for some reason.
> 
> I know this topic seems to get covered in various places with various
> different hacks (i.e. deleting "fixed" fonts until the one you
want is
> the
> only left with enough priority that it gets used), but I want to try to
> solve it properly on my system without hacking up my fonts.conf file
> like
> I have to everytime I install a new fontconfig package.
> 
> With the help of xfd, I have determined that the font(config
> specfication)
> I want to use in gnome-terminal is:
> 
> Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100
> 
> but this is a bitmap font and not scalable, so trying to get a more
> simple
> specification like "Fixed" to select it is impossible.
> 
> So what configuration changes can I make to get access to this
> specific font (such that it will be selectable in gnome-terminal) in
> preference to what is in normal circumstances "better" Fixed
fonts?
> 
> I have tried something like:
> 
> <fontconfig>
>     <match target="pattern">
> 	<test qual="any" name="family">
> 	    <string>Fixed</string>
> 	</test>
> 	<edit name="family" mode="assign">
> 	   
<string>Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100:foundry=Misc</string>
> 	</edit>
>     </match>
> </fontconfig>
> 
> in my ~/.fonts.conf but it does not seem to do what I want.  I
don''t
> really want to override fontconfig''s idea of the best
"Fixed" font
> anyhow.
> I would prefer to create a new specification with something like:
> 
> <fontconfig>
>     <match target="pattern">
> 	<test qual="any" name="family">
> 	    <string>MyFixedFont</string>
> 	</test>
> 	<edit name="family" mode="assign">
> 	   
<string>Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100:foundry=Misc</string>
> 	</edit>
>     </match>
> </fontconfig>
> 
> So that gnome-terminal would show an additional font in its list named
> "MyFixedFont".  But the above syntax does not seem to do that
either.
> 
> How can I achieve the results I am looking for?
> 
> Thanx,
> b.
> 
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By the way, Brian, with the patches, the font you''re looking for
selects as "Fixed Semi-Condensed 10" (as opposed to "Fixed
10", with
"Regular" width), e.g., in gnome-terminal''s font selection
dialog
(for 2.4.x), assuming you''ve built appropriate fc-cache entries for
the PCF/BDF font files.  Those of you with an interest in the issue
can look at this dialog, and at other places where fonts are selected,
and see why Keith''s additional ''width'' attribute is
not enough by
itself.  In this specific case, ''width'' is not a generally
available
selection attribute unless it (also) becomes part of the
''Style'' or
''Family'' string(s).  Keith''s change is good;
it''s just not enough
of a change.

The following are the (prefix) patterns for the fonts that
conflict for me, with the prior result that 6x13 (which is usually
aliased as "fixed") was not selectable:

"6x13.pcf.gz" 0 
"Fixed:style=SemiCondensed:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13
"7x13.pcf.gz" 0 
"Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=100:pixelsize=13

The former is thus unambiguously selectable as "Fixed Semi-Condensed
10", and the latter as "Fixed 10" (or Fixed Regular 10).  I.e.,
they
show up as two different styles in font selection dialogs:
"Semi-Condensed" and "Regular".

(Note that the patches deal with the embedded "-", so that, e.g.,
"Semi-Condensed" == "SemiCondensed", etc.)

-John

Brian J. Murrell wrote:
> My appologies if you see this more than once.  I tried a couple of times
> to post via Gmane but that does not seem to be making for some reason.
> 
> I know this topic seems to get covered in various places with various
> different hacks (i.e. deleting "fixed" fonts until the one you
want is
> the
> only left with enough priority that it gets used), but I want to try to
> solve it properly on my system without hacking up my fonts.conf file
> like
> I have to everytime I install a new fontconfig package.
> 
> With the help of xfd, I have determined that the font(config
> specfication)
> I want to use in gnome-terminal is:
> 
> Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100
> 
> but this is a bitmap font and not scalable, so trying to get a more
> simple
> specification like "Fixed" to select it is impossible.
> 
> So what configuration changes can I make to get access to this
> specific font (such that it will be selectable in gnome-terminal) in
> preference to what is in normal circumstances "better" Fixed
fonts?
> 
> I have tried something like:
> 
> <fontconfig>
>     <match target="pattern">
> 	<test qual="any" name="family">
> 	    <string>Fixed</string>
> 	</test>
> 	<edit name="family" mode="assign">
> 	   
<string>Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100:foundry=Misc</string>
> 	</edit>
>     </match>
> </fontconfig>
> 
> in my ~/.fonts.conf but it does not seem to do what I want.  I
don''t
> really want to override fontconfig''s idea of the best
"Fixed" font
> anyhow.
> I would prefer to create a new specification with something like:
> 
> <fontconfig>
>     <match target="pattern">
> 	<test qual="any" name="family">
> 	    <string>MyFixedFont</string>
> 	</test>
> 	<edit name="family" mode="assign">
> 	   
<string>Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100:foundry=Misc</string>
> 	</edit>
>     </match>
> </fontconfig>
> 
> So that gnome-terminal would show an additional font in its list named
> "MyFixedFont".  But the above syntax does not seem to do that
either.
> 
> How can I achieve the results I am looking for?
> 
> Thanx,
> b.
>

My appologies if you see this more than once.  I tried a couple of times
to post via Gmane but that does not seem to be making for some reason.

I know this topic seems to get covered in various places with various
different hacks (i.e. deleting "fixed" fonts until the one you want is
the
only left with enough priority that it gets used), but I want to try to
solve it properly on my system without hacking up my fonts.conf file
like
I have to everytime I install a new fontconfig package.

With the help of xfd, I have determined that the font(config
specfication)
I want to use in gnome-terminal is:

Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100

but this is a bitmap font and not scalable, so trying to get a more
simple
specification like "Fixed" to select it is impossible.

So what configuration changes can I make to get access to this
specific font (such that it will be selectable in gnome-terminal) in
preference to what is in normal circumstances "better" Fixed fonts?

I have tried something like:

<fontconfig>
    <match target="pattern">
	<test qual="any" name="family">
	    <string>Fixed</string>
	</test>
	<edit name="family" mode="assign">
	   
<string>Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100:foundry=Misc</string>
	</edit>
    </match>
</fontconfig>

in my ~/.fonts.conf but it does not seem to do what I want.  I don''t
really want to override fontconfig''s idea of the best "Fixed"
font
anyhow.
I would prefer to create a new specification with something like:

<fontconfig>
    <match target="pattern">
	<test qual="any" name="family">
	    <string>MyFixedFont</string>
	</test>
	<edit name="family" mode="assign">
	   
<string>Fixed:style=Regular:slant=0:weight=100:width=87:pixelsize=13:spacing=100:foundry=Misc</string>
	</edit>
    </match>
</fontconfig>

So that gnome-terminal would show an additional font in its list named
"MyFixedFont".  But the above syntax does not seem to do that either.

How can I achieve the results I am looking for?

Thanx,
b.

-- 
My other computer is your Microsoft Windows server.

Brian J. Murrell
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