[arch-general] pango 1:1.44-1 Renders Bitmap Fonts as Boxes.

[ProgAndy]

> 
>>> You can convert your BDF/PCF fonts to the "X11 bitmap only sfnt
>>> (otb)" OpenType format[1], which harfbuzz does support[2].
>>
>> So these aren't "my" fonts.  I'm using one of the bitmapped fonts that
>> ships with X in xorg-fonts-misc as my terminal font.
> 
> `My' bitmap fonts are also packaged.


Hi Ralph,

With 'your' bitmap fonts I also meant fonts you use, not only those you
created or maintain. Doing the conversion yourself is only meant as a
workaround if you really need them now, but you could offer the
converted fonts in the AUR and become a maintainer if upstream is not
interested.

> There doesn't seem much point packaging a font in a format that isn't
> supported by most software.

The xorg-fonts packages are primarily meant for applications using XLFD
(can only use bitmap fonts) or Xft (FreeType based, so bitmap fonts
still work).

> It would seem the upstreams, GNU and X.Org, should ship those fonts
> in the current and OpenType-bitmap formats

That would be for the best.


> 
> Speaking of conversion, ProgAndy mentioned an Adobe program.  

The Adobe program is not useful for bitmap fonts, but the conversion of
postscript/type1 (.pfa, .pfb) fonts to the opentype format. I mentioned
it for completeness, since support for that format has been dropped as well.

> 
> And FontForge should be able to do it
> https://fontforge.github.io/generate.html lists ‘X11 bitmap only sfnt
> (otb)’ amongst the bitmap types.
> 

I found the scripts used to convert terminus to a mixed bitmap/vector
font using fontforge, mkbold-mkitalic, and potrace. If you choose a font
size that matches a bitmap height, then the resulting font will use the
bitmap, otherwise the generated vector outlines [see *Notes*]. You could
also try to declare your fontsize in pixel with a "px" suffix. This can
be adapted to create a bitmap-only font in the "otb" format as well if
you remove the potrace stuff and change the output file format from ttf
to otb.

https://files.ax86.net/terminus-ttf/#mkttf
https://github.com/Tblue/mkttf

*Notes* about the relationship between font sizes and bitmap dimensions:

Font size is measured in typographic points: 1pt = 1/72 in.
In a standard 96 dpi environment, that would be ~1.33333 px.
A 9pt font would be 12px tall.
A 12pt font would be 16px tall.
With a HiDPI display this is not true anymore, and with mixed DPI you
might have to make sure that your chosen size resolves to an available
bitmap in either case.

--
Andy