[tur-users] Fonts [Was: Re: Ion3 trademark infringement]

[Tuomo Valkonen]

On 2007-04-30, James <iphitus at gmail.com> wrote:
> just out of interest, i've got the bytecode interpreter running here,
> out of the box, didnt touch a line of XML. The other distros may be
> broken, but Arch aint. As for the XML, arch's got pre-written configs,
> so its a matter of symlinkin in whatever ones we want to change.

Arch is unlikely to be installed on a random Linux computer you have
to use at work or so. More than likely it's Fedora Core or something.
And they have even more bitmap blocks than normally, and no bytecode
interpreter. Also you may not have root access, and some of the blocks
are not in a straightforward manner disabled from .fonts.conf. Even
on my Etch box[1], .fonts.conf is _20_ lines to just enable the
bytecode interpreter instead of the autohinter (what a joke!) and 
turn on hinting. And  that doesn't include the changes needed to 
/etc/fonts/ (that aren't obvious how to do in ~/.fonts.conf), to allow
bitmap fonts, to prefer Helvetica over Fuglystream Vera, that keep 
randomly broken by the distribution, and whatever -- it's a total bitrot.
The XML crud configuration system is _far too complex_.

[1] Which I will be abandoning for either FreeBSD or Windows XP when 
I get a new box maybe in a few years, as Linux keeps turning into a
pile of steaming shit -- unfortunately dragging *BSD down with it,
but at least they don't have udev or the scsi-mapping insanity.

-- 
Tuomo