strange problem with fonts (solved)

[xfrank]

I had a huge problem with fonts after UP7, mostly solved: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=198&t=145863

Now the fonts in general works well in the mate desktop and programs (Libreoffice, Firefox...). But persist a nasty, strange, behavior of the default system font. In few words: system font is shown as a serif font (probably freeserif) and looks really ugly. Moreover, most of pdf files show incorrect fonts.

I tried everything logical to fix this, for two weeks. ...and nothing. I searched the forum and the web ... and nothing (I can't find peoples with the same issue apparently).

I have installed infinality. Is ok, but don't solve this issue. Any idea?

[py-thon]

Maybe I am barking up the wrong tree but according to http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=198&t=145863#p768861 you mostly use Droid Sans Light SemiExtended in your settings and according to http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=198&t=145863#p767586 there are 18 fonts in /usr/share/fonts/truetype/droid. In my droid folder there are 18 fonts as well, so this seems to be standard configuration, but none of those fonts is Droid Sans Light SemiExtended. Droid Sans (apart from the exotic versions like ethiopian) comes as DroidSans.ttf and DroidSans-Bold.ttf giving you the options of regular, italic, bold and bold italic in the settings.
Does your droid folder include a ttf-file that seems to be Droid Sans Light SemiExtended?

[xfrank]

thanks python. I did check the directory. The fonts are there. I did reinstall them by synaptic "just in case" there were something wrong. Nothing seems changed. I noticed that when I click on a Droid font to "install" it, a message "failed" appears. Is my problem related to Droid font? Now in my appearence-settings I have just "Droid" (not Droid Sans Light SemiExtended). But I still have the problem with the default system font that appears as a (ugly and tiny) serif.

[xfrank]

well I've finally solved partially this problem. The "mistery" was a bug of the font "goudy bookletter 1911". When installed, this font become the default font of the system!
I have uninstalled it, and the system now use a monospaced standard font. Not nice, but less weird that the goudy font. But how I can change the default font of the system? A Sans or a Droid Sans would be nice.

[py-thon]

But how I can change the default font of the system?

I don't know the english name of the program to choose the font settings, but you can easily get there right-clicking the desktop and pretending to change the background. The third card is to set the fonts for MATE.

[xfrank]

yes I had set the fonts that way in this order:
Droid Sans
Droid Sans
Droid Sans
Arial Black
Inconsolata Medium

But still the default font is a monospaced font, not Droid Sans.

[xfrank]

I'm still struggling with my font problem.
This is the terminal output about font issues:

Code: Select all

 xfrank@xflmde ~ $ mate-appearance-properties
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/50-user.conf", line 9: reading configurations from ~/.fonts.conf is deprecated.
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 103: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 135: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/50-user.conf", line 9: reading configurations from ~/.fonts.conf is deprecated.
Fontconfig error: Cannot load config file "infinality/conf.d"
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 103: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 135: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig error: line 162: mismatched tag
Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/50-user.conf", line 9: reading configurations from ~/.fonts.conf is deprecated.
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 103: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 135: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/50-user.conf", line 9: reading configurations from ~/.fonts.conf is deprecated.
Fontconfig error: Cannot load config file "infinality/conf.d"
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 103: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 135: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig error: line 162: mismatched tag
Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config file

In short, the problem is that the fonts "sans" and "serif" (system default) in the font list are showed as monospaced. Are them corrupted?

Also, this guy seems to had my same problem, solved it but didn't explain in details how:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=141809

Yes, indeed, the font displayed as default is "Nimbus mono".

[xfrank]

Code: Select all

xfrank@xflmde ~ $ fc-match serif
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 103: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 135: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/50-user (old).conf", line 9: reading configurations from ~/.fonts.conf is deprecated.
Fontconfig error: Cannot load config file "infinality/conf.d"
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 103: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 135: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig error: line 162: mismatched tag
Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config fi 

also this bug is pretty the same as mine:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=306124

Installed Bitstream Vera, but nothing changed. The system still use Nimbus Mono as default.

[xfrank]

still searching for a solution. Maybe copy the configuration archives with problems from another pc with Mint?

The issue is about system fonts, the default fonts that the system display, for example opening the Mate desktop or assign to the Cairo dock, or use when no specifical font is indicated. The other fonts are OK (menus, LibreOffice, Firefox, etc.).

update: no ideas about this issue? Any help?

[xfrank]

Maybe the problem is with the file fonts.conf in /etc/fonts. This is the content of this file:

Code: Select all

 <?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<!-- /etc/fonts/fonts.conf file to configure system font access -->
<fontconfig>

<!--
	DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
	IT WILL BE REPLACED WHEN FONTCONFIG IS UPDATED.
	LOCAL CHANGES BELONG IN 'local.conf'.

	The intent of this standard configuration file is to be adequate for
	most environments.  If you have a reasonably normal environment and
	have found problems with this configuration, they are probably
	things that others will also want fixed.  Please submit any
	problems to the fontconfig bugzilla system located at fontconfig.org

	Note that the normal 'make install' procedure for fontconfig is to
	replace any existing fonts.conf file with the new version.  Place
	any local customizations in local.conf which this file references.

	Keith Packard
-->

<!-- Font directory list -->

	<dir>/usr/share/fonts</dir>
	<dir>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts</dir> <dir>/usr/local/share/fonts</dir>
	<dir>/usr/share/fonts/truetype<dir>
	<dir>/usr/share/fonts/opentype<dir>
	<dir>/usr/share/fonts/type1<dir>
	<dir>/usr/share/fonts/X11<dir>
	<dir prefix="xdg">.fonts</dir>
	<!-- the following element will be removed in the future -->
	<dir>~/.fonts</dir>
	<dir>/xfrank/.fonts</dir>
	<dir>/home/xfrank/.fonts</dir>

<!--
  Accept deprecated 'mono' alias, replacing it with 'monospace'
-->
	<match target="pattern">
		<test qual="any" name="family">
			<string>mono</string>
		</test>
		<edit name="family" mode="assign" binding="same">
			<string>monospace</string>
		</edit>
	</match>

<!--
  Accept alternate 'sans serif' spelling, replacing it with 'sans-serif'
-->
	<match target="pattern">
		<test qual="any" name="family">
			<string>sans serif</string>
		</test>
		<edit name="family" mode="assign" binding="same">
			<string>sans-serif</string>
		</edit>
	</match>

<!--
  Accept deprecated 'sans' alias, replacing it with 'sans-serif'
-->
	<match target="pattern">
		<test qual="any" name="family">
			<string>sans</string>
		</test>
		<edit name="family" mode="assign" binding="same">
			<string>sans-serif</string>
		</edit>
	</match>

<!--
  Load local system customization file
-->
	<include ignore_missing="yes">/etc/fonts/conf.d</include>
	<include ignore_missing="yes">/etc/fonts/conf.avail</include>

<!-- Font cache directory list -->

	<cachedir>/var/cache/fontconfig</cachedir>
	<cachedir prefix="xdg">fontconfig</cachedir>
	<!-- the following element will be removed in the future -->
	<cachedir>~/.fontconfig</cachedir>

	<config>
<!--
  These are the default Unicode chars that are expected to be blank
  in fonts.  All other blank chars are assumed to be broken and
  won't appear in the resulting charsets
 -->
		<blank>
			<int>0x0020</int>	<!-- SPACE -->
			<int>0x00A0</int>	<!-- NO-BREAK SPACE -->
			<int>0x00AD</int>	<!-- SOFT HYPHEN -->
			<int>0x034F</int>	<!-- COMBINING GRAPHEME JOINER -->
			<int>0x0600</int>	<!-- ARABIC NUMBER SIGN -->
			<int>0x0601</int>	<!-- ARABIC SIGN SANAH -->
			<int>0x0602</int>	<!-- ARABIC FOOTNOTE MARKER -->
			<int>0x0603</int>	<!-- ARABIC SIGN SAFHA -->
			<int>0x06DD</int>	<!-- ARABIC END OF AYAH -->
			<int>0x070F</int>	<!-- SYRIAC ABBREVIATION MARK -->
			<int>0x115F</int>	<!-- HANGUL CHOSEONG FILLER -->
			<int>0x1160</int>	<!-- HANGUL JUNGSEONG FILLER -->
			<int>0x1680</int>	<!-- OGHAM SPACE MARK -->
			<int>0x17B4</int>	<!-- KHMER VOWEL INHERENT AQ -->
			<int>0x17B5</int>	<!-- KHMER VOWEL INHERENT AA -->
			<int>0x180E</int>	<!-- MONGOLIAN VOWEL SEPARATOR -->
			<int>0x2000</int>	<!-- EN QUAD -->
			<int>0x2001</int>	<!-- EM QUAD -->
			<int>0x2002</int>	<!-- EN SPACE -->
			<int>0x2003</int>	<!-- EM SPACE -->
			<int>0x2004</int>	<!-- THREE-PER-EM SPACE -->
			<int>0x2005</int>	<!-- FOUR-PER-EM SPACE -->
			<int>0x2006</int>	<!-- SIX-PER-EM SPACE -->
			<int>0x2007</int>	<!-- FIGURE SPACE -->
			<int>0x2008</int>	<!-- PUNCTUATION SPACE -->
			<int>0x2009</int>	<!-- THIN SPACE -->
			<int>0x200A</int>	<!-- HAIR SPACE -->
			<int>0x200B</int>	<!-- ZERO WIDTH SPACE -->
			<int>0x200C</int>	<!-- ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER -->
			<int>0x200D</int>	<!-- ZERO WIDTH JOINER -->
			<int>0x200E</int>	<!-- LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK -->
			<int>0x200F</int>	<!-- RIGHT-TO-LEFT MARK -->
			<int>0x2028</int>	<!-- LINE SEPARATOR -->
			<int>0x2029</int>	<!-- PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR -->
			<int>0x202A</int>	<!-- LEFT-TO-RIGHT EMBEDDING -->
			<int>0x202B</int>	<!-- RIGHT-TO-LEFT EMBEDDING -->
			<int>0x202C</int>	<!-- POP DIRECTIONAL FORMATTING -->
			<int>0x202D</int>	<!-- LEFT-TO-RIGHT OVERRIDE -->
			<int>0x202E</int>	<!-- RIGHT-TO-LEFT OVERRIDE -->
			<int>0x202F</int>	<!-- NARROW NO-BREAK SPACE -->
			<int>0x205F</int>	<!-- MEDIUM MATHEMATICAL SPACE -->
			<int>0x2060</int>	<!-- WORD JOINER -->
			<int>0x2061</int>	<!-- FUNCTION APPLICATION -->
			<int>0x2062</int>	<!-- INVISIBLE TIMES -->
			<int>0x2063</int>	<!-- INVISIBLE SEPARATOR -->
			<int>0x206A</int>	<!-- INHIBIT SYMMETRIC SWAPPING -->
			<int>0x206B</int>	<!-- ACTIVATE SYMMETRIC SWAPPING -->
			<int>0x206C</int>	<!-- INHIBIT ARABIC FORM SHAPING -->
			<int>0x206D</int>	<!-- ACTIVATE ARABIC FORM SHAPING -->
			<int>0x206E</int>	<!-- NATIONAL DIGIT SHAPES -->
			<int>0x206F</int>	<!-- NOMINAL DIGIT SHAPES -->
			<int>0x2800</int>	<!-- BRAILLE PATTERN BLANK -->
			<int>0x3000</int>	<!-- IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE -->
			<int>0x3164</int>	<!-- HANGUL FILLER -->
			<int>0xFEFF</int>	<!-- ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE -->
			<int>0xFFA0</int>	<!-- HALFWIDTH HANGUL FILLER -->
			<int>0xFFF9</int>	<!-- INTERLINEAR ANNOTATION ANCHOR -->
			<int>0xFFFA</int>	<!-- INTERLINEAR ANNOTATION SEPARATOR -->
			<int>0xFFFB</int>	<!-- INTERLINEAR ANNOTATION TERMINATOR -->
		</blank>
<!--
  Rescan configuration every 30 seconds when FcFontSetList is called
 -->
		<rescan>
			<int>30</int>
		</rescan>
	</config>

</fontconfig>

something has to be wrong in this file, but what?!

[py-thon]

One thing that in my opinion is wrong with your font.config is that you changed it.
The file has the lines

Code: Select all

DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE.
   IT WILL BE REPLACED WHEN FONTCONFIG IS UPDATED.
   LOCAL CHANGES BELONG IN 'local.conf'.

This most probably means that all changes you make will be deleted by an update/upgrade. This might have happened during installation of UP7.

Your fc-match gives

Code: Select all

Fontconfig error: line 162: mismatched tag
Fontconfig error: Cannot load default config fi

The last lines in your posted fonts.conf look ok to me (identical to mine) but you should check whether there is some "hidden" space/tab or whatever which prevents your system from understanding. In my case fc-match ends with listing the suggested fonts, in yours it tells that it cannot load the config file.

[xfrank]

thanks py-thon, I solved this issue (crossing fingers), following your advice.
The problem was that I added some lines extra in the file font.conf, in this way the system was not able to read correctly the whole file.
As in many cases, a little change has huge effects.

This is the output now for the sans default font:

Code: Select all

 xfrank@xflmde ~ $ fc-match serif
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 103: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 135: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig error: Cannot load config file "infinality/conf.d"
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 103: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/65-droid-sans-fonts.conf", line 135: Having multiple values in <test> isn't supported and may not work as expected
VeraSe.ttf: "Bitstream Vera Serif" "Roman"

The droid error is common and not harmful.

Many thanks again!

[pseudomorph]

If you're still having this error, this blogpost may help.
http://cixtor.com/blog/fontconfig-warning