GNU bug report logs - #34799
font breakage, square boxes

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bradley Haggerty <bradigger <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-guix <at> gnu.org
Subject: font breakage, square boxes
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2019 02:48:14 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

A recent update breaks my fonts for most programs, making all characters
show as empty boxes. This happens inside and outside tmux, across various
terminal emulators, etc. It does not occur in deluge-gtk or my TTY. I
experimented with rolling back and doing a partial upgrade from there. With
this list of packages to upgrade, the issue comes back.

The following packages will be upgraded:
   font-terminus        4.40 → 4.47
/gnu/store/a3sksxcg43z7scag56mgg32mjnw2k6fd-font-terminus-4.47

   font-gnu-unifont     11.0.03 → 12.0.01
/gnu/store/ypljs2fyv33f6l55mj6spha7w2pxlr3w-font-gnu-unifont-12.0.01

   mpd  0.21.4 → 0.21.5
/gnu/store/dgj45pd8cg9n9fs95mlw8yprkdrsb4fz-mpd-0.21.5
   gnunet-gtk   0.10.1 → 0.10.1
/gnu/store/3vz8z6wn0cdrfsbz9yxclzyn7vnb5w81-gnunet-gtk-0.10.1

   gnunet       0.10.1 → 0.10.1
/gnu/store/a8jahsmhk21vz350izp2zfn1dbb3bc3j-gnunet-0.10.1

   gimp 2.10.8 → 2.10.8
/gnu/store/81z6bjvd9rx05l4hviisc98cirrn57z9-gimp-2.10.8
   ffmpeg       4.1.1 → 4.1.1
/gnu/store/4hcr7ygdhaxws6q5dj806cbvq0dkfgkw-ffmpeg-4.1.1

   youtube-dl   2019.02.18 → 2019.03.01
/gnu/store/1glmmv0lv1szipgk3ikbjdgp9xnncvrm-youtube-dl-2019.03.01

   qucs-s       0.0.20 → 0.0.20
/gnu/store/vf4pbqbaxq87rgjxw98alhgcd4dmahyz-qucs-s-0.0.20

   mpv  0.29.1 → 0.29.1
/gnu/store/xyfjhq1mcq4d4ijy65fxishz467r37kl-mpv-0.29.1
   vinagre      3.22.0 → 3.22.0
/gnu/store/gp3xi8zgxdxjiidk5b4wkq34vn08jv58-vinagre-3.22.0

   zathura      0.4.3 → 0.4.3
/gnu/store/92pkqiqsa4ngm70mw8a4qn9jr7azj2ap-zathura-0.4.3

   xinit        1.4.0 → 1.4.1
/gnu/store/d01b76z9kdyyajyxqln2m56i8ghdkdys-xinit-1.4.1

   xdg-utils    1.1.3 → 1.1.3
/gnu/store/gmzvdpqzcrvf06pjb3594gvhc46zyd12-xdg-utils-1.1.3

   ruby-pry     0.11.3 → 0.11.3
/gnu/store/vpv29xhpv7j1mi0plis1svqr7sf0n48j-ruby-pry-0.11.3

   readline     7.0.5 → 7.0.5
/gnu/store/si88gb25621k0w60kij5lxksn8l24664-readline-7.0.5

   python-glances       3.0.2 → 3.0.2
/gnu/store/9pa0x2s8jnldjkij7gb4yrinm0ccyj5q-python-glances-3.0.2

   pulseaudio   12.2 → 12.2
/gnu/store/hd3x89yknm4k6k4gw16jy5xk7idq1sxf-pulseaudio-12.2

   pcmanfm      1.3.0 → 1.3.0
/gnu/store/b0585azqb0wibpx7qn6gr740f8fh6cw5-pcmanfm-1.3.0

   minetest     0.4.17.1 → 5.0.0
/gnu/store/7n1dvbxqd2kk75sj4zi4snzw7d5y63cv-minetest-5.0.0

   fontconfig   2.13.1 → 2.13.1
/gnu/store/66jfnfgca7yi6xmpw6ax86cldvr016ia-fontconfig-2.13.1

   font-adobe-source-han-sans:jp        1.004 → 1.004
/gnu/store/zaj1ias1gdz3jmsgvhvn0c706aqw32b1-font-adobe-source-han-sans-1.004-jp

   dconf        0.28.0 → 0.28.0
/gnu/store/x6dgfq8b382jgciq24zcxlgpgxfxaxk2-dconf-0.28.0


It is hard to say what is to blame here. Three separate font packages are
being upgraded as well as fontconfig. Attached is a screenshot showing what
this breakage looks like. I worry that holding back fontconfig might  lead
to issues with the other fonts upgrading. I don't know if those fonts all
updated due to universal font changes.

$guix --version
guix (GNU Guix) 2b613a1a5d4d41b0b5d1f6ea7254585be0c209fa

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

[rightdesktop.png (image/png, attachment)]

Message #8 received at 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bradley Haggerty <bradigger <at> gmail.com>
To: 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: font breakage, square boxes, font-terminus
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2019 02:55:48 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

This issue may be a lot simpler than it initially seemed. I've had success
upgrading all those packages except for font-terminus. I also realized that
the broken font in all places I can think of was the same. It was Terminus.
So, this bug is likely specific to font-terminus and for now I will just
hold it back in my upgrades.

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Message #11 received at 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <somebody <at> not-sent-or-endorsed-by.tobias.gr>
To: Bradley Haggerty <bradigger <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#34799: font breakage, square boxes, font-terminus
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2019 12:16:23 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Bradley,

Bradley Haggerty wrote:
> This issue may be a lot simpler than it initially seemed. I've 
> had success
> upgrading all those packages except for font-terminus. I also 
> realized that
> the broken font in all places I can think of was the same. It 
> was Terminus.
> So, this bug is likely specific to font-terminus and for now I 
> will just
> hold it back in my upgrades.

I updated font-terminus from 4.40 to 4.47 in commit 73c5c482.  I 
wonder if your problem could be caused by this intermediate 
upstream change[0]:

 Version 4.46:
   The X11 8-bit code pages are not installed by default.

Indeed, I'd noticed that some half of the 4.40 files were 
‘missing’ from 4.47, but my fonts continued to work just fine and 
we don't (usually…) diverge from upstream without good reason.

This is probably a good reason :-)  Does the attached patch fix 
your problem?

Kind regards,

T G-R

[0]: http://terminus-font.sourceforge.net

[0001-XXX-gnu-font-terminus-Install-X11-8-bit-code-pages.patch (text/x-patch, inline)]

From 0d9b645937abfdddaf3d8088f81c58220c8d0026 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2019 12:12:08 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] XXX gnu: font-terminus: Install X11 8-bit code pages.

* gnu/packages/fonts.scm (font-terminus)[arguments]: Add a new phase
to build & install 8-bit fonts that were installed by default pre-4.46.
---
 gnu/packages/fonts.scm | 11 ++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/gnu/packages/fonts.scm b/gnu/packages/fonts.scm
index 296e46ec6f..0d327a51b7 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/fonts.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/fonts.scm
@@ -360,7 +360,16 @@ Biolinum is available in both Regular and Bold weights.")
        ("pkg-config" ,pkg-config)
        ("python" ,python)))
     (arguments
-     `(#:tests? #f))                    ; no test target in tarball
+     `(#:tests? #f                      ; no test target in tarball
+       #:phases
+       (modify-phases %standard-phases
+         (add-after 'install 'install-more-bits
+           ;; X11 8-bit code pages are not installed by default (they were
+           ;; until version 4.46).  Install them manually.
+           ;; XXX This builds at least as many fonts as the ‘build’ phase
+           ;;     does.  Split up into build- and install- when merging?
+           (lambda* (#:key make-flags outputs #:allow-other-keys)
+             (apply invoke "make" "install-pcf-8bit" make-flags))))))
     (home-page "http://terminus-font.sourceforge.net/")
     (synopsis "Simple bitmap programming font")
     (description "Terminus Font is a clean, fixed-width bitmap font, designed
-- 
2.20.1

Message #14 received at 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bradley Haggerty <bradigger <at> gmail.com>
To: 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: font breakage, square boxes, font-terminus
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2019 15:14:11 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Sorry for the late reply. I've got a couple other guix issues I'm
struggling to sort out recently as well.

Tobias Geerinckx-Rice said:
>Does the attached patch fix your problem?

I'm a bit of a novice. Can you (or someone else) explain how I apply this
patch file?

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #17 received at 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Tobias Geerinckx-Rice <me <at> tobias.gr>
To: Bradley Haggerty <bradigger <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#34799: font breakage, square boxes, font-terminus
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2019 22:34:08 +0100

Bradley,

Bradley Haggerty wrote:
> Sorry for the late reply. I've got a couple other guix issues 
> I'm
> struggling to sort out recently as well.

No problem.  I hope you get them resolved.  I can only say that 
Guix is worth it.

> Tobias Geerinckx-Rice said:
>>Does the attached patch fix your problem?
>
> I'm a bit of a novice. Can you (or someone else) explain how I 
> apply this
> patch file?

You'd clone the Guix git repository from Savannah, ‘git am’ the 
patch e-mail in question, then follow the instructions in section 
14.2 (Running Guix Before It Is Installed) of the manual using 
‘./pre-inst-env guix package -i font-terminus’ to install the 
patched package.

However, you won't need to do any of that today.  :-)

I was already on the fence about just pushing this change anyway, 
and remembering the existence of outputs sealed the deal.  I 
always forget that they exist.  Installing ‘font-terminus’ still 
gives you the upstream selection, but could you

 $ guix pull
 $ guix package -i font-terminus:pcf-8bit
 $ fc-cache -fr

verify that the above command worked:

 $ fc-list | grep ter-116b
 …are/fonts/terminus/ter-116b.pcf.gz: Terminus:style=Bold

and see if your font situation improves?

If Terminus is actually unusable without those files, I'll add 
them back to :out.

Kind regards,

T G-R

Message #20 received at 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bradley Haggerty <bradigger <at> gmail.com>
To: 34799 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: font breakage, square boxes, font-terminus
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2019 09:43:29 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Tobias Geerinckx-Rice wrote:
>  $ guix pull
>  $ guix package -i font-terminus:pcf-8bit
>  $ fc-cache -fr
>
>verify that the above command worked:
>
>   $ fc-list | grep ter-116b
>  …are/fonts/terminus/ter-116b.pcf.gz: Terminus:style=Bold
>
>and see if your font situation improves?

It all looks good now! Thanks for the fix.

Here is the output showing that the font is installed properly:
brad <at> kazuki:~/ > fc-list | grep ter-116b
/home/brad/.guix-profile/share/fonts/terminus/ter-116b.pcf.gz:
Terminus:style=Bold

So now will I be all set or will there be another packaging change to look
out for now?

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Message #25 received at 34799-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Royce Strange <royball <at> disroot.org>
To: 34799-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: font breakage, square boxes
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2020 09:44:19 -0500

Hello.

Bradley Haggerty said that the fix provided by Tobias Geerinckx-Rice
worked for him.

Closing.

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