Score:3

Ubuntu

How to redefine font substitution?

Paul Jurczak

6/29/24, 5:45 AM

I would like to have HelveticaLTStd-Bold substituted with LiberationSans-Bold font. It is already installed in many places:

but DejaVu Sans is chosen instead:

paul@desktop:~$ fc-match "HelveticaLTStd-Bold"
DejaVuSans.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Book"

I followed the advice from PDF font falls back to DejaVu Sans, need a monospace replacement, but it didn't work. What is the solution?

I use Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS x86_64. I checked that fonts-urw-base35 is installed. I created ~/.config/fontconfig/conf.d/10-pdf-aliases.conf file with this contents:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "/etc/fonts/conf.d/fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>

<alias binding="same">
<family>CourierStd</family>
<accept>
<family>Courier</family>
</accept>
</alias>

<alias>
<family>CourierStd</family>
<default><family>monospace</family></default>
</alias>

</fontconfig>

I've run fc-cache and I'm still getting:

paul@desktop:~$ fc-match "HelveticaLTStd-Bold"
DejaVuSans.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Book"

I didn't notice a different font name in that configuration file. I edited it, and it solves my problem with Document Viewer. Unfortunately, Okular (installed with Flatpak) still uses DejaVu Sans and produces this misformed kerning:

Here are the fonts used in this document:

1 + 7

configuration

fonts

pdf

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

6/29/24, 9:00 AM

Which Ubuntu version do you use? Can you please edit your question and show us how exactly you applied the advice from the other question?

Paul Jurczak

6/29/24, 3:29 PM

@GunnarHjalmarsson I added the details you requested.

xiota

6/29/24, 10:14 PM

Can you provide a link to a PDF that demonstrates the issue? What program generated it? (Wondering whether HelveticaLTStd needs to be added to default config files, like CourierStd was.)

Paul Jurczak

6/30/24, 1:50 AM

@xiota I added more info. Let me know if you still need the PDF - I would have to remove a few fields.

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

6/30/24, 5:06 PM

Since the *Helvetica LT Std* font is used in some official American form, @xiota seems to have been right about his suspicion. OTOH, unlike Courier Std (which is a monospace font) this one is sans-serif. And preferring Liberation Sans over DejaVu Sans is merely a matter of personal preferences, isn't it? So there does not seem to be a need to propose a change to the default config files in this case.

Paul Jurczak

7/1/24, 2:27 AM

@GunnarHjalmarsson *preferring Liberation Sans over DejaVu Sans is merely a matter of personal preferences* - I don't care specifically about Liberation Sans, I just want to have a right kerning with whatever font can accomplish that. DejaVu doesn't.

xiota

7/1/24, 5:37 AM

I found a blank W9 form that demonstrates the issue. The PDF would be needed to open up an issue so that the upstream project can update the default font configs.

Score:3

Ubuntu

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

6/29/24, 5:52 PM

Well, the other question helped deal with the Courier Std font while awaiting a fix upstream.

To start with, try replacing this section:

<alias binding="same">
<family>CourierStd</family>
<accept>
<family>Courier</family>
</accept>
</alias>

with:

<alias binding="same">
<family>HelveticaLTStd</family>
<accept>
<family>Liberation Sans</family>
</accept>
</alias>

Result on my machine:

$ fc-match "HelveticaLTStd: bold"
LiberationSans-Bold.ttf: "Liberation Sans" "Bold"

+ 3

Paul Jurczak

6/30/24, 2:03 AM

Thank you. Do you know how to handle the Flatpak (Okular) issue?

Gunnar Hjalmarsson

6/30/24, 3:07 AM

@PaulJurczak: No. Probably the Flatpak font configuration is sandboxed, as is the case with snaps. For some snaps I know how handle it.

xiota

7/1/24, 6:12 AM

Merge request to update configs: [fontconfig/282](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig/-/merge_requests/282)

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