On Sat, 3 May 2003, Andre Costa wrote: >> freetype is a font rasterization library. xfs is an X11 font >> server which uses freetype to rasterize fonts. > >My question has been misleading, so maybe if I explain the rationale >behind it, you will understand what I was wanting to know: I've been >watching freetype's ML, and a new version 2.1.4 has been released a >couple of weeks ago. I though about upgrading mine (RH 8.0 stock 2.1.3) >but then I thought: "if xfs doesn't use it, this would be pointless". >How far am I from the truth? I tried ldd on xfs, and found out this: > >[root@xxxxxx root]# ldd `type -p xfs` > libXfont.so.1 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libXfont.so.1 (0x40023000) > libm.so.6 => /lib/i686/libm.so.6 (0x400a7000) > libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x400c9000) > libc.so.6 => /lib/i686/libc.so.6 (0x42000000) > /lib/ld-linux.so.2 => /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x40000000) > >Freetype's libs don't appear on the list above. So, xfs might have been >statically linked to them, and in this case upgrading freetype would >really be pointless, is that right? Upgrading random core operating system libraries like freetype generally will get you in trouble. There is no really good reason to upgrade it. Also, upgrading freetype would mean that your entire OS is now unsupported. Any font related problems you might encounter, you would have to resolve on your own. >> >2. what's the relationship between freetype X11 module and Freetype >> >[http://freetype.sourceforge.net/] ? >> >> The freetype XFree86 module is the X server alternative to using >> xfs to handle truetype fonts. the freetype module is also linked >> to the freetype library. > >Got it. I looked around, and it seems that X11's freetype module is >statically linked as well: > >[root@xxxxxx root]# find /usr/X11R6/ -name '*freetype*' -print >/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/fonts/libfreetype.a > >If that is right, upgrading freetype wouldn't affect X11's freetype >module either. Obviously, I am missing something here... Any kind sould >could give me a hand? ;) Our freetype is patched with a few things that are expected to be there by other parts of the OS. If you replace freetype, then you'll have problems unless you also re-engineer our patches into it. You may also possibly have to rebuild parts of the OS that use freetype. Although I haven't personally tried it, stock freetype will most likely result in all Xft using apps misbehaving. At a minimum though, you will lose some functionality. Caveat emptor. -- Mike A. Harris _______________________________________________ xfree86-list mailing list xfree86-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/xfree86-list IRC: #xfree86 on irc.redhat.com
