Description: After upgrading to LibreOffice 7.4.0, text in Writer appears smeared, making it difficult to read, and certain glyphs look cut off. I'll attach screenshots comparing how a document appears in 7.4.0 and 7.3.5. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Open a document containing text in Writer. Actual Results: The text appears smeared, and certain glyphs look cut off. Expected Results: The text should appear crisp, and the glyphs should look complete, similar to how the same fonts appear in other applications. Reproducible: Always User Profile Reset: Yes OpenGL enabled: Yes Additional Info: Version: 7.4.0.3 / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 40(Build:3) CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.19; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+wayland) Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US 7.4.0-2 Calc: threaded
Created attachment 181894 [details] crisp text in Writer 7.3.5
Created attachment 181895 [details] smeared text in Writer 7.4.0
Could you please share the ODT file for testing?
Created attachment 181939 [details] the document shown in the first two screenshots (In reply to Rafael Lima from comment #3) > Could you please share the ODT file for testing? Sure. Here's the document shown in the screenshots. I didn't attach it initially because I was able to reproduce the bug with every document I tried opening.
Created attachment 181940 [details] Text rendering in LO 7.3.5 Here's a screenshot of the sample file in LO 7.3.5 taken with zoom 100%. Version: 7.3.5.2 / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 30(Build:2) CPU threads: 16; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+xcb) Locale: pt-BR (pt_BR.UTF-8); UI: en-US Ubuntu package version: 1:7.3.5-0ubuntu0.22.04.1 Calc: threaded
Created attachment 181941 [details] Text rendering in LO 7.4.0.3 Here's a screenshot of the sample file in LO 7.4.0.3 taken with zoom 100%. Version: 7.4.0.3 / LibreOffice Community Build ID: f85e47c08ddd19c015c0114a68350214f7066f5a CPU threads: 16; OS: Linux 5.15; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+xcb) Locale: pt-BR (pt_BR.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded
I see a difference in kerning between the two versions of LO (7.3.5 and 7.4.0.3) but I do not see the text distorted as in your screenshot. I am also on KDE, but on X11 instead of wayland. But I don't see why this would matter.
(In reply to Rafael Lima from comment #7) > I see a difference in kerning between the two versions of LO (7.3.5 and > 7.4.0.3) but I do not see the text distorted as in your screenshot. > > I am also on KDE, but on X11 instead of wayland. But I don't see why this > would matter. Yeah, I don't see the smearing happening in your screenshots, either. I tried switching to X11 to check if it made a difference, but it didn't. I'll upload that screenshot, too.
Created attachment 181942 [details] smeared text in Writer 7.4.0 on X11 Version: 7.4.0.3 / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 40(Build:3) CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.19; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+xcb) Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US 7.4.0-2 Calc: threaded
Turning off hardware acceleration doesn't make a difference, either.
Indeed the text in your screenshot looks smeared. Let's wait to see if anyone else can reproduce this problem. FTR there has been some work done to improve font rendering, which fixed bug 144862. This may be related.
For thoroughness, I tried opening the file in the latest 7.5.0 daily build. The text appears pixel-for-pixel identical to how it appears in 7.4.0, i.e. it's still affected. Version: 7.5.0.0.alpha0+ / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 64be7052ba7e02e248412222098e07a5f4106456 CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.19; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+wayland) Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded
Does it make a difference, if you launch from the terminal with either of these SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gtk3 libreoffice SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen libreoffice
(In reply to Buovjaga from comment #13) > Does it make a difference, if you launch from the terminal with either of > these > > SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gtk3 libreoffice > SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen libreoffice No, I tried both, and the text still appeared smeared both ways. Not pixel identical, still smeared.
(In reply to Autumn from comment #10) > Turning off hardware acceleration doesn't make a difference, either. on linux "hardware acceleration" only refers to the type of "canvas" used for full-screen presentations and has no other effect
smeared can be subjective, but objectively the g in list number 7 is cut off and I can see what that is happening for kf5/gen and not gtk3 (for me)
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "master": https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/96d71754db51bf4eb0fba98a759e90a373e1d10a tdf#150507 set hint style even if the platform returns no default font options It will be available in 7.5.0. The patch should be included in the daily builds available at https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
cut of glyphs fixed in trunk afaics, backport to 7-4 in gerrit
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "libreoffice-7-4": https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/4ec4fee0cf48142e2f4c594fe401f72872dc1bd9 tdf#150507 set hint style even if the platform returns no default font options It will be available in 7.4.1. The patch should be included in the daily builds available at https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
Created attachment 181987 [details] a repeated pangram that demonstrates the smearing Indeed, the cut-off glyphs seem to be fixed, thank you! Unfortunately, the smearing is not fixed. I've written a new document that may make it easier to evaluate the smearing objectively if it isn't immediately recognizable to you. Each line contains the same text with the same formatting. In 7.3.5, each one appears pixel-for-pixel identical to the others. If the lines appear different from each other at 100% zoom, you're affected by the smearing. I'll upload screenshots of this document in Writer 7.3.5 and in the latest 7.5.0 daily build.
Created attachment 181988 [details] crisp pangram in 7.3.5
Created attachment 181989 [details] smeared pangram in 7.5.0 daily build, after 96d7175 was applied Version: 7.5.0.0.alpha0+ / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 46dc9f3bbac67e9240adc44ab017f905482ef786 CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.19; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+wayland) Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded
The placement of the l in the last "black" in the 7.3 screenshot doesn't look great to me. The rendering in 7.3 screenshot doesn't jump out at me as a disimprovment, but the issue might be affected by the version of cairo, or more likely that even slight hinting is disabled due to a bug found with that (https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/cairo/cairo/-/issues/390) a) What version of cairo is on your system? b) If you enable the alternative skia rendering: i.e. enable "tools, options, libreoffice, view, graphics output, use skia for all rendering." does that appear better/worse/no difference for you?
(In reply to Caolán McNamara from comment #23) > b) If you enable the alternative skia rendering: i.e. enable "tools, > options, libreoffice, view, graphics output, use skia for all rendering." > does that appear better/worse/no difference for you? I think this requires to start from the terminal with SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen libreoffice
(In reply to Caolán McNamara from comment #23) > The placement of the l in the last "black" in the 7.3 screenshot doesn't > look great to me. The rendering in 7.3 screenshot doesn't jump out at me as > a disimprovment, but the issue might be affected by the version of cairo, or > more likely that even slight hinting is disabled due to a bug found with > that (https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/cairo/cairo/-/issues/390) > > a) What version of cairo is on your system? > b) If you enable the alternative skia rendering: i.e. enable "tools, > options, libreoffice, view, graphics output, use skia for all rendering." > does that appear better/worse/no difference for you? Indeed, glyph placement looks better to me in the crisp screenshots I've seen of 7.4 than it does in 7.3. I use the version of cairo packaged by Arch Linux. That's currently 1.17.6 with commit ff4fd6f9 cherry-picked. To make things easier, I just tried switching to a cairo 1.17.6 package without any cherry-picked commits, and the smearing still appears. (If you tell me what version of cairo you use, I can probably try that, too.) Even with env SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen, and switching to X11 too, I can't find the "use skia for all rendering" setting. The only headings I see under "graphics output" are "use hardware acceleration" and "use anti-aliasing."
(In reply to Autumn from comment #25) > (In reply to Caolán McNamara from comment #23) > > The placement of the l in the last "black" in the 7.3 screenshot doesn't > > look great to me. The rendering in 7.3 screenshot doesn't jump out at me as > > a disimprovment, but the issue might be affected by the version of cairo, or > > more likely that even slight hinting is disabled due to a bug found with > > that (https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/cairo/cairo/-/issues/390) > > > > a) What version of cairo is on your system? > > b) If you enable the alternative skia rendering: i.e. enable "tools, > > options, libreoffice, view, graphics output, use skia for all rendering." > > does that appear better/worse/no difference for you? > > Indeed, glyph placement looks better to me in the crisp screenshots I've > seen of 7.4 than it does in 7.3. > > I use the version of cairo packaged by Arch Linux. That's currently 1.17.6 > with commit ff4fd6f9 cherry-picked. To make things easier, I just tried > switching to a cairo 1.17.6 package without any cherry-picked commits, and > the smearing still appears. (If you tell me what version of cairo you use, I > can probably try that, too.) > > Even with env SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen, and switching to X11 too, I can't find > the "use skia for all rendering" setting. The only headings I see under > "graphics output" are "use hardware acceleration" and "use anti-aliasing." Hmm, maybe you could try SAL_FORCESKIA=1 SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen path/to/libreoffice I guess the 7.5 would be best to try.
(In reply to Buovjaga from comment #26) > Hmm, maybe you could try > > SAL_FORCESKIA=1 SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen path/to/libreoffice > > I guess the 7.5 would be best to try. Trying libreofficedev7.5 with those environment variables doesn't affect how the text is rendered on my machine. (It also doesn't change the visible options.) I also found some options by searching for "skia" in the expert configuration window: org.openoffice.Office.Common.VCL.{UseSkia,ForceSkia,ForceSkiaRaster}. I set them all to true, still no effect.
Oh wow, I just tried env SAL_FORCESKIA=1 SAL_USE_VCLPLUGIN=gen with LibreOffice 7.4, and the text is crisp!! Version: 7.4.0.3 / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 40(Build:3) CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.19; UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: x11 Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US 7.4.0-2 Calc: threaded For some reason, 7.5 doesn't seem to want to activate skia. It says "UI render: default" no matter what I do.
The skia variant has light/slight hinting enabled, while the cairo variant has it disabled because of https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/cairo/cairo/-/issues/390 Ideally I want a way to enable light hinting without seeing a return of bug tdf#150145 and/or missing descender of the first example here
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "master": https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/35e4647689b1663a6e5a13f7ab8aebb0165e4ab2 tdf#150507 reenable slight hinting for cairo with ResolutionIndependentLayout It will be available in 7.5.0. The patch should be included in the daily builds available at https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
As far as I can tell, that gets the light hinting back (and makes it looks like the skia variant) without yet showing the side effects which got that hinting disabled earlier. backport to 7-4 in gerrit
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "libreoffice-7-4": https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/ed95bc0d2f0d8ee8f04ac84bcb4e41d780878501 tdf#150507 reenable slight hinting for cairo with ResolutionIndependentLayout It will be available in 7.4.2. The patch should be included in the daily builds available at https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
I'm sorry to say so, but I just tried a 7.5.0 build with your new commit, and the text looks the same as it did before. I'm happy to continue to help diagnosing this in any way I can. Version: 7.5.0.0.alpha0+ / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 8f058de233e5110720daa5b42e0c66e7c3b2c31f CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.19; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+wayland) Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded
I'm surprised it makes no difference at all for you, I'd have expected some change at least, certainly seems to do so here
Created attachment 182167 [details] smeared pangram in 7.5.0 daily build, after 35e4647 was applied Here's a screenshot of pangram.odt with a current daily build. By comparing it to the previous screenshot in an image editor, I was able to see that although the text is still smeared, there is a significant difference in the shapes of the glyphs. They're taller than they were before. I don't think I'd call the change good or bad. It looks to me like maybe the shapes of glyphs are hinted but the text still isn't aligned to the pixel grid. Version: 7.5.0.0.alpha0+ / LibreOffice Community Build ID: c54c576a5043dc5a0cc01f8c71897373516ae091 CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.19; UI render: default; VCL: kf5 (cairo+wayland) Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: threaded
(In reply to Autumn from comment #35) > Created attachment 182167 [details] > smeared pangram in 7.5.0 daily build, after 35e4647 was applied > > Here's a screenshot of pangram.odt with a current daily build. > > By comparing it to the previous screenshot in an image editor, I was able to > see that although the text is still smeared, there is a significant > difference in the shapes of the glyphs. They're taller than they were > before. I don't think I'd call the change good or bad. Ah good, it had an effect at least. Height difference is surely the "slight" hinting FT_LOAD_TARGET_LIGHT which was the intention of that change (vs totally unhinted previously) so it sounds like that at least happened. Comment #28 suggests that the skia rendering is much better, but for me I seem to get the same results with the skia version as this cairo one.
Created attachment 182182 [details] crisp pangram in 7.4.0 with Skia enabled Here's a screenshot of pangram.odt in 7.4.0 with Skia enabled on my PC so you can compare. (I had to add some white space at the top and right edges of this screenshot so the pixels of the document itself would line up with the last few screenshots.) Version: 7.4.0.3 / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 40(Build:3) CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 5.19; UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: x11 Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US 7.4.0-2 Calc: threaded
I have been having the same issue as the original poster. I upgraded from 7.3.5.2 to 7.4.1.1 on Debian bullseye (I'm using the package in backports) and quickly noticed the smeared/blurry/fuzzy fonts. I'm using 100% zoom on a 1440p monitor (2560x1440 resolution, no scaling). Version: 7.4.1.1 / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 40(Build:1) CPU threads: 6; OS: Linux 5.10; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3 Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US Debian package version: 1:7.4.1~rc1-2~bpo11+1 Calc: threaded
Created attachment 182183 [details] side by side zoomed in of various screenshots annotated
(In reply to Caolán McNamara from comment #39) > Created attachment 182183 [details] > side by side zoomed in of various screenshots annotated Thanks for uploading this. I can see your version with cairo is smeared, too. If the smearing isn't qualitatively obvious to you, you might be able to identify it by the fact that successive lines in pangram.odt aren't rendered with identical pixels, despite having identical text and formatting.
Created attachment 182215 [details] side by side, skia above, cairo below with https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/139380 to adjust the cairo rendering I get these results which appear identical to me
(In reply to Caolán McNamara from comment #41) > Created attachment 182215 [details] > side by side, skia above, cairo below > > with https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/139380 to adjust the cairo > rendering I get these results which appear identical to me That looks completely fixed! I'll do a build myself with that patch so I can test it right away.
I tested a build with that last patch applied on top of f9547d3. The text is crisp! It looks like that patch fixes this bug for me.
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "master": https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/4059cb5dbec67d17a636b03e6f6344ca313516fa tdf#150507 like skia, even when subpixel rendering snap to a pixel Baseline It will be available in 7.5.0. The patch should be included in the daily builds available at https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
alright, that's encouraging, backport to 7-4 in gerrit now as well
Caolán McNamara committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "libreoffice-7-4": https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/d75c6adcdb4c09c1379f22793135def71b8040a7 tdf#150507 like skia, even when subpixel rendering pixel snap y It will be available in 7.4.2. The patch should be included in the daily builds available at https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.
*** Bug 150515 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***