Bug 94803 - Font problems: Drop Caps and Lines Missing with Linux Libertine O and Linux Biolinum O
Summary: Font problems: Drop Caps and Lines Missing with Linux Libertine O and Linux B...
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: graphics stack (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
5.0.2.2 release
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2015-10-05 20:27 UTC by Frank Zimmerman
Modified: 2019-01-21 08:24 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Shows the DropCap and missing text problems with Linux Libertine "O" and Linux Biolinum "O" (98.65 KB, application/zip)
2015-10-05 20:27 UTC, Frank Zimmerman
Details
Linux Biolinum O - ligature problems (408.28 KB, application/x-font-otf)
2015-10-10 21:44 UTC, Frank Zimmerman
Details
Linux Libertine O Regular - ligature problem (515.69 KB, application/x-font-otf)
2015-10-10 21:45 UTC, Frank Zimmerman
Details

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Description Frank Zimmerman 2015-10-05 20:27:48 UTC
Created attachment 119327 [details]
Shows the DropCap and missing text problems with Linux Libertine "O" and Linux Biolinum "O"

This problem just happened after I installed the latest 5.0.2.2 update.

I'm having problems with Linux Libertine O and Linux Biolinum O. 

1. With Libertine O, DropCaps are getting messed up. If the paragraph starts with the word "The" (for example), both the "T" and the "h" are getting put into the DropCap (even though only one letter is defined in the DropCap settings), then the "h" is repeated again for the normal part of the paragraph. I've attached a screenshot.

2. With Biolinum O, 4 or 5 lines of text just disappear. If I change the style to use Biolinum G, then the text magically re-appears. I've attached a screenshot of before and after changing the font.

As well, I've attached the sample page document that shows the problem.

Some background: for a while I debated as to which version of the Linux fonts to use, the "O" or the "G". After researching on the web, I came to the conclusion that the "O" series would be best. I think that may have been the ones also distributed in Linux (I was using Kubuntu for a while). Now I'm on a laptop with Windows 10, and everytime I install an update to LibreOffice, the "G" series gets installed again. So I end up with both on my system. This was not a problem until now, when there is a definite difference in the way these two different series of fonts are being handled.
Comment 1 Frank Zimmerman 2015-10-05 20:58:57 UTC
One more comment. 

When typing "Th" with Linux Libertine O, they seem to get replaced with a combined form. This could be causing the problem.

Also, I just discovered that the Linux Biolinum O problem occurs when typing "tt". I believe this is another case of substituting a combined form of these two letters. Once you type the second "t", the whole line just disappears.
Comment 2 Frank Zimmerman 2015-10-05 21:01:05 UTC
One more comment: the Linux Biolinum O problem (with typing "tt") does not happen with bold or italic variations. Only with the regular font.
Comment 3 Buovjaga 2015-10-09 08:38:49 UTC
Not reproduced.
I installed Libertine, Biolinum was already installed.

Kubuntu 15.04 64-bit KDE Plasma 5.4
Version: 5.0.2.2
Build ID: 00m0(Build:2)
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8)
Comment 4 Frank Zimmerman 2015-10-09 17:08:49 UTC
The screen capture in the attachments shows the problem quite clearly. Perhaps it is related to Windows, and should be tested there.

I have many documents that I have worked on in the last month which were fine under the previous 5.0 Libre release. But now I load them and there are these problems (missing lines, incorrect rendering of "Th" in dropcaps).

This is a Dell Laptop less than a year old, and well maintained (I'm a computer tech). It's using Intel HD Graphics (not my first choice) and sometimes has screen redraw problems with Libre (slow and blotchy when redrawing), but this is more than that. It's actual font-rendering problems, that were not there in the previous 5.0. If I save to PDF the same problems are seen in the PDF.
Comment 5 Buovjaga 2015-10-10 11:20:15 UTC
(In reply to Frank Zimmerman from comment #4)
> The screen capture in the attachments shows the problem quite clearly.
> Perhaps it is related to Windows, and should be tested there.

Where can I get them? The O fonts were not in this package: http://www.linuxlibertine.org/index.php?id=91&L=1
Comment 6 Frank Zimmerman 2015-10-10 19:08:29 UTC
Good question! I gathered them a few years ago, but I was using KDE a lot then, so I suspect they came with an older version of Ubuntu/Kubuntu, especially as I found a few bug reports for Ubuntu that referenced them.

They are OTF files, not TTF. And my version on Linux Libertine O Regular is 5.3.0, and Linux Biolinum O Regular is 1.1.8. So they are the latest.

I looked at the LinuxLibertine.org website. They have a tab on their site devoted to "OpenType" and you can see a picture of the "ligature" replacement. I believe this is where the problem is coming from. The "Th" are being replaced by a combined form, and so also with the "tt".

At this point, I'm quite ready to switch my fonts over to the "G" version (TTF), if that's going to be the best.

Only two questions regarding this:

1. The LinuxLibertine website also offers OTF variants. How do these stack up with the TTF versions in LibreOffice? I thought OTF was in some ways better?

2. The TTF G versions that ship with LibreOffice are not the absolute latest. Are they recommended or is it okay to go with the very latest from LinuxLibertine.org?

If you want, I can attach the two OTF fonts that are giving the problems.
Comment 7 Buovjaga 2015-10-10 19:54:38 UTC
(In reply to Frank Zimmerman from comment #6)
> 1. The LinuxLibertine website also offers OTF variants. How do these stack
> up with the TTF versions in LibreOffice? I thought OTF was in some ways
> better?
> 
> 2. The TTF G versions that ship with LibreOffice are not the absolute
> latest. Are they recommended or is it okay to go with the very latest from
> LinuxLibertine.org?
> 
> If you want, I can attach the two OTF fonts that are giving the problems.

1. & 2. I don't know :)

Sure, please attach them.
Comment 8 Frank Zimmerman 2015-10-10 21:44:42 UTC
Created attachment 119490 [details]
Linux Biolinum O - ligature problems
Comment 9 Frank Zimmerman 2015-10-10 21:45:25 UTC
Created attachment 119491 [details]
Linux Libertine O Regular - ligature problem
Comment 10 Buovjaga 2015-10-12 14:33:02 UTC
Alrighty, now I see the problems.
Let's set to NEW and hopefully we can get more insight from QA or devs.

Win 7 Pro 64-bit, Version: 5.0.2.2 (x64)
Build ID: 37b43f919e4de5eeaca9b9755ed688758a8251fe
Locale: fi-FI (fi_FI)
Comment 11 QA Administrators 2016-11-08 11:09:09 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 12 Frank Zimmerman 2019-01-20 22:03:03 UTC
I'm using the Linux Libertine and Biolinum "G" variants these days, and they seem to work fine.

I just tested with the "O" variant and it works in the latest LO (6.0.7.3).

Another safety measure which I implement now "just in case" is to capitalize the first word of a drop-capped paragraph (or two words if the first word is less than 3 letters). It seems to be an old tradition.
Comment 13 Buovjaga 2019-01-21 08:24:11 UTC
(In reply to Frank Zimmerman from comment #12)
> I'm using the Linux Libertine and Biolinum "G" variants these days, and they
> seem to work fine.
> 
> I just tested with the "O" variant and it works in the latest LO (6.0.7.3).

Great, tweaking status.