Freetype/Xft as the default text renderer

[Lars Clausen <lrclause cs uiuc edu>]

I'm stuck in a problem of inconsistent font names.  Between freetype2 and
normal GDK fonts, the same fonts have different names.  We have to use
freetype2 to render postscript, as normal X won't give us the font outlines.
To avoid diagrams being horribly incompatible, the only way out is to make
the non-Windows Dia use freetype2 (via Xft) for all text rendering.

A quick search indicates that Xft and Freetype2 is available for most
non-Windows platforms (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Solaris, Irix at least).
Does anyone here run an OS that allows GTK+ 2.0, but doesn't allow FreeType2
or Xft?

The Windows users need not worry about this:  Printing can be done with
Windows GDI (I believe), PNG export with normal GDK rendering (since the
equivalent of X is always there).  The only missing option may be rendering
to PostScript, it seems that would require freetype2 on Windows as well
(which is available).

I know it adds another dependency, but I see no other way to maintain a
minimum of diagram compatibility and useful printing.

-Lars

-- 
Lars Clausen (http://shasta.cs.uiuc.edu/~lrclause)| Hårdgrim of Numenor
"I do not agree with a word that you say, but I   |----------------------------
will defend to the death your right to say it."   | Where are we going, and
    --Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire  | what's with the handbasket?