Re: Gnome 1.4 characters display as rectangles

[Telsa Gwynne <hobbit aloss ukuu org uk>]

On Fri, Sep 28, 2001 at 11:06:21PM +1000 or thereabouts, Robert Jenssen wrote:
> I am trying to install Gnome 1.4 using the stable source .tar.gz's and
> following the instructions on the gnome.org "Downloading source" page,
....
> the Gnome menus and widgets displayed characters OK. I then tried to
> changethe font in the control-center. Subsequently, characters in Gnome 
> menus and widgets are displayed as small rectangles instead of characters.

Are you using X 4.1? What version of gtk+ are you using?

This has been a constant issue on IRC on a couple of servers and
channels. I do not really understand the issues. I believe it is
something to do with X 4.1 introducing new fonts, and older gtk+
versions not handling it correctly.

There are bug reports in Debian sid (which always have the latest
versions) about it; and some other reports scattered about. I 
would dearly appreciate it if someone who understands the issues
could write a quick summary and post it here so that it is in the
archives for everyone to read. Solutions, whether generic or 
distro-specific, would be _hugely_ welcomed. I've seen very 
little about it on gnome-list, but it's coming up a lot on IRC.

Telsa