The other day I rebooted after eighteen days, and every X font on my system
went nuts. Now it's an adventure to see what app will come up with what
font in what size; some of the changes are undoubtedly from my tinkering
to get something readable out of each app, but these self-same apps are
NOT returning the way they were when I last invoked them. The fonts change
from app invocation to app invocation, and from X restart to X restart.

I encountered this problem once before right after an 'emerge world', and
found the offending package and locked it out (I thought). Things went
back to normal after I downgraded this package. However, this time around
my /etc/portage/package.mask and /etc/portage/profile/package.provided
don't seem to have any packages that affect the problem. (It looks like
the first time, I regressed freetype.)

I would love to know where to start looking for the problem(s).

--
"Liberals used to be the ones who argued that sending U.S. troops abroad
was a small price to pay to stop genocide; now they argue that genocide
is a small price to pay to bring U.S. troops home."
-- Jonah Goldberg

clifto pisze:
> The other day I rebooted after eighteen days, and every X font on my system
> went nuts. Now it's an adventure to see what app will come up with what
> font in what size; some of the changes are undoubtedly from my tinkering
> to get something readable out of each app, but these self-same apps are
> NOT returning the way they were when I last invoked them. The fonts change
> from app invocation to app invocation, and from X restart to X restart.
>
> I encountered this problem once before right after an 'emerge world', and
> found the offending package and locked it out (I thought). Things went
> back to normal after I downgraded this package. However, this time around
> my /etc/portage/package.mask and /etc/portage/profile/package.provided
> don't seem to have any packages that affect the problem. (It looks like
> the first time, I regressed freetype.)
>
> I would love to know where to start looking for the problem(s).
>

Things do not brake without your input (except hardware brakedowns).
Try to recall what did you change last time.

Are you able to check what font should be used in certain application?
If yes, check for availability of that font in your system. Check access
rights to that font directories/files.

Do not feel offended if what I am typing is so obvious for you. It has
to be verified.

I assume that you are experienced user, and you did checked everything
that is obvious (xorg.conf - FontPath's, /etc/fonts/local.conf for
<fontdir>, fc-list to see what fonts in your system are available).

Do you have any error messages on the console after you startup an
application?

What locales do you use?

Do you have this problem in gtk-based apps or in qt-based apps.

What DesktopEnvironment do you use?

Do you use some kind overlay for cairo/libXft/freetype? (like xeffects)

Did you lately set some kind of desktop theme / gtk-theme ?


This is where I would look for if I would be in your shoes.
Regards,
m.s.w