bold font rendeing in Java is broken in Cosmic with OpenJDK 11

[Václav Haisman]

Since update to Cosmic, I see that bold fonts in Java have broken rendering. See attached 400% scaled PNG for illustration. The 'r' in bold rendering of "Hello World" shows basically a vertical line from the end of the hook end. I am not entirely sure this is freetype issue but some sources (https://github.com/adobe/brackets/issues/14290) suggest there is a bug in the 2.8.1 version that Cosmic seems to install (libfreetype6/cosmic,now 2.8.1-2ubuntu2 amd64 [installed]).

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Václav Haisman (vzeman79)]

Here is a small test application that shows the issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Thorsten Glaser (mirabilos)]

The testcase needs the “package test;” in the first line removed / commented-out, then it works.

This works in 11.0.1+13-2 on Debian sid, as a new data point.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Laurent Bonnaud (laurent-bonnaud)]

The bug has been fixed in Debian just by removing a patch:

 openjdk-11 (11~28-3) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Drop the jdk-freetypeScaler-crash patch. Closes: #905718.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

@Laurent, that changes is supposed to be in the cosmic version of the package though
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openjdk-lts/11~28-3ubuntu1

"openjdk-lts (11~28-3ubuntu1) cosmic; urgency=medium

  * Sync packages with 11~28-3."

The debian bug also states that updating openjdk didn't fix the issue but updating other gtk pacakges did (without specific on which one could have fixed the issue)

[Laurent Bonnaud (laurent-bonnaud)]

> updating other gtk pacakges did [fix the issue]

Indeed.

I confirm that on my Debian sid+experimental system, fonts look OK in openjdk-11.

I tried to investigate the problem in Ubuntu cosmic by first trying to determine which fonts are used by the JRE. I used this command:

  cat /proc/$(pidof java)/maps | grep font

and only found files from /var/cache/fontconfig/ and no actual font files.
Other applications have files from /usr/share/fonts/, but not the JRE.
Without this I do not know where to look further :<...

[md_5 (md-5)]

Yeah its still an issue with 11.0.1+13-2ubuntu1, and also the upstream release https://jdk.java.net/11/

freetype has been causing such issues in the last year or so....

[md_5 (md-5)]

Stealing libfreetype6 2.9.1-3 from Debian and installing it make the rendering passable again.
Not subjectively 100% as good as Java 8, but fine enough to get used to.

[Matthias Bläsing (mblaesing)]

I still see font distortions on ubuntu cosmic:

openjdk version "11.0.1" 2018-10-16
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 11.0.1+13-Ubuntu-2ubuntu1)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.0.1+13-Ubuntu-2ubuntu1, mixed mode, sharing)

There is a matching upstream issue for this:

http://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=JDK-8214284

In the comments for that issue, a second (fixed) issue is referenced:

https://bugs.java.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=JDK-8214002

The fix for that issue was merged to the jdk 12 and jdk branches:

http://hg.openjdk.java.net/jdk/jdk12/rev/7ed5edf6ba0c
http://hg.openjdk.java.net/jdk/jdk/rev/7ed5edf6ba0c

I build the jdk branch and found the issue fixed. I also rebuild the ubuntu package with the above mentioned patch included (only the change in freetypeScaler.c, not the new test) and also found, that this fixes my problem.

I don't know the plans for java in ubuntu regarding LTS releases and patch backports, but it would be great if you could include the patch. For the record: I did not write that patch, it is the referenced changeset above, modified to be applied while building the ubuntu package.

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

The attachment "font-fix.diff" seems to be a patch. If it isn't, please remove the "patch" flag from the attachment, remove the "patch" tag, and if you are a member of the ~ubuntu-reviewers, unsubscribe the team.

[This is an automated message performed by a Launchpad user owned by ~brian-murray, for any issues please contact him.]

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

fixed in 11.0.2 in disco.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

> fixed in 11.0.2 in disco.

no, it's not

openjdk-lts-11.0.2+9$ grep 'int renderFlags =' * -r
src/java.desktop/share/native/libfontmanager/freetypeScaler.c: int renderFlags = FT_LOAD_RENDER, target;

see http://hg.openjdk.java.net/jdk/jdk12/rev/7ed5edf6ba0c if the fix was included it should be FT_LOAD_DEFAULT

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package openjdk-lts - 11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1

---------------
openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1) disco; urgency=medium

  * Sync packages with 11.0.2+9-3:
    - Fix Zero on sparc64 (Adrian Glaubitz). Closes: #920315.
    - Link zero on alpha with --no-relax (Michael Cree). Addresses: #920161.
    - Don't run the tests on alpha, causing build failure.
    - jhsdb isn't built on alpha.
    - Backport the fix for 8214002 (cannot use italic font style if the font
      has embedded bitmap). LP: #1799014.
  * Sync packages with 11.0.2+9-2:
    - Fix file permissions for autopkg tests.

 -- Matthias Klose <email address hidden> Thu, 24 Jan 2019 15:14:20 +0100

[Łukasz Zemczak (sil2100)]

Hello Václav, or anyone else affected,

Accepted openjdk-lts into bionic-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openjdk-lts/11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1~18.04.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested and change the tag from verification-needed-bionic to verification-done-bionic. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed-bionic. In either case, without details of your testing we will not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s) fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in -proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

[Václav Haisman (vzeman79)]

I have filed this defect against 18.10, not 18.04 though. Bionic fix is useless for me.

[Matthias Klose (doko)]

looks fine in bionic-proposed

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Thank you for taking the time to verify this stable release fix. We have noticed that you have used the verification-done tag for marking the bug as verified and would like to point out that due to a recent change in SRU bug verification policy fixes now have to be marked with per-release tags (i.e. verification-done-$RELEASE). Please remove the verification-done tag and add one for the release you have tested the package in. Thank you!

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Verification

[Laurent Bonnaud (laurent-bonnaud)]

In cosmic with this version:

  Package: openjdk-11-jdk-headless
  Version: 11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1~18.04.1

the bug is fixed. Thanks!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package openjdk-lts - 11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1~18.04.3

---------------
openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1~18.04.3) bionic-security; urgency=medium

  * Backport from Disco. LP: #1814133.
  * Revert to GTK2 as default as GTK3 still has padding and component issues,
    apply upstream changeset to fix a few GTK3 components: LP: #1770278.
    - debian/patches/jdk-improve-gtk3-compatibility.patch: upstream fix for
      JDK-8218469, JDK-8218470, JDK-8218472, and JDK-8203627.
    - debian/patches/keep-gtk2-as-default.patch: revert upstream so GTK2 is
      loaded before GTK3 when available.
    - debian/rules, debian/control: remove libgtk-3-dev from build depends
      as it is not required for building; set jre to depend on libgtk2.0-0
      and alternatively to libgtk-3-0.
  * Adds breaks clause to prevent openjdk-11-jre-headless from being updated
    when jetty9, netbeans, tomcat8, or visualvm are being hold back in
    unattended-upgrades due to local conffiles changes.

openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1) disco; urgency=medium

  * Sync packages with 11.0.2+9-3:
    - Fix Zero on sparc64 (Adrian Glaubitz). Closes: #920315.
    - Link zero on alpha with --no-relax (Michael Cree). Addresses: #920161.
    - Don't run the tests on alpha, causing build failure.
    - jhsdb isn't built on alpha.
    - Backport the fix for 8214002 (cannot use italic font style if the font
      has embedded bitmap). LP: #1799014.
  * Sync packages with 11.0.2+9-2:
    - Fix file permissions for autopkg tests.

openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-1ubuntu3) disco; urgency=medium

  * Fix file permissions for autopkg tests.

openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-1ubuntu1) disco; urgency=medium

  * Sync packages with 11.0.2+9-1:
    - OpenJDK 11.0.2 release (build 9).

    - Backport the fix for S8212233. Closes: #920020, #919798.
    - debian/buildwatch.sh: use same code from openjdk-8.
    - debian/control.in, debian/control:
      - add fixed build depends for jtreg and xfvb.
      - remove Conflicts: oracle-java11-installer. (LP: #1782630)
    - debian/rules:
      - call the same testsuites scripts used for autopkgtest.
      - removed jtreg and xvfb build dependency logic and moved the bdeps
        into debian/control.in.
      - added gen-autopackage rule to generate autopkgtest scripts from
        templates.
      - copy flight recorder configuration files.
      - fix logging in langtools testing.
      - don't ignore/exclude the release file from the jdk package, it is
        required by jtreg tests and autopkgtests will fail without it.
      - don't run nashorn testsuite.
    - update dep8 tests:
      - debian/tests/control: updated to run openjdk-11 tests.
      - debian/tests/hotspot, debian/tests/jaxp, debian/tests/jdk,
        debian/tests/langtools: use the new jt .sh scripts.
      - debian/tests/jtdiff-autopkgtest.sh: diff build time and autopkgtest
        JTreports to show what changed.
      - debian/tests/jtreg-autopkgtest.in: template to generate the jtreg
        script used by the autopkgtest tests.
      - debian/tests/jtdiff-autopkgtest.sh: used by the scripts to report
        any differences between the autopkgtest and the tests results
        genera...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package openjdk-lts - 11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1~18.10.3

---------------
openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1~18.10.3) cosmic-security; urgency=medium

  * Backport from Disco. LP: #1814133.
  * Revert to GTK2 as default as GTK3 still has padding and component issues,
    apply upstream changeset to fix a few GTK3 components: LP: #1770278.
    - debian/patches/jdk-improve-gtk3-compatibility.patch: upstream fix for
      JDK-8218469, JDK-8218470, JDK-8218472, and JDK-8203627.
    - debian/patches/keep-gtk2-as-default.patch: revert upstream so GTK2 is
      loaded before GTK3 when available.
    - debian/rules, debian/control: remove libgtk-3-dev from build depends
      as it is not required for building; set jre to depend on libgtk2.0-0
      and alternatively to libgtk-3-0.
  * Add breaks clause to prevent openjdk-11-jre-headless from being updated
    when jetty9, netbeans, tomcat8, or visualvm are being hold back in
    unattended-upgrades due to local conffiles changes.

openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-3ubuntu1) disco; urgency=medium

  * Sync packages with 11.0.2+9-3:
    - Fix Zero on sparc64 (Adrian Glaubitz). Closes: #920315.
    - Link zero on alpha with --no-relax (Michael Cree). Addresses: #920161.
    - Don't run the tests on alpha, causing build failure.
    - jhsdb isn't built on alpha.
    - Backport the fix for 8214002 (cannot use italic font style if the font
      has embedded bitmap). LP: #1799014.
  * Sync packages with 11.0.2+9-2:
    - Fix file permissions for autopkg tests.

openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-1ubuntu3) disco; urgency=medium

  * Fix file permissions for autopkg tests.

openjdk-lts (11.0.2+9-1ubuntu1) disco; urgency=medium

  * Sync packages with 11.0.2+9-1:
    - OpenJDK 11.0.2 release (build 9).

    - Backport the fix for S8212233. Closes: #920020, #919798.
    - debian/buildwatch.sh: use same code from openjdk-8.
    - debian/control.in, debian/control:
      - add fixed build depends for jtreg and xfvb.
      - remove Conflicts: oracle-java11-installer. (LP: #1782630)
    - debian/rules:
      - call the same testsuites scripts used for autopkgtest.
      - removed jtreg and xvfb build dependency logic and moved the bdeps
        into debian/control.in.
      - added gen-autopackage rule to generate autopkgtest scripts from
        templates.
      - copy flight recorder configuration files.
      - fix logging in langtools testing.
      - don't ignore/exclude the release file from the jdk package, it is
        required by jtreg tests and autopkgtests will fail without it.
      - don't run nashorn testsuite.
    - update dep8 tests:
      - debian/tests/control: updated to run openjdk-11 tests.
      - debian/tests/hotspot, debian/tests/jaxp, debian/tests/jdk,
        debian/tests/langtools: use the new jt .sh scripts.
      - debian/tests/jtdiff-autopkgtest.sh: diff build time and autopkgtest
        JTreports to show what changed.
      - debian/tests/jtreg-autopkgtest.in: template to generate the jtreg
        script used by the autopkgtest tests.
      - debian/tests/jtdiff-autopkgtest.sh: used by the scripts to report
        any differences between the autopkgtest and the tests results
        generat...