Comment 1 for bug 264254

The reason is this:

    cairo (1.7.4-0ubuntu1) intrepid; urgency=low

      * New upstream version:
    [...]
        - LCD subpixel filtering using FreeType
    [...]
      * debian/patches/00list: Remove lcd-filter patch now applied upstream

I just found out that when I add this to my .fonts.conf, then the newer LCD filter mode is used again:

    <edit mode="assign" name="lcdfilter">
      <const>lcddefault</const>
    </edit>

The other possible values are lcdlight and lcdlegacy. I guess that lcdlegacy is now used as default, contrary to what the attribute names suggest.