Ubuntu
emacs23 package

  1. Bug #697412
  2. Comment #0

Comment 0 for bug 697412

Revision history for this message
Barry Warsaw (barry) wrote : Emacs won't start, complaining about font

Binary package hint: emacs23

I've installed the "Ubuntu Beta Mono 17" font from https://launchpad.net/~canonical-ux/+archive/walled-garden (currently a private PPA). If you set your default system fixed width font to this (via Preferences -> Appearance -> Fonts) and set the font size to 11, then start emacs from the command line, you get the following early error message on the console and Emacs does not start:

Font `Ubuntu Beta Mono 17 11' is not defined

Now starting emacs with "emacs --font monospace" will get the first frame up, but then C-x 5 2 fails with the same error message in the minibuffer. The font size doesn't matter, since if you use the default 12 point font, the '11' is replaced by '12' in the error message above. Note that you can still use the font if you reset your system font to monospace and then set Ubuntu Beta Mono 17 in your .emacs or via customize on the default face.

After confirmation by colleagues, we think it's a font parsing bug in Emacs. Using a system font of 'courier 10 pitch' does not cause the problem, nor does using a font with a number at the end but with no space between it and the preceding word. It appears as though ending the font name in "[space][number]" causes the problem.