gdm login fonts are unreadable, display rectangles not chars

[szipka]

Binary package hint: gdm

After upgrade from 9.04 to 9.10, the gdm login screen chars are unreadable rectangles. I try to complete remove, and install gdm, but nothing changed.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sat Nov 7 14:43:38 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: gdm 2.28.1-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
SourcePackage: gdm
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686

[szipka (szipkaszipka)]

I try to change gdm login theme with this command:

gksudo -u gdm dbus-launch gnome-appearance-properties

and the setting windows fonts are as wrong as the gmd login

[Eduard Drenth (eduarddrenth)]

please consider this a very serious bug, also fonts for some (all?) account desktops are squares.

luckily my main account still works.

[szipka (szipkaszipka)]

As I see in the log, the Pango gui text rendering engine, can't find, or render fonts

console log:
Pango-WARNING **: shaping failure, expect ugly output. shape-engine='BasicEngineFc', font='Bitstream Vera Sans 9.9990234375', text='●'

(gnome-appearance-properties:2959): Pango-WARNING **: failed to create cairo scaled font, expect ugly output. the offending font is 'Bitstream Vera Sans 3.19921875'

(gnome-appearance-properties:2959): Pango-WARNING **: font_font status is: <unknown error status>

(gnome-appearance-properties:2959): Pango-WARNING **: scaled_font status is: out of memory

installed fonts:
dpkg --get-selections | grep font :

fontconfig install
fontconfig-config install
gsfonts install
gsfonts-x11 install
latex-xft-fonts install
libfontconfig1 install
libfontconfig1-dbg install
libfontconfig1-dev install
libfontenc1 install
libxfont1 install
mplayer-fonts install
ttf-freefont install
ttf-unifont install
x-ttcidfont-conf install
xfonts-100dpi install
xfonts-100dpi-transcoded install
xfonts-75dpi install
xfonts-75dpi-transcoded install
xfonts-base install
xfonts-biznet-100dpi install
xfonts-biznet-75dpi install
xfonts-biznet-base install
xfonts-encodings install
xfonts-mathml install
xfonts-scalable install
xfonts-utils install

[Eduard Drenth (eduarddrenth)]

I see similar notifications, corrupt bitstream fonts?? reconfigure font-cache??

my logging:

daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:43:09 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: failed to create cairo scaled font, expect ugly output. the offending font is 'Bitstream Vera Sans 9.9990234375'
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:43:09 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: font_font status is: <unknown error status>
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:43:09 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: scaled_font status is: out of memory
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:43:09 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: failed to create cairo scaled font, expect ugly output. the offending font is 'Bitstream Vera Sans 9.9990234375'
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:43:09 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: font_font status is: <unknown error status>
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:43:09 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: scaled_font status is: out of memory
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:43:09 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: shaping failure, expect ugly output. shape-engine='BasicEngineFc', font='Bitstream Vera Sans 9.9990234375', text='The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.'
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:57:53 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: failed to create cairo scaled font, expect ugly output. the offending font is 'Bitstream Vera Sans Oblique 8.33203125'
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:57:53 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: font_font status is: <unknown error status>
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:57:53 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: scaled_font status is: out of memory
daemon.log.1:Nov 8 11:57:53 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2503]: Pango-WARNING: shaping failure, expect ugly output. shape-engine='BasicEngineFc', font='Bitstream Vera Sans Oblique 8.33203125', text='English (United States)'
popularity-contest:1257584350 1256929719 libpango-perl /usr/lib/perl5/Pango.pm
popularity-contest.0:1257347311 1256929719 libpango-perl /usr/lib/perl5/Pango.pm
syslog.1:Nov 8 12:12:52 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2406]: Pango-WARNING: failed to create cairo scaled font, expect ugly output. the offending font is 'Bitstream Vera Sans 8.33203125'
syslog.1:Nov 8 12:12:52 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2406]: Pango-WARNING: font_font status is: <unknown error status>
syslog.1:Nov 8 12:12:52 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2406]: Pango-WARNING: scaled_font status is: out of memory
syslog.1:Nov 8 12:12:52 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2406]: Pango-WARNING: shaping failure, expect ugly output. shape-engine='BasicEngineFc', font='Bitstream Vera Sans 8.33203125', text='Engels (Verenigde Staten)'
syslog.1:Nov 8 12:12:56 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2406]: Pango-WARNING: failed to create cairo scaled font, expect ugly output. the offending font is 'Bitstream Vera Sans 9.9990234375'
syslog.1:Nov 8 12:12:56 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2406]: Pango-WARNING: font_font status is: <unknown error status>
syslog.1:Nov 8 12:12:56 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2406]: Pango-WARNING: scaled_font status is: out of memory
syslog.1:Nov 8 12:12:56 localhost gdm-simple-greeter[2406]: Pango-WARNING: failed to create cairo scaled font, expe...

[szipka (szipkaszipka)]

Reconfigure font cache, meaning 'fc-cache -rvf' , it's done without succcess

[Eduard Drenth (eduarddrenth)]

The following commands will probably solve your problem.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure libcairo2 libpango1.0-common
sudo fc-cache -fs
sudo update-pangox-aliases

bye,

Eduard

[antonius1 (amnorthe)]

I have a similar problem at present there only boxes everywhere there should be text. Even the terminal window has the boxes. Let me know what I can provide in the way of info to get your help. I tried the last commands at the bottom of this post blindly (because of the boxes) and nothing happened.

Can I use a livecd to fix this problem? If so how?

I have seen the command prompt/terminal window since this problem occurred I don't know how to get back to it back, I think if I were to boot to the terminal from startup that might help. I just don't know how to do that.

Any suggestions would be helpful. I'll be checkin' this post often.

[Eduard Drenth (eduarddrenth)]

I assume you refer to trying these commands blindly:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure libcairo2 libpango1.0-common
sudo fc-cache -fs
sudo update-pangox-aliases

If you first do Ctrl-Alt-F1 you will get an asci console, which you can
probably read. Try the commands from there, you should be prompted for a
password. You may have missed this prompt during your 'blind' attempt.

Success,

Eduard

Op dinsdag 15-12-2009 om 22:04 uur [tijdzone +0000], schreef antonius1:

> I have a similar problem at present there only boxes everywhere there
> should be text. Even the terminal window has the boxes. Let me know what
> I can provide in the way of info to get your help. I tried the last
> commands at the bottom of this post blindly (because of the boxes) and
> nothing happened.
>
> Can I use a livecd to fix this problem? If so how?
>
> I have seen the command prompt/terminal window since this problem
> occurred I don't know how to get back to it back, I think if I were to
> boot to the terminal from startup that might help. I just don't know how
> to do that.
>
> Any suggestions would be helpful. I'll be checkin' this post often.
>

[sebalinux (sebalinux)]

Hello there,
I have upgraded yesterday my Ubuntu from 9.04 to 9.10 and I got the same problem. The gdm screen shows rectangles instead normal characters.
I executed the commands suggested by Eduard but they didn't solve the problem.

Any help is appreciated.
Regards,
Mario

[sebalinux (sebalinux)]

[SOLVED]

Looking better to my log file, I noticed I got the error always related to "Bitstream" font.
I removed Vera*.ttf file from my /usr/share/fonts/windows directory and I ran the commands suggested by Eduard

sudo dpkg-reconfigure libcairo2 libpango1.0-common
sudo fc-cache -fs
sudo update-pangox-aliases

Restart GDM and now it works!! (at least for me)

[szipka (szipkaszipka)]

[SOLVED]
I do the same, remove unnecessary fonts ex.:mplayerfonts, etc ... , and run:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libcairo2 libpango1.0-common
sudo fc-cache -fs
sudo update-pangox-aliases

And everything is working fine. Thanks.

[johnny b (stepore)]

I'm using Lucid Beta1 and I've tried all the above advice and I'm still getting rectangles [][][][][][][][] instead of letters.

Here is th error message I'm getting:
cat /var/log/gdm/\:0-greeter.log

gdm-simple-greeter[19235]: Pango-WARNING: failed to choose a font, expect ugly output. engine-type='PangoRenderFc', script='latin'
gdm-simple-greeter[19235]: Pango-WARNING: failed to choose a font, expect ugly output. engine-type='PangoRenderFc', script='common'
gdm-simple-greeter[19235]: Gtk-WARNING: /build/buildd/gtk+2.0-2.19.7/gtk/gtkwidget.c:5636: widget not within a GtkWindow

Is there anything else I can try? Is this a bug? Anyone picking this up?

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

it seems pango has issues finding a suitable font, what ttf-* package are installed? did you remove or install some compared to the default installation?

[johnny b (stepore)]

ii ttf-dejavu 2.30-2 Metapackage to pull in ttf-dejavu-core and t
ii ttf-dejavu-core 2.30-2 Vera font family derivate with additional ch
ii ttf-dejavu-extra 2.30-2 Vera font family derivate with additional ch
ii ttf-freefont 20090104-5 Freefont Serif, Sans and Mono Truetype fonts
ii ttf-indic-fonts-core 1:0.5.4ubuntu2 Core collection of free Indian language font
ii ttf-kacst 2.0+mry-2 KACST free TrueType Arabic fonts
ii ttf-lao 0.0.20060226-6 TrueType font for Lao language
ii ttf-liberation 1.05.2.20091019-4 Fonts with the same metrics as Times, Arial
ii ttf-mscorefonts-installer 3.2 Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
ii ttf-opensymbol 1:3.2.0-4ubuntu1 OpenSymbol TrueType font
ii ttf-thai-tlwg 1:0.4.13-4 Thai fonts in TrueType format
ii ttf-unfonts-core 1.0.1-7ubuntu1 Un series Korean TrueType fonts
ii ttf-vlgothic 20100126-1 Japanese TrueType font from Vine Linux
ii ttf-wqy-microhei

I can't remember removing any fonts. I added ubuntu-restricted-extras which added mscorefonts, I believe.

Fonts on the desktop are all fine. Is there a way to change the GDM font? Or is this a permission problem somewhere? I actually had this happen to me once before on the desktop. I added some fonts by hand and forgot to change permissions so they were readable by all. But I just checked in /usr/share/fonts and everything looks ok.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

not sure what is going on there seems rather a pango or font issue but I don't know enough about those to tell, maybe opening a bug on bugzilla.gnome.org would give you some reply from the pango hacker

[johnny b (stepore)]

I guess I will report a bug to bugzilla.gnome.org. Just tested installing XDM and KDM and they don't have the same issue, but I don't like the changes the make to my system so I won't be using that as a work around. I guess I'll just disable GDM from automatically starting in the meantime. Back to good ol' startx to get the desktop.

[taj (othertaj)]

I wanted to add windows ttf fonts in /usr/share/fonts/msttcorefonts and then deleted the (what I thought) duplicate entries.

Tried this reinstall GDM, all *pango* packages, ttf packages, removed vera*.ttf.

I tried to change the theme this way (http://maketecheasier.com/change-login-and-boot-screen-in-ubuntu-lucid/2010/05/13):
sudo cp /usr/share/applications/gnome-appearance-properties.desktop /usr/share/gdm/autostart/LoginWindow
sudo unlink /usr/share/gdm/autostart/LoginWindow/gnome-appearance-properties.desktop

but all fonts were visible as squares

Everything else works, except the login window. This should not be so cumbersome.

The System - administration - Login Screen tool is pathetically reduced compared to what I read about this tool in earlier Ubuntu (Gnome) versions.

[taj (othertaj)]

In addition to previous post (#19):
I compressed and extracted all contents from whole /usr/share/fonts/msttcorefonts from a computer with a working login screen. This trick worked ONCE. After that I had the same frustrating login window with squares. I know how to login, because I did so many times before. In a multi-user system this would be a killer. I would not call the importance low, because similar issues with Pango/GDM exist for a long time already.
NB, I run Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. The issue that you reported is one that should be reproducible with the live environment of the Desktop CD of the development release - Oneiric Ocelot. It would help us greatly if you could test with it so we can work on getting it fixed in the next release of Ubuntu. You can find out more about the development release at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ . Thanks again and we appreciate your help.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gdm (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]