gutsy - inkscape - horizontal aligned font characters are not rendered correctly, they are put on each other instead of next to each other

[Jelle de Jong]

gutsy - inkscape - horizontal aligned font characters are not rendered correctly, they are put on each other instead of next to each other

I tested inkscape on a fresh install of ubuntu and there it works fine. So the problem is on my Xubuntu system. I just don't know how to debug and fix it.

I contacted the inkscape-user mailing list with the following subject:
help - older inkscape artwork doesn't open correct in new version, why? please help
It is not a version problem but I thought it was..

cat /etc/lsb-release (I use Xubuntu)
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=7.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=gutsy
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 7.10"

I ran the below command:
sudo fc-cache --verbose --force

Then I rechecked if the font was installed correctly:
fc-list
>> Courier 10 Pitch:style=Italic

Then I rechecked the suggested packages:
apt-cache show inkscape

.. and I installed them:
sudo aptitude install libxml-xql-perl python python-xml skencil libwmf-bin pstoedit imagemagick perlmagick python-numpy

This had no effect so I removed inkscape from my system and reinstalled it:
sudo aptitude purge inkscape
sudo aptitude install inkscape

However the problem still remains. Does somebody have any idea's how to fix the problem? (whitout drastic things like reinstalling everything)

[C.Kontros (coryisatm)]

Try deleting your .inkscape folder. Looks like something in your settings to me. Its doubtful this is a bug.

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

Kontros, thank you for your feedback
I removed the .inkscape folder, it did not solve the problem.
As described in the first post i did a sudo aptitude purge inkscape this should also have removed all user settings of inkscape.

Other things that might be a issue?

[C.Kontros (coryisatm)]

"sudo aptitude --purge remove inkscape" shouldn't remove your .inkscape folder (at lease I've never seen it). If you did it manually, and still have the issue, I'm not sure. Still, I can't imagine where this would be a Xubuntu bug.

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

Thanks for the feedback. Kontros, you were right sudo aptitude purge inkscape did indeed not remove the .inkscape folder. However I still have have the same problem. I am not pointing my finger at anybody/package, i just need the help solving the problem I would really like to get my inkscape working so I can change my artwork.

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

screenshot of the problem

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

screenshot of the problem

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

I have been debugging my problem by disabeling all changes i made to my OS and step by step testing inkscape. I found my config file that caused inkscape to malfunction.

The config file is form the font system. It seems to be valid but inkscape does not like it! Does somebody see what is wrong with the file or with inkscape?

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

The above file (local.conf.backup) is located at /etc/font/local.conf you can please it there and test it on your system.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We've just released 0.46, which has packages available for Ubuntu Gutsy and Hardy (see http://inkscape.org news from today for notes about the ppa). Can you please test and see if this is still an issue?

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

Is it ok to test it when the hardy release comes out? Or would you really prefer to have some test done during beta?

[Hystrix (hystrix-)]

Jelle, could you please confirm this bug is still present on the lastest Inkscape release?
Thank you very much.

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

Facundo, i will test this bug in 4 a 5 day and report back here. Will be no problem at all.

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

Sorry for the late reply, i just tested this issue again and it's still fully present!
testing:
sudo mv local.conf.backup /etc/fonts/local.conf\

Thanks

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

ps i tested it on version 0.46

[ScislaC (scislac)]

Jelle,

Have you tried moving that local.conf from that location and running Inkscape?

Also, does this only happen on your older files opened in Inkscape or on any file?

Would you be willing to create one of these files get it to mis-render, save it, and attach it to this report?

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

cd ~
wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/10790110/local.conf.backup
sudo cp -v /etc/fonts/local.conf ~/local.conf.backup.orignal
sudo cp -v local.conf.backup /etc/fonts/local.conf
sudo chmod 755 /etc/fonts/local.conf
inkscape --version
Inkscape 0.46 (Sep 9 2008)
inkscape #type some text made screenshot and attached to this report

sudo mv -v ~/local.conf.backup.orignal /etc/fonts/local.conf
sudo chmod 755 /etc/fonts/local.conf

issue does not happen with the default local.conf, but inkscape should work with the changed local.conf, or does somebody see something that is wrong?

Thanks in advance

[Jelle de Jong (jelledejong)]

added the dublicated attachement, this image shows how it should render, inkscape is now using the default /etc/fonts/local.conf

[ScislaC (scislac)]

In trying to find out more about this and searching via google, almost every example I see of /etc/fonts/local.conf is written in XML.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

A pre-release of the upcoming Inkscape 0.47 is now available in Ubuntu
Karmic for testing. Because *so* much stuff has changed compared with
the version you reported your bug against, would you mind re-testing
this new version and see if this bug is now resolved?

Karmic Alpha CD ISO images are available at:

  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/

If you're not testing Karmic yet, there are .debs of this new Inkscape
for Jaunty, Hardy, and Intrepid here:

  https://launchpad.net/~inkscape.testers/+archive/ppa

You might find further bugs when testing this alpha release. If that is
the case, please file a NEW bug report here:

   https://edge.launchpad.net/inkscape/+filebug

Thanks ahead of time for your testing efforts, and enjoy the new Inkscape!

[Alex Valavanis (valavanisalex)]

We'd like to figure out what's causing this bug for you, but we haven't heard back from you in a while. Could you please provide the requested information? Thanks!

[Alex Valavanis (valavanisalex)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you still experience the bug with the latest 0.47 development release of inkscape, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!