https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/EnhancePersianFontSupport
This document represents a proposed Change. As part of the Changes process, proposals are publicly announced in order to receive community feedback. This proposal will only be implemented if approved by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee.
= Enhance Persian Font Support =
{{Change_Proposal_Banner}}
== Summary == This change aims to provide a consistent experience for those who use Fedora in Persian or write or read Persian text in Fedora.
== Owner == * Name: [[User:hedayat| Hedayat Vatankhah]] * Email: hedayat@fedoraproject.org
== Detailed Description == Traditionally, DejaVu fonts were used for Persian text in Fedora consistently; and considering the lack of suitable free Persian fonts, it was an acceptable choice (although some considered it to not be beautiful enough).
With changes in Fedora fonts in recent releases (mainly, addition of Droid & Noto fonts to default installation), Fedora provides an inconsistent experience for users who use Persian text and makes a bad impression on users. There are at least three different fonts used in a default Fedora Workstation for Sans Persian text in different situations, one of which is actually considered a cursive font for Persian.
Additionally, now we have a number of free Persian fonts, which can be used to present a more beautiful experience for Persian text. This change aims to: # Provide a consistent default Sans font for Persian in Fedora, used in all appropriate places instead of multiple different fonts. Right now, the aim is to use Vazirmatn font as the default Persian font. # Add new free Persian fonts to Fedora to provide a better experience for users who need them.
== Benefit to Fedora == Enhances the experience of users of Persian text in Fedora, by providing a beautiful font to be used by default consistently and to provide modern free Persian fonts for users.
== Scope == * Proposal owners: # Package new free Persian fonts for Fedora # Make the selected font the default one for Persian # Try to find out why Firefox/Thunderbird doesn't follow system default font (optional) # Update Fedora `comps.xml` to install the default font for Persian # Provide PR for langpacks/lorax if needed for the new default Persian font
# Might need some fixes in Firefox/Thunderbird to follow system default font when it is selected # Might need changes in langpacks/lorax
* Release engineering: * Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change) * Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change) * Alignment with Objectives:
== Upgrade/compatibility impact == Default Persian font will be changed automatically on upgrades.
== How To Test ==
== User Experience == Users who read/write Persian text in Fedora are presented with a new more beautiful font used by default consistently in all applications.
== Dependencies == No hard dependencies, but an optional change might be needed in some packages (Firefox/Thunderbird) to provide a more consistent experience.
== Contingency Plan == * Contingency mechanism: We won't ship new fonts and we won't change the default font. * Contingency deadline: N/A (not a System Wide Change) * Blocks release? N/A (not a System Wide Change)
== Documentation == More detailed background on the topic is provided in this [https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/fonts@lists.fedoraproject.org/... email].
On Mon, May 23 2022 at 11:54:30 AM -0400, Ben Cotton bcotton@redhat.com wrote:
Default Persian font will be changed automatically on upgrades.
Good, but how will you achieve this? We finally noticed that noto fonts don't get installed when upgrading F35 -> F36 and should avoid making the same mistake again. ...
On ۱۴۰۱/۳/۲ ۹:۰۲ بعدازظهر, Michael Catanzaro wrote:
On Mon, May 23 2022 at 11:54:30 AM -0400, Ben Cotton bcotton@redhat.com wrote:
Default Persian font will be changed automatically on upgrades.
Good, but how will you achieve this? We finally noticed that noto fonts don't get installed when upgrading F35 -> F36 and should avoid making the same mistake again. ...
Good point. I should confess that I'm unaware of what happened for Noto fonts. And I thought updating langpacks-core-font-fa package dependency should suffice for upgrades to automatically install the new font; assuming that the user already has it. But now you made me doubt that assumption.
Thanks,
Hedayat
I am also curious how the Vazirmatn font compares with Noto Naskh Arabic, and also the old Dejavu coverage?
On ۱۴۰۱/۳/۴ ۳:۰۷ بعدازظهر, Jens-Ulrik Petersen wrote:
I am also curious how the Vazirmatn font compares with Noto Naskh Arabic, and also the old Dejavu coverage?
If you are referring to the coverage of unicode code points, I've no idea. Although the author claims to support 9 languages, all of which are based on Arabic script AFAIK; but I'm not aware of the details.
For a more detailed comparison of these fonts, you might see this email[1] in which I've talked about other options for the default Persian font like Noto Sans Arabic & Noto Naskh fonts.
Regards,
Hedayat
[1] https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/fonts@lists.fedoraproject.org/...
On Mon, May 23, 2022 at 11:54:30AM -0400, Ben Cotton wrote:
== Scope ==
- Proposal owners:
# Package new free Persian fonts for Fedora # Make the selected font the default one for Persian # Try to find out why Firefox/Thunderbird doesn't follow system default font (optional) # Update Fedora `comps.xml` to install the default font for Persian # Provide PR for langpacks/lorax if needed for the new default Persian font
# Might need some fixes in Firefox/Thunderbird to follow system default font when it is selected # Might need changes in langpacks/lorax
Hi,
the Scope can be split into parts: 1. packaging the font, 2. making it the default, 3. fixing integration issues, like with Firefox.
I'd encourage you to do 1. as soon as possible. Until that's done, it's even hard to evaluate if we're ready for 2. And if it's packaged, and not ready for being the default, some users might still find it useful and enable it manually.
Zbyszek
On ۱۴۰۱/۳/۵ ۵:۲۹ بعدازظهر, Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek wrote:
Hi, the Scope can be split into parts: 1. packaging the font, 2. making it the default, 3. fixing integration issues, like with Firefox.
I'd encourage you to do 1. as soon as possible. Until that's done, it's even hard to evaluate if we're ready for 2. And if it's packaged, and not ready for being the default, some users might still find it useful and enable it manually.
Hi,
Thanks for the feedback. Actually, 1 is already underway [1]. I've added a link to its review request in the change page to make it more clear. And if installed, it'll register itself as the default font for Persian. What remains for 2 is to make it installed by default. And about 3, yeah it is already marked as optional; and to be honest I don't have high hopes for it to be fixed; as it seems to be a bug in Firefox/Thunderbird and I've seen a number of similar reports (although not exactly similar to one reported by me) without much attention.
Thanks,
Hedayat
[1] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2081539
Zbyszek
-
Ben Cotton -
Hedayat Vatankhah -
Jens-Ulrik Petersen -
Michael Catanzaro -
Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek