Fonts going funky in GTK apps

[Mary Ellen Foster]

I'm using KDE on (soon-to-be)F11, and I've been noticing that
occasionally, the fonts go funky in Firefox and/or OpenOffice.Org.
It's hard to describe, but basically some characters get replaced by
screwed-up-looking box things. Generally, restarting the app in
question works.

I've attached a couple of recent screenshots showing this in action.
Is it just me? What component should I even file against?

MEF

-- 
Mary Ellen Foster  --  http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/mef/
ICCS, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

[Chuck Anderson]

On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 03:38:36PM +0100, Mary Ellen Foster wrote:
>  I'm using KDE on (soon-to-be)F11, and I've been noticing
> that
>  occasionally, the fonts go funky in Firefox and/or OpenOffice.Org.
>  It's hard to describe, but basically some characters get replaced by
>  screwed-up-looking box things. Generally, restarting the app in
>  question works.
>  
>  I've attached a couple of recent screenshots showing this in action.
>  Is it just me? What component should I even file against? 
Intel graphics?

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=495323

or possibly related:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=498572

[Mary Ellen Foster]

2009/5/4 Chuck Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu&gt;:
>  On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 03:38:36PM +0100, Mary Ellen Foster wrote:
> > I'm using KDE on (soon-to-be)F11, and I've been noticing that
> > occasionally, the fonts go funky in Firefox and/or OpenOffice.Org.
> > It's hard to describe, but basically some characters get replaced by
> > screwed-up-looking box things. Generally, restarting the app in
> > question works.
>
>  Intel graphics?
>
>  https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=495323 
Yes, I have Intel graphics, and that looks like exactly my problem -- thanks!

MEF

-- 
Mary Ellen Foster  --  http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/mef/
ICCS, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.

[Adam Jackson]

On Mon, 2009-05-04 at 15:48 +0100, Mary Ellen Foster wrote:
>  2009/5/4 Chuck Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu&gt;:
>  > On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 03:38:36PM +0100, Mary Ellen Foster wrote:
>  >> I'm using KDE on (soon-to-be)F11, and I've been noticing that
>  >> occasionally, the fonts go funky in Firefox and/or OpenOffice.Org.
>  >> It's hard to describe, but basically some characters get replaced by
>  >> screwed-up-looking box things. Generally, restarting the app in
>  >> question works.
>  >
>  > Intel graphics?
>  >
>  > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=495323
>  
>  Yes, I have Intel graphics, and that looks like exactly my problem -- thanks! 
I really, really wish that I had any reliable reproducer for this
problem.  None of my Intel machines seem to trigger it.

If anyone can come up with, say, a specific web page that introduces
this corruption every time, I'd be _thrilled_.

- ajax

[Martin Sourada]

On Mon, 2009-05-04 at 11:29 -0400, Adam Jackson wrote:
>  I really, really wish that I had any reliable reproducer for this
>  problem.  None of my Intel machines seem to trigger it.
>  
>  If anyone can come up with, say, a specific web page that introduces
>  this corruption every time, I'd be _thrilled_.
>  
>  - ajax
>  --  
That would not be easy I think... I myself have seen this only *once*,
in midori and, strange enough, only some of the opened webpages were
affected and reload did not fix/break them (and even stranger in some of
them it was letter 'e' and in others letter 'a' that was screwed, if I
recall correctly). Now (after a few restarts and totally forgetting
about it), everything looks just how it should... I thought at that time
it was some weird font issue. I am also on Intel and on Gnome, using
metacity with compositing enabled (it's more reliable for me than compiz
and I just want real transparency support anyway). Definitely not always
reproducible for me...

Martin

[Kevin Fenzi]

On Mon, 04 May 2009 11:29:37 -0400
Adam Jackson <ajax(a)redhat.com&gt; wrote:

>  On Mon, 2009-05-04 at 15:48 +0100, Mary Ellen Foster wrote:
>  > 2009/5/4 Chuck Anderson <cra(a)wpi.edu&gt;:
>  > > On Mon, May 04, 2009 at 03:38:36PM +0100, Mary Ellen Foster wrote:
>  > >> I'm using KDE on (soon-to-be)F11, and I've been noticing that
>  > >> occasionally, the fonts go funky in Firefox and/or
>  > >> OpenOffice.Org. It's hard to describe, but basically some
>  > >> characters get replaced by screwed-up-looking box things.
>  > >> Generally, restarting the app in question works.
>  > >
>  > > Intel graphics?
>  > >
>  > > https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=495323
>  > 
>  > Yes, I have Intel graphics, and that looks like exactly my problem
>  > -- thanks!
>  
>  I really, really wish that I had any reliable reproducer for this
>  problem.  None of my Intel machines seem to trigger it.
>  
>  If anyone can come up with, say, a specific web page that introduces
>  this corruption every time, I'd be _thrilled_. 
I can't say for sure if this is the case, but I have seen it much more
often after I have used flash. (I typically keep flash disabled in
midori and only enable it when I specifically want it). 

Just tried loading a yourtube video here and I'm not getting the
corruption yet, so it's clearly not a 100% thing. ;( 

>  - ajax 
kevin

[Cry]

Mary Ellen Foster <mefoster <at> gmail.com> writes:
 
>  I'm using KDE on (soon-to-be)F11, and I've been noticing
> that
>  occasionally, the fonts go funky in Firefox and/or OpenOffice.Org.
>  It's hard to describe, but basically some characters get replaced by
>  screwed-up-looking box things. Generally, restarting the app in
>  question works.
>  
>  I've attached a couple of recent screenshots showing this in action.
>  Is it just me? What component should I even file against? 
There is a bug filed against gtk2, but now I really think that it is UXA.  I
tried downgrading gtk2 back to Apr 23 version but no change.  Switched xorg.conf
to EXA and problem is gone.

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=498848

 13 
 14 Section "Device"
 15         Identifier  "intel_device"
 16         Driver      "intel"
 17         Option "Monitor-VGA"    "2407WFP-right"
 18         Option "Monitor-TMDS-1" "2407WFP-left"
 19         Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
 20 EndSection
 21 

Added line 19 above to xorg.conf.

Cry.

[Gireesh Sreekantan]

On my Compaq 3245 laptop[1],

1. It has happened multiple times with NVIDIA 6150 graphics -
reproducible if I work on KDE continuously for more than 3 to 4 hours.
2. It does happen to me even with only KDE Apps running - but I could
have opened Firefox/OO hours before it happened. I am certain no GTK
app was running when it happened though.
3. It does *not* occur if I disable KDE's desktop effects. I have run
the laptop for days without the blotting, for lack of a better word
;-)
4. Logout and Relogin fixed it temporarily but it came back as long as
Desktop effects were enabled.

>  If anyone can come up with, say, a specific web page that introduces
>  this corruption every time, I'd be _thrilled_. 
Atleast for me, it is unpredictable and at times takes even 4 to 5
hours before blotting starts.


[1]  http://www.smolts.org/show?uuid=pub_89861767-6567-4528-bfb5-3d5a02538aeb

-- 
Gireesh