Font subfamilies merged
Submitted by Sam Liddicott
Assigned to fon..@..op.org
Description
I have the full set of adobe helvetica including Helvetica Inserat and Helvetica Neue.
fontconfig seems to be merging these into one happy family called "Helvetica" regardless of variant (Neue or Inserat) or style.
As I'm using fontconfig 2.4.2 on Ubuntu I have also reported this on Launchpad: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fontconfig/+bug/24764 where there seems to be a similar problem that was bug #4924 here, apparently fixed. (So maybe it's a different problem).
fc-list | grep -i helvetica seems to be missing out most of the Inserat / Neue / fractions variants and just using the name "Helvetica"
Helvetica:style=Fractions Bold Helvetica:style=Ultra Compressed Helvetica:style=.Black Oblique Helvetica:style=Rounded Bold Condensed Oblique Helvetica:style=Narrow Bold Helvetica:style=Black Helvetica:style=Narrow Bold Italic Helvetica:style=Condensed Light Helvetica:style=Oblique Helvetica:style=Fractions Helvetica:style=Condensed Medium Helvetica:style=Narrow Helvetica:style=Compressed Helvetica:style=Rounded Black Helvetica:style=Rounded Bold Condensed Helvetica:style=Condensed Bold Oblique Helvetica:style=Light Helvetica Inserat:style=Roman Helvetica:style=Light Oblique Helvetica:style=Narrow Italic Helvetica:style=Rounded Black Oblique Helvetica:style=Bold Helvetica:style=Condensed Bold Helvetica Neue:style=Regular Helvetica:style=Regular Helvetica:style=Condensed Black Oblique Helvetica:style=Condensed Light Oblique Helvetica:style=Condensed Oblique Helvetica:style=Condensed Black Helvetica:style=Bold Oblique Helvetica:style=Extra Compressed Helvetica:style=Rounded Bold Oblique Helvetica:style=Rounded Bold
I also notice that Gnome Font Viewer gets it wrong.
HLB__*.PFB is called "Helvetica Neue, Regular" by Gnome Font Viewer which is wrong, the B after HL in HLB means BOLD. Kfontview correctly calls it "Helvetica Neue, Bold" fontforge also knows that the font is bold. firefox chooses the wrong Helvetica openoffice can't find any Helvetica at all
Note that fc-list did not show any bold versions of Helvetica Neue
FC_DEBUG=384 fc-cache -f
shows: Scanning file /usr/share/fonts/type1/dbam/hlb_____.pfb... using FreeType family "Helvetica Neue" using FreeType style "Regular" Type1 weight Bold maps to 200 Style Regular maps to width -1 Style Regular maps to slant -1 Style Regular maps to decorative 0 ...
So it knows after a fashion that this is Bold, but still calls it style "Regular"
and then: Scanning file /usr/share/fonts/type1/dbam/hlbc____.pfb... using FreeType family "Helvetica Neue" using FreeType style "Regular" Type1 weight Bold maps to 200 Style Regular maps to width -1 Style Regular maps to slant -1 Style Regular maps to decorative 0
the hlbc_*.pfb is bold condensed, but even kfontview did not "know" this.
Inkscape shows the fonts available as:
Hevetica: Regular, Black, Compressed, Condensed Black, Condensed Light, Extra Compressed, Fractions, Light, Narrow, Rounded Black, Ultra Compressed, Condensed Medium, .Black Oblique, Condensed Black Oblique, Condensed Oblique, Light Oblique, Narrow Italic, Oblique, Rounded Black Oblique, Bold, Condensed Bold, Fractions Bold, Narrow Bold, Rounded Bold, Rounded Bold Condensed, Bold Oblique, Condensed Bold Oblique, Bold Oblique, Narrow Bold Italic, Rounded Bold Condensed Oblique, Rounded Bold Italic
(and shows the wrong face, e.g. i see a fractions face when Regular is selected)
Helvetica Inserat: Roman, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic
Helvetica Neue: Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular, Regular
Which clearly isn't right.
Version: 2.4