Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Updated: mscgen-0.20-2

Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Updated: mscgen-0.20-2

[Thomas Wolff]

Am 19.02.2015 um 00:05 schrieb David Stacey:
> The following package has been updated in the Cygwin distribution:
>
> * mscgen-0.20-2
>
> Mscgen is a small programme that parses Message Sequence Chart
> descriptions and produces PNG, SVG, EPS or server side image maps
> (ismaps) as the output.
>
> This release has been built with libgd3 and three patches from Fedora.
Please rebuild the package with
         configure --with-freetype
so the font selection option -F can be used.
------
Thomas

Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Updated: mscgen-0.20-2

[David Stacey]

On 25/02/2015 07:27, Thomas Wolff wrote:
> Am 19.02.2015 um 00:05 schrieb David Stacey:
>> The following package has been updated in the Cygwin distribution:
>>
>> * mscgen-0.20-2
>>
>> Mscgen is a small programme that parses Message Sequence Chart
>> descriptions and produces PNG, SVG, EPS or server side image maps
>> (ismaps) as the output.
>>
>> This release has been built with libgd3 and three patches from Fedora.
> Please rebuild the package with
>         configure --with-freetype
> so the font selection option -F can be used.

I tried rebuilding with '--with-freetype'. mscgen builds but always 
exits with an error code. This is because gdImageStringFT() always 
returns the string 'Could not set character size'. By default, the code 
is trying to use the 'helvetica' font. I have a goodly selection of font 
packages installed. Any ideas?

Dave.

Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Updated: mscgen-0.20-2

[Thomas Wolff]

On 25.02.2015 21:34, David Stacey wrote:
> On 25/02/2015 07:27, Thomas Wolff wrote:
>> Am 19.02.2015 um 00:05 schrieb David Stacey:
>>> The following package has been updated in the Cygwin distribution:
>>>
>>> * mscgen-0.20-2
>>>
>>> Mscgen is a small programme that parses Message Sequence Chart
>>> descriptions and produces PNG, SVG, EPS or server side image maps
>>> (ismaps) as the output.
>>>
>>> This release has been built with libgd3 and three patches from Fedora.
>> Please rebuild the package with
>>         configure --with-freetype
>> so the font selection option -F can be used.
>
> I tried rebuilding with '--with-freetype'. mscgen builds but always 
> exits with an error code. This is because gdImageStringFT() always 
> returns the string 'Could not set character size'. By default, the 
> code is trying to use the 'helvetica' font. I have a goodly selection 
> of font packages installed. Any ideas?
I had similar problems until I found out how to configure fonts. This is 
very poorly documented.
With /etc/fonts/fonts.conf pointing to ~/.fonts, it is actually 
sufficient to link your font directory to ~/.fonts
and you can address all fonts contained therein (including subfolders) 
by their name like in
mscgen -T png -F "Droid Sans"

(Somehow by removing this font configuration, I cannot reproduce the 
'Could not set...' errors anymore I had yesterday - weird.)
------
Thomas

Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Updated: mscgen-0.20-2

[Thomas Wolff]

Am 26.02.2015 um 12:58 schrieb Thomas Wolff:
> On 25.02.2015 21:34, David Stacey wrote:
>> On 25/02/2015 07:27, Thomas Wolff wrote:
>>> Am 19.02.2015 um 00:05 schrieb David Stacey:
>>>> The following package has been updated in the Cygwin distribution:
>>>>
>>>> * mscgen-0.20-2
>>>>
>>>> Mscgen is a small programme that parses Message Sequence Chart
>>>> descriptions and produces PNG, SVG, EPS or server side image maps
>>>> (ismaps) as the output.
>>>>
>>>> This release has been built with libgd3 and three patches from Fedora.
>>> Please rebuild the package with
>>>         configure --with-freetype
>>> so the font selection option -F can be used.
>>
>> I tried rebuilding with '--with-freetype'. mscgen builds but always 
>> exits with an error code. This is because gdImageStringFT() always 
>> returns the string 'Could not set character size'. By default, the 
>> code is trying to use the 'helvetica' font. I have a goodly selection 
>> of font packages installed. Any ideas?
> I had similar problems until I found out how to configure fonts. This 
> is very poorly documented.
> With /etc/fonts/fonts.conf pointing to ~/.fonts, it is actually 
> sufficient to link your font directory to ~/.fonts
> and you can address all fonts contained therein (including subfolders) 
> by their name like in
> mscgen -T png -F "Droid Sans"
and with
         fc-list ":*" family style
you can list all available fonts with the name and style properties that
work in mscgen -F, where only one of multiple style names shall be used:
         mscgen -T png -F "Comic Sans MS:style=Fett"

A patch to include these hints in the manual page would be good, the 
upstream project does not seem to be active.
------
Thomas

Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Updated: mscgen-0.20-2

[David Stacey]

On 26/02/2015 11:58, Thomas Wolff wrote:
> On 25.02.2015 21:34, David Stacey wrote:
>> On 25/02/2015 07:27, Thomas Wolff wrote:
>>> Am 19.02.2015 um 00:05 schrieb David Stacey:
>>>> The following package has been updated in the Cygwin distribution:
>>>>
>>>> * mscgen-0.20-2
>>>>
>>>> Mscgen is a small programme that parses Message Sequence Chart
>>>> descriptions and produces PNG, SVG, EPS or server side image maps
>>>> (ismaps) as the output.
>>>>
>>>> This release has been built with libgd3 and three patches from Fedora.
>>> Please rebuild the package with
>>>         configure --with-freetype
>>> so the font selection option -F can be used.
>>
>> I tried rebuilding with '--with-freetype'. mscgen builds but always 
>> exits with an error code. This is because gdImageStringFT() always 
>> returns the string 'Could not set character size'. By default, the 
>> code is trying to use the 'helvetica' font. I have a goodly selection 
>> of font packages installed. Any ideas?
> I had similar problems until I found out how to configure fonts. This 
> is very poorly documented.
> With /etc/fonts/fonts.conf pointing to ~/.fonts, it is actually 
> sufficient to link your font directory to ~/.fonts
> and you can address all fonts contained therein (including subfolders) 
> by their name like in
> mscgen -T png -F "Droid Sans"

I'm not sure you need to edit /etc/fonts/fonts.conf. By default, this 
includes /usr/share/fonts, so any font therein should be accessible to 
mscgen. You would only need to do this if you wanted to use fonts in 
non-standard locations - such as those from texlive-collection-fontsextra.

I wonder if this is a problem with font types? 'fc-match helvetica' 
matches a PCF font, and that might explain the error, if libgd3 is 
trying to scale a bitmap font. But a TrueType Font such as 'Luxi Sans' 
works. Should I just patch mscgen so that the default font is a TrueType 
font?

Dave.

Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] Updated: mscgen-0.20-2

[Thomas Wolff]

On 26.02.2015 23:56, David Stacey wrote:
> On 26/02/2015 11:58, Thomas Wolff wrote:
>> On 25.02.2015 21:34, David Stacey wrote:
>>> On 25/02/2015 07:27, Thomas Wolff wrote:
>>>> Am 19.02.2015 um 00:05 schrieb David Stacey:
>>>>> The following package has been updated in the Cygwin distribution:
>>>>>
>>>>> * mscgen-0.20-2
>>>>>
>>>>> Mscgen is a small programme that parses Message Sequence Chart
>>>>> descriptions and produces PNG, SVG, EPS or server side image maps
>>>>> (ismaps) as the output.
>>>>>
>>>>> This release has been built with libgd3 and three patches from 
>>>>> Fedora.
>>>> Please rebuild the package with
>>>>         configure --with-freetype
>>>> so the font selection option -F can be used.
>>>
>>> I tried rebuilding with '--with-freetype'. mscgen builds but always 
>>> exits with an error code. This is because gdImageStringFT() always 
>>> returns the string 'Could not set character size'. By default, the 
>>> code is trying to use the 'helvetica' font. I have a goodly 
>>> selection of font packages installed. Any ideas?
>> I had similar problems until I found out how to configure fonts. This 
>> is very poorly documented.
>> With /etc/fonts/fonts.conf pointing to ~/.fonts, it is actually 
>> sufficient to link your font directory to ~/.fonts
>> and you can address all fonts contained therein (including 
>> subfolders) by their name like in
>> mscgen -T png -F "Droid Sans"
>
> I'm not sure you need to edit /etc/fonts/fonts.conf.
No, because it already lists ~/.fonts which gives a user an easy 
opportunity to make his/her favourite fonts available without digging 
into fontconfig (if only this option were documented...).

> By default, this includes /usr/share/fonts, so any font therein should 
> be accessible to mscgen. You would only need to do this if you wanted 
> to use fonts in non-standard locations - such as those from 
> texlive-collection-fontsextra.
>
> I wonder if this is a problem with font types? 'fc-match helvetica' 
> matches a PCF font, and that might explain the error, if libgd3 is 
> trying to scale a bitmap font. But a TrueType Font such as 'Luxi Sans' 
> works. Should I just patch mscgen so that the default font is a 
> TrueType font?
That might be a good idea.
Be sure to include a dependency to the font package you choose for default,
e.g. font-bh-ttf for Luxi Sans,
or font-bitstream-vera-ttf for Bitstream Vera Sans;
font-cantarell-otf for Cantarell is also a good choice.
(I'd suggest not to choose a default from a texlive font package because 
they are too big for a dependency.)
------
Thomas