[Fontconfig] Some things should not be configured through files like fonts.conf

[Raimund Steger]

Wolfgang Draxinger wrote:
> On Sun, 06 Apr 2014 23:04:40 +0200
> Raimund Steger <rs at mytum.de> wrote:
>
>> (1) script something that adjusts fonts.conf dynamically depending on
>> your needs (changes are picked up automatically after the rescan
>> delay). Maybe someday some distribution or clever g-s-d config comes
>> up with this too, but until then, I suppose you'd have to write it
>> yourself...
>
> Doesn't work, since /home is on a network share. Any change there would
> be assimilated by every system currently using it, i.e. every
> fontconfig enabled active user session due to the active poll and
> dynamic configuration.

no, every session can have its own config, check $FONTCONFIG_FILE

>
>> (2) refrain from configuring AA with fontconfig and rely on XSETTINGS
>
> Unfortunately this doesn't work reliably. Also things like subpixel

what do you mean with "reliable"? In my experience it works as it 
should, i.e. is tied to the display. Whether that solves all problems 
you have is of course a different matter, but your comment about XRDB in 
your mail suggested that you'd already view a display-based approach as 
an improvement.

I've wondered myself about XSETTINGS vs. XRDB a couple of times and the 
spec didn't convince me either, but (1) it's there, (2) it works, (3) 
it's not really a fontconfig matter.

fontconfig is really agnostic of any display technology. If it was 
anybody's job to update AA settings according to the display hardware, 
it would be g-s-d or a similar session daemon. NB. g-s-d has a plugin 
architecture, so if you use it, just add one that does what you want. 
Maybe it'll even become popular!

I personally wouldn't embrace fontconfig being linked against libX11, 
D-Bus etc. A config file/environment var based approach is fine with me, 
and it's really pretty flexible.

Raimund

-- 
Worringer Str 31 Duesseldorf 40211 DE  home: <rs at mytum.de>
+49-179-2981632 icq 16845346           work: <rs at interface-ag.de>