bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[hmk]

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Package: guix

After installing and running libreoffice with
$ guix package -i libreoffice@5.3.7.2
$ soffice
no fonts show up (see attached screenshot).

Following the instructions provided by
https://www.gnu.org/software/guix/manual/html_node/Application-Setup.html#Application-Setup
I did
$ guix package -i fontconfig font-gnu-freefont-ttf
$ fc-cache -f
and this solves the issue.

Is this a missing dependency? Even though instructions to fix this
problem are given, from an end-user's perspective it would be nicer 
perhaps to
have it automated?

(It's the first time I am posting to debbugs.gnu.org -- apologies if
something is not done in the proper way or form.)

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bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Pierre Neidhardt]

I can reproduce this on guix ce226e9d8d52d2530f057f2000d36c0d55380ade.

But libreoffice is not the only victim: it seems that most applications
fail to see the fonts installed in the user profile (on Guix System).
Emacs is one example.

Running

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
fc-cache -fv
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

fixes the issue.

Should we run this command in a profile hook?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Pierre Neidhardt]

I can reproduce this on guix ce226e9d8d52d2530f057f2000d36c0d55380ade.

But libreoffice is not the only victim: it seems that most applications
fail to see the fonts installed in the user profile (on Guix System).
Emacs is one example.

Running

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
fc-cache -fv
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

fixes the issue.

Should we run this command in a profile hook?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Nicolò Balzarotti]

Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> writes:

Hi, I wanted to add that the opposite is also true: removing a font
without running fc-cache always makes my emacs die on start, so I agree
that running the command automatically makes sense.

Are there any unwanted side-effects?

Thanks, Nicolò

> I can reproduce this on guix ce226e9d8d52d2530f057f2000d36c0d55380ade.
>
> But libreoffice is not the only victim: it seems that most applications
> fail to see the fonts installed in the user profile (on Guix System).
> Emacs is one example.
>
> Running
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> fc-cache -fv
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> fixes the issue.
>
> Should we run this command in a profile hook?
>
> -- 
> Pierre Neidhardt
> https://ambrevar.xyz/

Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Nicolò Balzarotti]

Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> writes:

Hi, I wanted to add that the opposite is also true: removing a font
without running fc-cache always makes my emacs die on start, so I agree
that running the command automatically makes sense.

Are there any unwanted side-effects?

Thanks, Nicolò

> I can reproduce this on guix ce226e9d8d52d2530f057f2000d36c0d55380ade.
>
> But libreoffice is not the only victim: it seems that most applications
> fail to see the fonts installed in the user profile (on Guix System).
> Emacs is one example.
>
> Running
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> fc-cache -fv
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
> fixes the issue.
>
> Should we run this command in a profile hook?
>
> -- 
> Pierre Neidhardt
> https://ambrevar.xyz/

bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[John Soo]

Hi there,

I think this is the same issue as 26877.

Can font information be compiled into a fonts.conf?

- John

Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[John Soo]

Hi there,

I think this is the same issue as 26877.

Can font information be compiled into a fonts.conf?

- John

bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> skribis:

> Running
>
> fc-cache -fv
>
> fixes the issue.
>
> Should we run this command in a profile hook?

Profile hooks are normal derivations; as such, they don’t have access to
anything but their dependencies and their output(s).

There’s currently no infrastructure to run arbitrary code upon package
installation (which I think is a feature more than a bug :-)).  We could
make an exception, but it’s kinda ugly.

I wonder if, instead, we could have Fontconfig realize that the cache is
stale somehow.

Alternately, we could generate the cache in a profile hook and have
Fontconfig use that cache instead of the one in ~/.cache.  However,
Fontconfig would need to be able to:

  1. Be told which cache to use, not just the one from ~/.guix-profile,
     so that it works equally well with other profiles.

  2. Merge several caches, so it can also account for fonts installed in
     /run/current-system/profile.

We discussed all this several times in the past but I don’t think it
went further.

Ludo’.

Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi,

Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> skribis:

> Running
>
> fc-cache -fv
>
> fixes the issue.
>
> Should we run this command in a profile hook?

Profile hooks are normal derivations; as such, they don’t have access to
anything but their dependencies and their output(s).

There’s currently no infrastructure to run arbitrary code upon package
installation (which I think is a feature more than a bug :-)).  We could
make an exception, but it’s kinda ugly.

I wonder if, instead, we could have Fontconfig realize that the cache is
stale somehow.

Alternately, we could generate the cache in a profile hook and have
Fontconfig use that cache instead of the one in ~/.cache.  However,
Fontconfig would need to be able to:

  1. Be told which cache to use, not just the one from ~/.guix-profile,
     so that it works equally well with other profiles.

  2. Merge several caches, so it can also account for fonts installed in
     /run/current-system/profile.

We discussed all this several times in the past but I don’t think it
went further.

Ludo’.

bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Nicolò,

Nicolò Balzarotti <anothersms@gmail.com> skribis:

> Hi, I wanted to add that the opposite is also true: removing a font
> without running fc-cache always makes my emacs die on start, so I agree
> that running the command automatically makes sense.

Actually, if you can capture a stack trace of Emacs, that may tell us
what part of Fontconfig to look at if we want to change it to gracefully
handle stale cache entries.

Ludo’.

Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Nicolò,

Nicolò Balzarotti <anothersms@gmail.com> skribis:

> Hi, I wanted to add that the opposite is also true: removing a font
> without running fc-cache always makes my emacs die on start, so I agree
> that running the command automatically makes sense.

Actually, if you can capture a stack trace of Emacs, that may tell us
what part of Fontconfig to look at if we want to change it to gracefully
handle stale cache entries.

Ludo’.

bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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OK, thanks for the details.

So the solution is the same as the one we discussed
previously about installing fonts to the non-default profile.
Makes sense.

I might give it a shot when I find the time ;)

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

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Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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OK, thanks for the details.

So the solution is the same as the one we discussed
previously about installing fonts to the non-default profile.
Makes sense.

I might give it a shot when I find the time ;)

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt
https://ambrevar.xyz/

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Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hi Ludovic,

Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> writes:

> Hi,
>
> Pierre Neidhardt <mail@ambrevar.xyz> skribis:
>
>> Running
>>
>> fc-cache -fv
>>
>> fixes the issue.
>>
>> Should we run this command in a profile hook?
>
> Profile hooks are normal derivations; as such, they don’t have access to
> anything but their dependencies and their output(s).
>
> There’s currently no infrastructure to run arbitrary code upon package
> installation (which I think is a feature more than a bug :-)).  We could
> make an exception, but it’s kinda ugly.
>
> I wonder if, instead, we could have Fontconfig realize that the cache is
> stale somehow.
>
> Alternately, we could generate the cache in a profile hook and have
> Fontconfig use that cache instead of the one in ~/.cache.  However,
> Fontconfig would need to be able to:
>
>   1. Be told which cache to use, not just the one from ~/.guix-profile,
>      so that it works equally well with other profiles.

That's possible since adding support to XDG_DATA_DIRS in fontconfig
itself (see c738a054cac00441a4f697f0b40705d0b3f4a7a7, "gnu: fontconfig:
Add a search path for XDG_DATA_DIRS.").

>   2. Merge several caches, so it can also account for fonts installed in
>      /run/current-system/profile.

There was also something contributed that should have improved/fix cache
invalidity in 6f12880a76a6c91058718d15845f8b9d9b529a5a ("gnu:
fontconfig: Use (locally) deterministic caching").

I haven't seen this problem in a long while, so I'm inclined to think
it's been resolved.

-- 
Thanks,
Maxim

Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Felix Lechner via Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution.]

Hi,

On Mon, Feb 20, 2023 at 8:06 AM Maxim Cournoyer
<maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I haven't seen this problem in a long while, so I'm inclined to think
> it's been resolved.

I think I had that issue with a fresh install within the last year and
based on advice in IRC (thanks nckx!) ran 'fc-cache -fv'.

For what it's worth, I believe Debian's packaging tools (in this case,
Debhelper) detect changes to the font directories and add a font
update hook to the package installation scripts. Since we do not have
such scripts—and I am with Ludo' that it's probably a feature worth
preserving—maybe our package manager could run the hook?

Kind regards
Felix Lechner

Re: bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hi Felix,

Felix Lechner <felix.lechner@lease-up.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> On Mon, Feb 20, 2023 at 8:06 AM Maxim Cournoyer
> <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I haven't seen this problem in a long while, so I'm inclined to think
>> it's been resolved.
>
> I think I had that issue with a fresh install within the last year and
> based on advice in IRC (thanks nckx!) ran 'fc-cache -fv'.

OK, thanks for the information; let's leave this bug open then.

> For what it's worth, I believe Debian's packaging tools (in this case,
> Debhelper) detect changes to the font directories and add a font
> update hook to the package installation scripts. Since we do not have
> such scripts—and I am with Ludo' that it's probably a feature worth
> preserving—maybe our package manager could run the hook?

Another idea: modify fontconfig so that it never creates or uses cache.
Revisit later if it causes performance problems (I doubt it would).

-- 
Thanks,
Maxim

bug#30435: libreoffice: Fonts don't show up after install

[Maxim Cournoyer]

Hello,

Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Felix,
>
> Felix Lechner <felix.lechner@lease-up.com> writes:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 20, 2023 at 8:06 AM Maxim Cournoyer
>> <maxim.cournoyer@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I haven't seen this problem in a long while, so I'm inclined to think
>>> it's been resolved.
>>
>> I think I had that issue with a fresh install within the last year and
>> based on advice in IRC (thanks nckx!) ran 'fc-cache -fv'.

On a second thought, let's close this issue and reopen a new one if it
rears its ugly head again :-).

-- 
Thanks,
Maxim