That odd new character just showed up after a normal daily org-mode 'git 
pull'.

The Symbola.ttf font worked fine.
I used this page for for instructions.
https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-and-manage-fonts-on-linux

After copying the font to ~/.local/share/font/ and running the 'fc-cache 
-vf' command
... The font appears after emacs + org-mode are restarted.
(I did not need to run set-fontset-font.)

Somewhere in there I also pulled fresh org-mode and emacs code and 
rebuilt; am not sure if that was needed.

Here is how that screen now appears:



  * Would using the ASCII '<' character be a better solution?
  * Is anyone else seeing this issue and missing font?
  * What would allow that Symbola font to be available?
  * Is that Symbola font, or equivalent, now a true dependency? Or is
    there something more common which I should be using? (Perhaps I have
    missed a normal configuration step?)

Thank you!


On 7/12/22 12:58, Juan Manuel Macías wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Daniel Ortmann writes:
>
>> Any clues where this particular symbol resides?  A hint about the
>> package name would wonderful.  :-)
> To be able to display "unusual" symbols in Emacs, I usually use the
> symbola font:
>
> You can download it here:
>
> https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fontlibrary.org/en/font/symbola__;!!ACWV5N9M2RV99hQ!LCWutd87ZOlNkSgFTjjR0zYsqhv6xP6ZBep63lyK7tIveH2MWiQ331YB8rJexEVU6gjcjT99EdYoJvFPvxABlZvT$  
>
> And then:
>
> (set-fontset-font t 'symbol (font-spec :family "Symbola"))
>
> But I think that what is interesting here is to know how that character
> has arrived. Could it be related to some new package you have installed
> lately?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Juan Manuel