I want to clarify the --enable-xft issues. First, most users of Tk_RedrawChars and friends won't have a problem. However there are some users that have found a problem, and the core team won't fix it, so your only option is to --disable-xft. Affected extensions include BLT (when rotating text), and others. Now I shall attempt to explain the issue. Originally the Xft patch was written by Keith Packard. Joe English graciously cleaned it up, and got it into a state where it could be applied. The basic problem is that everytime Tk_DrawChars is called, it's assumed that the depth of the drawable is > 1 when using Xft. Xft provides XftDrawCreateBitmap(); for creating a data structure suitable for the 1-bit deep pixmaps/drawables. Tk with --enable-xft doesn't use this. Unfortunately because the depth of the Drawable isn't passed to Tk_DrawChars the only proper way to get the depth is to call something like XGetGeometry(). Jeff Hobbs and Joe English have deemed the XGetGeometry too costly with remote X servers. So, an X error occurs when Tk/Xft tries to draw text. It's too late to fix the API, and with Hobbs and English being resistant we can't fix this properly at the moment. So, some of you may need to --disable-xft, or patch Tk manually. I hope this clears up any uncertainty. George

Torsten Berg wrote: > >> First, most users of Tk_RedrawChars and friends won't have a problem. >> However there are some users that have found a problem, and the core >> team won't fix it, so your only option is to --disable-xft. Affected >> extensions include BLT (when rotating text), and others. > > Hm, do I understand that correctly? The new Tcl version will be > compiled with --enable-xft > by default and this will prevent BLT from running? But if I want anti- > aliasing in Tk I need xft (on X11 systems)? So I cannot get smooth > fonts AND BLT at the same time? > > Is that correct? It will prevent some parts of BLT from working, and result in a fatal X error. If you want antialiasing with X11 you currently need Xft if you use Tk's drawing routines. > > Slowly, BLT starts stinking. It is such a brilliant extension for > graphs (I only use it for graphs) but it seems to induce many > restrictions that prevent me from upgrading and enhancing my apps. The new Tk 8.5 has --enable-xft by default. Hopefully a workaround can be implemented in BLT and others affected by this. It's unfortunate that correctness vs. performance is an issue. George

George Peter Staplin wrote: > I want to clarify the --enable-xft issues. > > First, most users of Tk_RedrawChars and friends won't have a problem. > However there are some users that have found a problem, and the core > team won't fix it, so your only option is to --disable-xft. Another solution is to pass a full-depth Pixmap to Tk_DrawChars() instead of a Bitmap. Extensions will generally want to do this anyway so that compositing works properly. --Joe English