Font Problem

[jseymour]

Hi There,

Well, I searched and searched. I did strace's on both machines and multiple different output comparisons. I tried. I really, really tried. But after several hours I have to ask for help.

Application running on system #1, which is Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Gnome2, running Wine 1.2



Notice the borders, the centered lines surrounding "APPLICATION SELECTION" (at the top), etc.?

Now the same app on system #2, which is Linux Mint 13 LTS, Mate 1.4, running Wine 1.4



Ugly. Ugly and annoying. Very annoying, in fact. (Mostly because it was good on the old system and is b0rk3d on the new.)

The one striking thing I noticed, in comparing strace output, is the former system opens and stats the ".fon" files in /usr/share/wine/fonts, whereas the new system does not. (I tried copying all those into my local Wine Fonts directory. Didn't help.)

That isn't the only difference. There's also /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont (there, but not touched) and a few others.

Help?

Thanks,
Jim

[dimesio]

Try upgrading to the latest development release.

[jseymour]

Try upgrading to the latest development release.

That's thoroughly broken.

After the "apt-get install wine1.5," double-clicking the existing application resulted in an endless wait clock. Had to force close. Deleted $HOME/.wine entirely. Re-installed application. Application came up, but mouse pointer disappeared entirely whenever mousing over the application. Minimize the window and bring it back: Get an empty window frame. Had to force close again.

I will now deinstall it and try 1.2, I guess.

Jim

[jseymour]

Update: 1.2 behaved the same as 1.4. No suprise, being as the "wine 1.2" install hauled in all 1.4 bits.

Jim

[dimesio]

the "wine 1.2" install hauled in all 1.4 bits.

What exactly do you mean by that?

From what you've reported, it sounds like the problem lies in some difference between the two distros. Are you using the Ubuntu Wine packages on Mint? There may be some incompatibility. Try building Wine yourself.

[jseymour]

the "wine 1.2" install hauled in all 1.4 bits.

What exactly do you mean by that?

The Synaptic package manager listed "wine1.2," but, under "Latest Version" it says "1.40ubuntu4.1," and all the dependencies installing "wine1.2" generates were 1.4. So I don't think I really got 1.2, but 1.4.

From what you've reported, it sounds like the problem lies in some difference between the two distros. Are you using the Ubuntu Wine packages on Mint?

I followed the directions for adding the PPA, doing "update" and "install." The PPA is the "ubuntu-wine" PPA.

There may be some incompatibility. Try building Wine yourself.

Linux Mint is essentially re-packaged, re-branded Ubuntu, in most respects. Just like Ubuntu is essentially re-packaged, re-branded Debian.

I'll try rebuilding Wine, myself, as time allows.

Btw: Have a coworker running Mandriva 2010, Wine 1.5.16 (the RPM, I assume), that has the same character set problem with the same app.

Thanks,
Jim

[dimesio]

The Synaptic package manager listed "wine1.2," but, under "Latest Version" it says "1.40ubuntu4.1," and all the dependencies installing "wine1.2" generates were 1.4. So I don't think I really got 1.2, but 1.4.

That wouldn't surprise me. Ubuntu has a long history of naming its Wine packages in a way that seems intentionally designed to confuse users.

Linux Mint is essentially re-packaged, re-branded Ubuntu, in most respects.

Most, but not all. We have had reports from Mint users of problems with the Ubuntu Wine packages that do not occur on Ubuntu.

Does this app have a free download, or is there some other app with a free download that demonstrates the problem?

[jseymour]

Does this app have a free download, or is there some other app with a free download that demonstrates the problem?

No. It's essentially a kind of "screen scraper" front end for a very old MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning) system. Not only has it no free download, but you wouldn't be able to do anything with it, w/o the server, even if it did have.

No, I don't know of another app that exhibits the problem.

Jim

[jseymour]

Okay, I downloaded and built wine-1.5.22. Ran it from its build directory. It does the same thing the package did: Displays a blank frame. Dismissing via the "x" results in a pause, then the system informing me the process was unresponsive and forcing me to force-quit it.

Jim

[dimesio]

Run a regression test and file a bug. http://wiki.winehq.org/RegressionTesting

[jseymour]

Something else is going on. Late last week I downloaded, built and ran 1.2.2. Same thing. Sorry, but I'm far too busy at work to mess with it any longer. It's ugly, but it works. That'll have to do.

Thanks for the help.

Jim