1 Version 1.6 (2016-Nov-27)
2 -------------------------
4 * A new option `--reference` (and `--reference-index` to select a font
5 within a TTC) makes ttfautohint use the blue zones from another font.
6 This helps synchronize the ascenders and descenders of font families.
8 * Support for Armenian, Cherokee, Ethiopic, Georgian, Gujarati, Gurmukhi,
9 Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhala, and Tamil scripts.
11 * New option `--ttfa-info` to display a font's `TTFA` table (if present).
13 * Glyphs covered by the fallback script are now hinted by default.
14 Previously, they were scaled only. The default fallback script `none` now
15 implies hinting without script-specific blue zones (but still aligning
16 stems to the grid if possible).
18 * The new option `--fallback-scaling` changes the behaviour of the fallback
19 script from hinting to scaling (as implemented in previous versions).
21 * ttfautohint (but not ttfautohintGUI) now honours the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
22 environment variable for reproducible builds. This corresponds to the new
23 library option `epoch`.
25 * Bug fix: Allow dehinting of fonts that contain a `.ttfautohint` glyph.
28 Version 1.5 (2016-Jan-24)
29 -------------------------
31 * Support for Khmer, Myanmar, and Bengali scripts.
33 * Improved Devanagari hinting.
35 * ttfautohintGUI can now be compiled with Qt5.
37 * Bug fix: Too many delta control instructions for a single glyph caused
38 a bytecode stack overflow, making the MS rasterizer ignore all hinting
39 instructions for this glyph.
41 * Bug fix: Don't create multiple `TTFA` tables in font.
43 * Bug fix: Under certain circumstances, glyph indices used in Indic features
44 were incorrectly assigned to the default script.
47 Version 1.4.1 (2015-Oct-17)
48 ---------------------------
50 * A bug in handling control instruction files could cause severe glyph
51 shape distortions of accent-like glyphs. All users should update.
54 Version 1.4 (2015-Oct-04)
55 -------------------------
57 * Support for Thai and Lao scripts.
59 * Support for the Arabic script.
61 * Better support for scripts that contain superscript-like and
62 subscript-like glyphs, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
64 * Accents and other `non-base' glyphs are now hinted without snapping to
67 * A new control instruction syntax form was added to adjust the mapping
68 between glyphs and styles. Right now, its usage is quite limited; a
69 forthcoming version will give much more flexibility.
71 * The `touch` keyword in a control instructions file was buggy: If used for
72 a point\ `P` at a ppem value\ `s`, it sometimes led to unwanted movements
73 of\ `P` for ppem values unequal to\ `s`, thus causing outline distortions.
76 Version 1.3 (2015-Jan-06)
77 -------------------------
79 * Keywords in control instruction files can be more verbose to increase
80 readability. You can now use `left`, `right`, `nodir`, `point`, `touch`,
81 `xshift`, and `yshift` for `l`, `r`, `n`, `p`, `t, `x`, and `y`,
84 * A new control instruction keyword `touch` was added to apply delta
85 instructions before the final IUP bytecode commands, also `touching' the
86 affected points (to use the TrueType instructions terminology). Such
87 deltas *do* work even with ClearType if applied to the non-ClearType
90 * Support for the Telugu script.
92 * The amount of information about ttfautohint and its parameters that gets
93 added to the `name` table by default has been reduced. A new option
94 `--detailed-info` restores the previous behaviour.
96 * ttfautohintGUI crashed if not used with a control instruction file.
98 * ttfautohintGUI now correctly switches to a horizontal two-column layout if
99 the standard one-column layout would exceed the screen height.
101 * A new option `--family-suffix` makes it possible to append a suffix to a
102 font's family name in the `name` table. This can be useful during the
103 development process: It helps the operating system to simultaneously
104 display several instances of a font that are processed with different
105 ttfautohint parameters.
107 * The new library option `info-post-callback` helps in processing data from
111 Version 1.2 (2014-Oct-06)
112 -------------------------
114 * It is now possible to control the hinting process at a very low level
115 using a 'control instructions' file. Right now, two modes are supported:
117 - Adding segments and changing segment directions.
119 - Applying delta exceptions. Note that this doesn't really work in
122 Please see the documentation for a description and a small tutorial.
124 In the command-line front-end, use option `--control-file` to load such a
127 * Support for input file watching in ttfautohintGUI: If the 'Watch Input
128 File' box is checked, the program automatically regenerates the output
129 file as soon as the input font or control instructions file gets modified.
131 The idea is to dock ttfautohintGUI to your favourite font and text editor
132 instead of adding a cheap text editor to ttfautohintGUI itself.
134 * With the new option `--fallback-stem-width` it is now possible to set a
135 default stem width for all scripts that lack proper standard characters in
138 * Add alias `--adjust-subglyphs` for option `--pre-hinting` to better
139 describe its functionality. The short form `-p` stays unchanged.
141 * New option `--ttfa-table` to add an SFNT table `TTFA` to the output font,
142 containing an ASCII dump of all used ttfautohint parameters (including
143 control instructions). Right now, this is mainly for archiving purposes.
144 Forthcoming versions of ttfautohint will be able to re-use this data if a
145 font gets re-processed.
147 * A harmless buglet was fixed that made the `glyf` table too large by one
148 byte under some circumstances.
150 * A bug fix taken from FreeType, correcting a crash for unusual outlines.
152 * Better handling of TTC files.
154 * New library options `error-callback` and `error-callback-data` for
155 improved diagnostics. [No change in the front-ends except better error
158 * Many other, minor fixes and improvements.
161 Version 1.1 (2014-May-05)
162 -------------------------
164 * Support for the Devanagari script.
166 * Bug fixes in the computation of strong stem widths. GDI hinting now gives
167 much more consistent results.
169 * Better recognition of script coverage: ttfautohint now properly scans
170 composite glyphs to cover components also.
172 * Improved glyph shape analysis: Non-flat local extrema are now recognized
173 more reliably, and stem detection works better.
176 Version 1.00 (2014-Mar-20)
177 --------------------------
179 * Much less memory consumption while handling fonts with complicated glyphs.
181 * Option `-s` was partially broken.
184 Version 1.00rc1 (2014-Feb-07)
185 -----------------------------
187 * OpenType feature support. ttfautohint now uses the HarfBuzz library to
188 analyze data from the `GSUB` table. This allows the hinting of glyphs
189 that don't have an entry in a font's `cmap` table, for example
190 superscripts or small caps.
192 Related to this, the new option `--default-script` controls the default
193 (fallback) script used for OpenType features.
195 * More than a single standard character is used. For example, the 'latin'
196 script uses characters 'o', 'O', and digit '0'. This improves the hinting
197 of fonts (and features) that have only a partial coverage of a script's
198 character repertoire.
200 * Much better GDI ClearType hinting in the range 30-80ppem (approx.),
201 avoiding overly flat tops and bottoms of round glyphs.
203 * Better handling of non-square pixels (this is, horizontal and vertical
204 resolutions differ) in the created TrueType bytecode.
207 Version 0.97 (2013-Nov-09)
208 --------------------------
210 * Improved script support. Besides Cyrillic and Greek, which are now
211 handled separately from Latin, ttfautohint can handle Hebrew.
213 * Option `-f` now takes a parameter to specify the fallback script. The
214 corresponding long option name has been renamed from `--latin-fallback` to
217 * Work around a bug in display environments that use FreeType 2.5.0 and
218 earlier for rendering: Sometimes, the 'strong' stem width routine was used
219 for DW ClearType (this is, subpixel hinting in FreeType is enabled) even
220 if 'smooth' was selected while generating the font with ttfautohint.
223 Version 0.96 (2013-Aug-06)
224 --------------------------
226 * Option `--components` has been replaced with `--composites`: By default,
227 the components of a composite glyph are now hinted separately, since tests
228 has shown that this gives good results in most cases. If this option is
229 set, however, the composite glyph itself gets hinted (and the hints of the
230 components are ignored).
232 An unfortunate side effect is that ttfautohint's option `-c` (which stays
233 as a shorthand for `--composites`) now does exactly the opposite as in
236 * Older versions of Monotype's 'iType' bytecode interpreter have a serious
237 bug: The DIV instruction rounds the result, while the correct operation is
238 truncation. This caused 'exploding characters' with fonts hinted by
239 ttfautohint. Since many printers contain this rasterizer without any
240 possibility to update to a non-buggy version, ttfautohint now contains
241 work-arounds to circumvent the problem.
243 * Better support for glyphs where some points have almost the same position
244 (for example glyph 'Oslash' in font 'Roboto-Thin').
246 * Better support for glyphs that use explicit 'on' points around round
250 Version 0.95 (2013-Mar-07)
251 --------------------------
253 * New option `--dehint` to strip off all hints without generating new hints.
254 This option is intended for testing purposes.
256 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility.
258 * Minor GUI improvements.
261 Version 0.94 (2012-Nov-29)
262 --------------------------
264 * New option `--windows-compatibility` that adds two artificial blue zones
265 at vertical positions given by 'usWinAscent' and 'usWinDescent'. This
266 helps ttfautohint's hinting algorithm reduce the possibility of clipping
267 if those two values are very tight.
269 * Implement option `--x-height-snapping-exceptions`, making ttfautohint
270 avoid x-height snapping for selected PPEM values. Useful in combination
271 with `--windows-compatibility`.
273 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility and robustness.
276 Version 0.93 (2012-Oct-09)
277 --------------------------
279 * New option `--components` to treat components of composite glyphs
280 separately. This greatly reduces the bytecode size.
282 I'm waiting for reports whether this option works for most fonts; in case
283 this is true I'm inverting the option, making it the default (and the old
286 * Full support of TTCs, this is, all subfonts get auto-hinted now.
288 * The upper limit of the `--increase-x-height` option has been removed.
290 * Drag-and-drop support in the GUI.
292 * The command-line version of ttfautohint now acts like a (Unix) filter,
293 this is, it accepts stdin and stdout as input and output, respectively.
295 * Less memory consumption.
298 Version 0.92 (2012-Aug-07)
299 --------------------------
301 * A serious bug in the created bytecode has been fixed, causing incorrect
305 Version 0.91 (2012-Jul-12)
306 --------------------------
308 * A new, 'strong' routine to handle stem widths and positions has been
309 added, to be selected with the `--strong-stem-width` command line option.
310 If it is active, stem widths and positions are snapped to the grid as much
311 as possible. This algorithm is useful for GDI ClearType support.
313 * A new command line option `--debug` (not available for ttfautohintGUI) to
314 print very detailed debugging information.
317 Version 0.9 (2012-Jun-06)
318 -------------------------
320 * The created bytecode has been reduced in size, making it approx. 20%
323 * New option `--symbol` to use standard stem height and width values instead
324 of using character 'o' (which may be missing). Use this option for symbol
325 fonts or math glyphs.
327 * More documentation (in text, HTML, and PDF format). It's still
330 * Option `--ignore-permissions` has been renamed to `--ignore-restrictions`.
331 The short form is still `-i`.
333 * Defaults for various parameters have been set to more sensible values:
335 - hinting-range-max: 50 (was 1000)
336 - hinting-limit: 200 (was 1000)
338 * Option `--increase-x-height` now has a mandatory argument (in the range
339 6-20 or value\ 0 to disable it, default value is 14).
342 Version 0.8 (2012-Mar-21)
343 -------------------------
345 * Implement option `-x` to increase the x height of the font for small PPEM
346 values by rounding up far more often then rounding down.
348 * Add option '`-G n`' to switch off hinting completely above value\ `n`.
350 * ttfautohint now appends version information and the used parameters to the
351 'Version' field(s) in the 'name' table. This can be suppressed with
355 Version 0.7 (2012-Feb-05)
356 -------------------------
358 * A GUI has been added, using the Qt framework. The binary is called
362 Version 0.6.1 (2012-Jan-02)
363 ---------------------------
365 * The improved handling of composite glyphs in 0.6 was buggy under certain
366 circumstances, making ttfautohint crash and FontValidator complain.
368 * Dropout handling has been activated.
371 Version 0.6 (2011-Dec-25)
372 -------------------------
374 * Improved handling of composite glyphs.
376 * Implement option `-p` to pre-hint glyphs with original hints before
377 conversion takes place.
379 * Don't add a `DSIG` table if there is none in the input font.
381 * Human-readable error messages instead of hexadecimal error codes.
383 * Better tests (both at runtime and compile time) to reject too old FreeType
387 Version 0.5 (2011-Nov-06)
388 -------------------------
390 * Rendering on iOS is now expected to give good results.
392 * No bad rendering at very large PPEM values.
395 Version 0.4 (2011-Oct-27)
396 -------------------------
398 * The bytecode has been changed to 'create' twilight points. This should
399 avoid rendering artifacts on some platforms.
402 Version 0.3 (2011-Sep-09)
403 -------------------------
405 * Fix font generation; sometimes the `glyf` table was one byte too short,
406 making the font invalid.
409 Version 0.2 (2011-Jul-19)
410 -------------------------
412 * Fix bytecode bugs that prevented correct rendering on some platforms.
415 Version 0.1 (2011-Jun-30)
416 -------------------------