1 Version 1.8.4 (2020-XXX-XX)
2 ---------------------------
4 * Support for Hanifi Rohingya and Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong.
6 * Bug fix: Option combination `-f none -S` to suppress hinting of
7 unassigned glyphs was broken.
10 Version 1.8.3 (2019-Apr-09)
11 ---------------------------
13 * Support for Mongolian. The de-facto standard is to render the glyphs
14 horizontally (left-to-right) line by line, then rotating each line
15 clockwise by 90\ degrees. This allows the usage of ttfautohint.
17 * Bug fix: Glyphs with complicated shapes or a large number of outlines
18 could be distorted if displayed with FreeType (or stay unhinted if
22 Version 1.8.2 (2018-Jul-24)
23 ---------------------------
25 * Support for Georgian Mtavruli.
27 * Bug fix: Compilation of ttfautohintGUI with homebrew on the Mac works
30 * Bug fix: Point deltas didn't work for composite glyphs.
33 Version 1.8.1 (2018-Jan-01)
34 ---------------------------
36 * Bug fix: The `configure` script couldn't recognize Qt 5.10.x.
39 Version 1.8 (2017-Dec-31)
40 -------------------------
42 * A third, 'natural' stem width mode has been added: No adjustments to
43 stem widths, discrete blue zone positioning. This is what FreeType uses
44 for its 'light' (auto-)hinting mode.
46 * A new option `-a` has been implemented to select the stem width mode for
47 the three rendering targets (grayscale, GDI ClearType, DW ClearType).
48 This supersedes option `-g`, which is now deprecated.
50 * Stem widths for the hinting process can now be manually set using the
51 new `width` keyword in a control instructions file. This is especially
52 useful for extra-bold fonts, where the algorithmically derived values
53 are often too large, causing the filling of 'eyes' in 'e' or 'a' glyphs
56 * libttfautohint gets now installed as a DLL or static library (or both,
57 depending on the parameters of the `configure` script), together with
60 * Two functions `TTF_autohint_version` and `TTF_autohint_version_string`
61 have been added to the library, which do the obvious.
63 * Two options to `TTF_autohint` have been added: `alloc-func` and
64 `free-func`. These are necessary on some platforms if ttfautohint is
65 compiled as a shared library, and the application uses a different
66 runtime library. This can happen, for example, on the MS Windows
67 platform if your program is written in Python and communicates via the
68 'ctypes' interface with the ttfautohint DLL.
70 * `TTF_autohint` options
71 `{gray,gdi-cleartype,dw-cleartype}-strong-stem-width` are now superseded
72 by `{gray,gdi-cleartype,dw-cleartype}`-stem-width-mode` to handle the
73 new natural stem width mode also.
75 * Bug fix: Later control instructions now correctly overwrite earlier
76 entries as documented.
79 Version 1.7 (2017-Aug-26)
80 -------------------------
82 * Support for Adlam, Avestan, Bamum, Buhid, Unified Canadian Syllabics,
83 Carian, Chakma, Coptic, Cypriot, Deseret, Glagolitic, Gothic, Kayah Li,
84 Lisu, N'Ko, Ol Chiki, Old Turkic, Osage, Osmanya, Saurashtra, Shavian,
85 Sundanese, Tai Viet, Tifinagh, and Vai scripts.
87 Note that the used blue zone characters might not be optimal. Please
88 report any problems so that I can fix issues!
90 * Option `--fallback-stem-width` now works for non-symbol fonts also, as
93 * TrueType bytecode generated by ttfautohint now correctly supports most
94 recent MS interpreter versions.
96 * A bug with bytecode for composite glyphs with composite subglyphs is now
100 Version 1.6 (2016-Nov-27)
101 -------------------------
103 * A new option `--reference` (and `--reference-index` to select a font
104 within a TTC) makes ttfautohint use the blue zones from another font.
105 This helps synchronize the ascenders and descenders of font families.
107 * Support for Armenian, Cherokee, Ethiopic, Georgian, Gujarati, Gurmukhi,
108 Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhala, and Tamil scripts.
110 * New option `--ttfa-info` to display a font's `TTFA` table (if present).
112 * Glyphs covered by the fallback script are now hinted by default.
113 Previously, they were scaled only. The default fallback script `none`
114 now implies hinting without script-specific blue zones (but still
115 aligning stems to the grid if possible).
117 * The new option `--fallback-scaling` changes the behaviour of the
118 fallback script from hinting to scaling (as implemented in previous
121 * ttfautohint (but not ttfautohintGUI) now honours the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
122 environment variable for reproducible builds. This corresponds to the
123 new library option `epoch`.
125 * Bug fix: Allow dehinting of fonts that contain a `.ttfautohint` glyph.
128 Version 1.5 (2016-Jan-24)
129 -------------------------
131 * Support for Khmer, Myanmar, and Bengali scripts.
133 * Improved Devanagari hinting.
135 * ttfautohintGUI can now be compiled with Qt5.
137 * Bug fix: Too many delta control instructions for a single glyph caused a
138 bytecode stack overflow, making the MS rasterizer ignore all hinting
139 instructions for this glyph.
141 * Bug fix: Don't create multiple `TTFA` tables in font.
143 * Bug fix: Under certain circumstances, glyph indices used in Indic
144 features were incorrectly assigned to the default script.
147 Version 1.4.1 (2015-Oct-17)
148 ---------------------------
150 * A bug in handling control instruction files could cause severe glyph
151 shape distortions of accent-like glyphs. All users should update.
154 Version 1.4 (2015-Oct-04)
155 -------------------------
157 * Support for Thai and Lao scripts.
159 * Support for the Arabic script.
161 * Better support for scripts that contain superscript-like and
162 subscript-like glyphs, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
164 * Accents and other `non-base' glyphs are now hinted without snapping to
167 * A new control instruction syntax form was added to adjust the mapping
168 between glyphs and styles. Right now, its usage is quite limited; a
169 forthcoming version will give much more flexibility.
171 * The `touch` keyword in a control instructions file was buggy: If used
172 for a point\ `P` at a ppem value\ `s`, it sometimes led to unwanted
173 movements of\ `P` for ppem values unequal to\ `s`, thus causing outline
177 Version 1.3 (2015-Jan-06)
178 -------------------------
180 * Keywords in control instruction files can be more verbose to increase
181 readability. You can now use `left`, `right`, `nodir`, `point`,
182 `touch`, `xshift`, and `yshift` for `l`, `r`, `n`, `p`, `t, `x`, and
185 * A new control instruction keyword `touch` was added to apply delta
186 instructions before the final IUP bytecode commands, also `touching' the
187 affected points (to use the TrueType instructions terminology). Such
188 deltas *do* work even with ClearType if applied to the non-ClearType
191 * Support for the Telugu script.
193 * The amount of information about ttfautohint and its parameters that gets
194 added to the `name` table by default has been reduced. A new option
195 `--detailed-info` restores the previous behaviour.
197 * ttfautohintGUI crashed if not used with a control instruction file.
199 * ttfautohintGUI now correctly switches to a horizontal two-column layout
200 if the standard one-column layout would exceed the screen height.
202 * A new option `--family-suffix` makes it possible to append a suffix to a
203 font's family name in the `name` table. This can be useful during the
204 development process: It helps the operating system to simultaneously
205 display several instances of a font that are processed with different
206 ttfautohint parameters.
208 * The new library option `info-post-callback` helps in processing data
209 from the `name` table.
212 Version 1.2 (2014-Oct-06)
213 -------------------------
215 * It is now possible to control the hinting process at a very low level
216 using a 'control instructions' file. Right now, two modes are
219 - Adding segments and changing segment directions.
221 - Applying delta exceptions. Note that this doesn't really work in
224 Please see the documentation for a description and a small tutorial.
226 In the command-line front-end, use option `--control-file` to load such
229 * Support for input file watching in ttfautohintGUI: If the 'Watch Input
230 File' box is checked, the program automatically regenerates the output
231 file as soon as the input font or control instructions file gets
234 The idea is to dock ttfautohintGUI to your favourite font and text
235 editor instead of adding a cheap text editor to ttfautohintGUI itself.
237 * With the new option `--fallback-stem-width` it is now possible to set a
238 default stem width for all scripts that lack proper standard characters
241 * Add alias `--adjust-subglyphs` for option `--pre-hinting` to better
242 describe its functionality. The short form `-p` stays unchanged.
244 * New option `--ttfa-table` to add an SFNT table `TTFA` to the output
245 font, containing an ASCII dump of all used ttfautohint parameters
246 (including control instructions). Right now, this is mainly for
247 archiving purposes. Forthcoming versions of ttfautohint will be able to
248 re-use this data if a font gets re-processed.
250 * A harmless buglet was fixed that made the `glyf` table too large by one
251 byte under some circumstances.
253 * A bug fix taken from FreeType, correcting a crash for unusual outlines.
255 * Better handling of TTC files.
257 * New library options `error-callback` and `error-callback-data` for
258 improved diagnostics. [No change in the front-ends except better error
261 * Many other, minor fixes and improvements.
264 Version 1.1 (2014-May-05)
265 -------------------------
267 * Support for the Devanagari script.
269 * Bug fixes in the computation of strong stem widths. GDI hinting now
270 gives much more consistent results.
272 * Better recognition of script coverage: ttfautohint now properly scans
273 composite glyphs to cover components also.
275 * Improved glyph shape analysis: Non-flat local extrema are now recognized
276 more reliably, and stem detection works better.
279 Version 1.00 (2014-Mar-20)
280 --------------------------
282 * Much less memory consumption while handling fonts with complicated
285 * Option `-s` was partially broken.
288 Version 1.00rc1 (2014-Feb-07)
289 -----------------------------
291 * OpenType feature support. ttfautohint now uses the HarfBuzz library to
292 analyze data from the `GSUB` table. This allows the hinting of glyphs
293 that don't have an entry in a font's `cmap` table, for example
294 superscripts or small caps.
296 Related to this, the new option `--default-script` controls the default
297 (fallback) script used for OpenType features.
299 * More than a single standard character is used. For example, the 'latin'
300 script uses characters 'o', 'O', and digit '0'. This improves the
301 hinting of fonts (and features) that have only a partial coverage of a
302 script's character repertoire.
304 * Much better GDI ClearType hinting in the range 30-80ppem (approx.),
305 avoiding overly flat tops and bottoms of round glyphs.
307 * Better handling of non-square pixels (this is, horizontal and vertical
308 resolutions differ) in the created TrueType bytecode.
311 Version 0.97 (2013-Nov-09)
312 --------------------------
314 * Improved script support. Besides Cyrillic and Greek, which are now
315 handled separately from Latin, ttfautohint can handle Hebrew.
317 * Option `-f` now takes a parameter to specify the fallback script. The
318 corresponding long option name has been renamed from `--latin-fallback`
319 to `--fallback-script`.
321 * Work around a bug in display environments that use FreeType 2.5.0 and
322 earlier for rendering: Sometimes, the 'strong' stem width routine was
323 used for DW ClearType (this is, subpixel hinting in FreeType is enabled)
324 even if 'smooth' was selected while generating the font with
328 Version 0.96 (2013-Aug-06)
329 --------------------------
331 * Option `--components` has been replaced with `--composites`: By default,
332 the components of a composite glyph are now hinted separately, since
333 tests has shown that this gives good results in most cases. If this
334 option is set, however, the composite glyph itself gets hinted (and the
335 hints of the components are ignored).
337 An unfortunate side effect is that ttfautohint's option `-c` (which
338 stays as a shorthand for `--composites`) now does exactly the opposite
339 as in previous releases.
341 * Older versions of Monotype's 'iType' bytecode interpreter have a serious
342 bug: The DIV instruction rounds the result, while the correct operation
343 is truncation. This caused 'exploding characters' with fonts hinted by
344 ttfautohint. Since many printers contain this rasterizer without any
345 possibility to update to a non-buggy version, ttfautohint now contains
346 work-arounds to circumvent the problem.
348 * Better support for glyphs where some points have almost the same
349 position (for example glyph 'Oslash' in font 'Roboto-Thin').
351 * Better support for glyphs that use explicit 'on' points around round
355 Version 0.95 (2013-Mar-07)
356 --------------------------
358 * New option `--dehint` to strip off all hints without generating new
359 hints. This option is intended for testing purposes.
361 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility.
363 * Minor GUI improvements.
366 Version 0.94 (2012-Nov-29)
367 --------------------------
369 * New option `--windows-compatibility` that adds two artificial blue zones
370 at vertical positions given by 'usWinAscent' and 'usWinDescent'. This
371 helps ttfautohint's hinting algorithm reduce the possibility of clipping
372 if those two values are very tight.
374 * Implement option `--x-height-snapping-exceptions`, making ttfautohint
375 avoid x-height snapping for selected PPEM values. Useful in combination
376 with `--windows-compatibility`.
378 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility and robustness.
381 Version 0.93 (2012-Oct-09)
382 --------------------------
384 * New option `--components` to treat components of composite glyphs
385 separately. This greatly reduces the bytecode size.
387 I'm waiting for reports whether this option works for most fonts; in
388 case this is true I'm inverting the option, making it the default (and
389 the old behaviour optional).
391 * Full support of TTCs, this is, all subfonts get auto-hinted now.
393 * The upper limit of the `--increase-x-height` option has been removed.
395 * Drag-and-drop support in the GUI.
397 * The command-line version of ttfautohint now acts like a (Unix) filter,
398 this is, it accepts stdin and stdout as input and output, respectively.
400 * Less memory consumption.
403 Version 0.92 (2012-Aug-07)
404 --------------------------
406 * A serious bug in the created bytecode has been fixed, causing incorrect
410 Version 0.91 (2012-Jul-12)
411 --------------------------
413 * A new, 'strong' routine to handle stem widths and positions has been
414 added, to be selected with the `--strong-stem-width` command line
415 option. If it is active, stem widths and positions are snapped to the
416 grid as much as possible. This algorithm is useful for GDI ClearType
419 * A new command line option `--debug` (not available for ttfautohintGUI)
420 to print very detailed debugging information.
423 Version 0.9 (2012-Jun-06)
424 -------------------------
426 * The created bytecode has been reduced in size, making it approx. 20%
429 * New option `--symbol` to use standard stem height and width values
430 instead of using character 'o' (which may be missing). Use this option
431 for symbol fonts or math glyphs.
433 * More documentation (in text, HTML, and PDF format). It's still
436 * Option `--ignore-permissions` has been renamed to
437 `--ignore-restrictions`. The short form is still `-i`.
439 * Defaults for various parameters have been set to more sensible values:
441 - hinting-range-max: 50 (was 1000)
442 - hinting-limit: 200 (was 1000)
444 * Option `--increase-x-height` now has a mandatory argument (in the range
445 6-20 or value\ 0 to disable it, default value is 14).
448 Version 0.8 (2012-Mar-21)
449 -------------------------
451 * Implement option `-x` to increase the x height of the font for small
452 PPEM values by rounding up far more often then rounding down.
454 * Add option '`-G n`' to switch off hinting completely above value\ `n`.
456 * ttfautohint now appends version information and the used parameters to
457 the 'Version' field(s) in the 'name' table. This can be suppressed with
461 Version 0.7 (2012-Feb-05)
462 -------------------------
464 * A GUI has been added, using the Qt framework. The binary is called
468 Version 0.6.1 (2012-Jan-02)
469 ---------------------------
471 * The improved handling of composite glyphs in 0.6 was buggy under certain
472 circumstances, making ttfautohint crash and FontValidator complain.
474 * Dropout handling has been activated.
477 Version 0.6 (2011-Dec-25)
478 -------------------------
480 * Improved handling of composite glyphs.
482 * Implement option `-p` to pre-hint glyphs with original hints before
483 conversion takes place.
485 * Don't add a `DSIG` table if there is none in the input font.
487 * Human-readable error messages instead of hexadecimal error codes.
489 * Better tests (both at runtime and compile time) to reject too old
493 Version 0.5 (2011-Nov-06)
494 -------------------------
496 * Rendering on iOS is now expected to give good results.
498 * No bad rendering at very large PPEM values.
501 Version 0.4 (2011-Oct-27)
502 -------------------------
504 * The bytecode has been changed to 'create' twilight points. This should
505 avoid rendering artifacts on some platforms.
508 Version 0.3 (2011-Sep-09)
509 -------------------------
511 * Fix font generation; sometimes the `glyf` table was one byte too short,
512 making the font invalid.
515 Version 0.2 (2011-Jul-19)
516 -------------------------
518 * Fix bytecode bugs that prevented correct rendering on some platforms.
521 Version 0.1 (2011-Jun-30)
522 -------------------------