1 Version 1.8.3 (2018-Oct-XX)
2 ---------------------------
4 * Bug fix: Glyphs with complicated shapes or a large number of outlines
5 could be distorted if displayed with FreeType (or stay unhinted if
9 Version 1.8.2 (2018-Jul-24)
10 ---------------------------
12 * Support for Georgian Mtavruli.
14 * Bug fix: Compilation of ttfautohintGUI with homebrew on the Mac works
17 * Bug fix: Point deltas didn't work for composite glyphs.
20 Version 1.8.1 (2018-Jan-01)
21 ---------------------------
23 * Bug fix: The `configure` script couldn't recognize Qt 5.10.x.
26 Version 1.8 (2017-Dec-31)
27 -------------------------
29 * A third, 'natural' stem width mode has been added: No adjustments to
30 stem widths, discrete blue zone positioning. This is what FreeType uses
31 for its 'light' (auto-)hinting mode.
33 * A new option `-a` has been implemented to select the stem width mode for
34 the three rendering targets (grayscale, GDI ClearType, DW ClearType).
35 This supersedes option `-g`, which is now deprecated.
37 * Stem widths for the hinting process can now be manually set using the
38 new `width` keyword in a control instructions file. This is especially
39 useful for extra-bold fonts, where the algorithmically derived values
40 are often too large, causing the filling of 'eyes' in 'e' or 'a' glyphs
43 * libttfautohint gets now installed as a DLL or static library (or both,
44 depending on the parameters of the `configure` script), together with
47 * Two functions `TTF_autohint_version` and `TTF_autohint_version_string`
48 have been added to the library, which do the obvious.
50 * Two options to `TTF_autohint` have been added: `alloc-func` and
51 `free-func`. These are necessary on some platforms if ttfautohint is
52 compiled as a shared library, and the application uses a different
53 runtime library. This can happen, for example, on the MS Windows
54 platform if your program is written in Python and communicates via the
55 'ctypes' interface with the ttfautohint DLL.
57 * `TTF_autohint` options
58 `{gray,gdi-cleartype,dw-cleartype}-strong-stem-width` are now superseded
59 by `{gray,gdi-cleartype,dw-cleartype}`-stem-width-mode` to handle the
60 new natural stem width mode also.
62 * Bug fix: Later control instructions now correctly overwrite earlier
63 entries as documented.
66 Version 1.7 (2017-Aug-26)
67 -------------------------
69 * Support for Adlam, Avestan, Bamum, Buhid, Unified Canadian Syllabics,
70 Carian, Chakma, Coptic, Cypriot, Deseret, Glagolitic, Gothic, Kayah Li,
71 Lisu, N'Ko, Ol Chiki, Old Turkic, Osage, Osmanya, Saurashtra, Shavian,
72 Sundanese, Tai Viet, Tifinagh, and Vai scripts.
74 Note that the used blue zone characters might not be optimal. Please
75 report any problems so that I can fix issues!
77 * Option `--fallback-stem-width` now works for non-symbol fonts also, as
80 * TrueType bytecode generated by ttfautohint now correctly supports most
81 recent MS interpreter versions.
83 * A bug with bytecode for composite glyphs with composite subglyphs is now
87 Version 1.6 (2016-Nov-27)
88 -------------------------
90 * A new option `--reference` (and `--reference-index` to select a font
91 within a TTC) makes ttfautohint use the blue zones from another font.
92 This helps synchronize the ascenders and descenders of font families.
94 * Support for Armenian, Cherokee, Ethiopic, Georgian, Gujarati, Gurmukhi,
95 Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhala, and Tamil scripts.
97 * New option `--ttfa-info` to display a font's `TTFA` table (if present).
99 * Glyphs covered by the fallback script are now hinted by default.
100 Previously, they were scaled only. The default fallback script `none`
101 now implies hinting without script-specific blue zones (but still
102 aligning stems to the grid if possible).
104 * The new option `--fallback-scaling` changes the behaviour of the
105 fallback script from hinting to scaling (as implemented in previous
108 * ttfautohint (but not ttfautohintGUI) now honours the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
109 environment variable for reproducible builds. This corresponds to the
110 new library option `epoch`.
112 * Bug fix: Allow dehinting of fonts that contain a `.ttfautohint` glyph.
115 Version 1.5 (2016-Jan-24)
116 -------------------------
118 * Support for Khmer, Myanmar, and Bengali scripts.
120 * Improved Devanagari hinting.
122 * ttfautohintGUI can now be compiled with Qt5.
124 * Bug fix: Too many delta control instructions for a single glyph caused a
125 bytecode stack overflow, making the MS rasterizer ignore all hinting
126 instructions for this glyph.
128 * Bug fix: Don't create multiple `TTFA` tables in font.
130 * Bug fix: Under certain circumstances, glyph indices used in Indic
131 features were incorrectly assigned to the default script.
134 Version 1.4.1 (2015-Oct-17)
135 ---------------------------
137 * A bug in handling control instruction files could cause severe glyph
138 shape distortions of accent-like glyphs. All users should update.
141 Version 1.4 (2015-Oct-04)
142 -------------------------
144 * Support for Thai and Lao scripts.
146 * Support for the Arabic script.
148 * Better support for scripts that contain superscript-like and
149 subscript-like glyphs, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
151 * Accents and other `non-base' glyphs are now hinted without snapping to
154 * A new control instruction syntax form was added to adjust the mapping
155 between glyphs and styles. Right now, its usage is quite limited; a
156 forthcoming version will give much more flexibility.
158 * The `touch` keyword in a control instructions file was buggy: If used
159 for a point\ `P` at a ppem value\ `s`, it sometimes led to unwanted
160 movements of\ `P` for ppem values unequal to\ `s`, thus causing outline
164 Version 1.3 (2015-Jan-06)
165 -------------------------
167 * Keywords in control instruction files can be more verbose to increase
168 readability. You can now use `left`, `right`, `nodir`, `point`,
169 `touch`, `xshift`, and `yshift` for `l`, `r`, `n`, `p`, `t, `x`, and
172 * A new control instruction keyword `touch` was added to apply delta
173 instructions before the final IUP bytecode commands, also `touching' the
174 affected points (to use the TrueType instructions terminology). Such
175 deltas *do* work even with ClearType if applied to the non-ClearType
178 * Support for the Telugu script.
180 * The amount of information about ttfautohint and its parameters that gets
181 added to the `name` table by default has been reduced. A new option
182 `--detailed-info` restores the previous behaviour.
184 * ttfautohintGUI crashed if not used with a control instruction file.
186 * ttfautohintGUI now correctly switches to a horizontal two-column layout
187 if the standard one-column layout would exceed the screen height.
189 * A new option `--family-suffix` makes it possible to append a suffix to a
190 font's family name in the `name` table. This can be useful during the
191 development process: It helps the operating system to simultaneously
192 display several instances of a font that are processed with different
193 ttfautohint parameters.
195 * The new library option `info-post-callback` helps in processing data
196 from the `name` table.
199 Version 1.2 (2014-Oct-06)
200 -------------------------
202 * It is now possible to control the hinting process at a very low level
203 using a 'control instructions' file. Right now, two modes are
206 - Adding segments and changing segment directions.
208 - Applying delta exceptions. Note that this doesn't really work in
211 Please see the documentation for a description and a small tutorial.
213 In the command-line front-end, use option `--control-file` to load such
216 * Support for input file watching in ttfautohintGUI: If the 'Watch Input
217 File' box is checked, the program automatically regenerates the output
218 file as soon as the input font or control instructions file gets
221 The idea is to dock ttfautohintGUI to your favourite font and text
222 editor instead of adding a cheap text editor to ttfautohintGUI itself.
224 * With the new option `--fallback-stem-width` it is now possible to set a
225 default stem width for all scripts that lack proper standard characters
228 * Add alias `--adjust-subglyphs` for option `--pre-hinting` to better
229 describe its functionality. The short form `-p` stays unchanged.
231 * New option `--ttfa-table` to add an SFNT table `TTFA` to the output
232 font, containing an ASCII dump of all used ttfautohint parameters
233 (including control instructions). Right now, this is mainly for
234 archiving purposes. Forthcoming versions of ttfautohint will be able to
235 re-use this data if a font gets re-processed.
237 * A harmless buglet was fixed that made the `glyf` table too large by one
238 byte under some circumstances.
240 * A bug fix taken from FreeType, correcting a crash for unusual outlines.
242 * Better handling of TTC files.
244 * New library options `error-callback` and `error-callback-data` for
245 improved diagnostics. [No change in the front-ends except better error
248 * Many other, minor fixes and improvements.
251 Version 1.1 (2014-May-05)
252 -------------------------
254 * Support for the Devanagari script.
256 * Bug fixes in the computation of strong stem widths. GDI hinting now
257 gives much more consistent results.
259 * Better recognition of script coverage: ttfautohint now properly scans
260 composite glyphs to cover components also.
262 * Improved glyph shape analysis: Non-flat local extrema are now recognized
263 more reliably, and stem detection works better.
266 Version 1.00 (2014-Mar-20)
267 --------------------------
269 * Much less memory consumption while handling fonts with complicated
272 * Option `-s` was partially broken.
275 Version 1.00rc1 (2014-Feb-07)
276 -----------------------------
278 * OpenType feature support. ttfautohint now uses the HarfBuzz library to
279 analyze data from the `GSUB` table. This allows the hinting of glyphs
280 that don't have an entry in a font's `cmap` table, for example
281 superscripts or small caps.
283 Related to this, the new option `--default-script` controls the default
284 (fallback) script used for OpenType features.
286 * More than a single standard character is used. For example, the 'latin'
287 script uses characters 'o', 'O', and digit '0'. This improves the
288 hinting of fonts (and features) that have only a partial coverage of a
289 script's character repertoire.
291 * Much better GDI ClearType hinting in the range 30-80ppem (approx.),
292 avoiding overly flat tops and bottoms of round glyphs.
294 * Better handling of non-square pixels (this is, horizontal and vertical
295 resolutions differ) in the created TrueType bytecode.
298 Version 0.97 (2013-Nov-09)
299 --------------------------
301 * Improved script support. Besides Cyrillic and Greek, which are now
302 handled separately from Latin, ttfautohint can handle Hebrew.
304 * Option `-f` now takes a parameter to specify the fallback script. The
305 corresponding long option name has been renamed from `--latin-fallback`
306 to `--fallback-script`.
308 * Work around a bug in display environments that use FreeType 2.5.0 and
309 earlier for rendering: Sometimes, the 'strong' stem width routine was
310 used for DW ClearType (this is, subpixel hinting in FreeType is enabled)
311 even if 'smooth' was selected while generating the font with
315 Version 0.96 (2013-Aug-06)
316 --------------------------
318 * Option `--components` has been replaced with `--composites`: By default,
319 the components of a composite glyph are now hinted separately, since
320 tests has shown that this gives good results in most cases. If this
321 option is set, however, the composite glyph itself gets hinted (and the
322 hints of the components are ignored).
324 An unfortunate side effect is that ttfautohint's option `-c` (which
325 stays as a shorthand for `--composites`) now does exactly the opposite
326 as in previous releases.
328 * Older versions of Monotype's 'iType' bytecode interpreter have a serious
329 bug: The DIV instruction rounds the result, while the correct operation
330 is truncation. This caused 'exploding characters' with fonts hinted by
331 ttfautohint. Since many printers contain this rasterizer without any
332 possibility to update to a non-buggy version, ttfautohint now contains
333 work-arounds to circumvent the problem.
335 * Better support for glyphs where some points have almost the same
336 position (for example glyph 'Oslash' in font 'Roboto-Thin').
338 * Better support for glyphs that use explicit 'on' points around round
342 Version 0.95 (2013-Mar-07)
343 --------------------------
345 * New option `--dehint` to strip off all hints without generating new
346 hints. This option is intended for testing purposes.
348 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility.
350 * Minor GUI improvements.
353 Version 0.94 (2012-Nov-29)
354 --------------------------
356 * New option `--windows-compatibility` that adds two artificial blue zones
357 at vertical positions given by 'usWinAscent' and 'usWinDescent'. This
358 helps ttfautohint's hinting algorithm reduce the possibility of clipping
359 if those two values are very tight.
361 * Implement option `--x-height-snapping-exceptions`, making ttfautohint
362 avoid x-height snapping for selected PPEM values. Useful in combination
363 with `--windows-compatibility`.
365 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility and robustness.
368 Version 0.93 (2012-Oct-09)
369 --------------------------
371 * New option `--components` to treat components of composite glyphs
372 separately. This greatly reduces the bytecode size.
374 I'm waiting for reports whether this option works for most fonts; in
375 case this is true I'm inverting the option, making it the default (and
376 the old behaviour optional).
378 * Full support of TTCs, this is, all subfonts get auto-hinted now.
380 * The upper limit of the `--increase-x-height` option has been removed.
382 * Drag-and-drop support in the GUI.
384 * The command-line version of ttfautohint now acts like a (Unix) filter,
385 this is, it accepts stdin and stdout as input and output, respectively.
387 * Less memory consumption.
390 Version 0.92 (2012-Aug-07)
391 --------------------------
393 * A serious bug in the created bytecode has been fixed, causing incorrect
397 Version 0.91 (2012-Jul-12)
398 --------------------------
400 * A new, 'strong' routine to handle stem widths and positions has been
401 added, to be selected with the `--strong-stem-width` command line
402 option. If it is active, stem widths and positions are snapped to the
403 grid as much as possible. This algorithm is useful for GDI ClearType
406 * A new command line option `--debug` (not available for ttfautohintGUI)
407 to print very detailed debugging information.
410 Version 0.9 (2012-Jun-06)
411 -------------------------
413 * The created bytecode has been reduced in size, making it approx. 20%
416 * New option `--symbol` to use standard stem height and width values
417 instead of using character 'o' (which may be missing). Use this option
418 for symbol fonts or math glyphs.
420 * More documentation (in text, HTML, and PDF format). It's still
423 * Option `--ignore-permissions` has been renamed to
424 `--ignore-restrictions`. The short form is still `-i`.
426 * Defaults for various parameters have been set to more sensible values:
428 - hinting-range-max: 50 (was 1000)
429 - hinting-limit: 200 (was 1000)
431 * Option `--increase-x-height` now has a mandatory argument (in the range
432 6-20 or value\ 0 to disable it, default value is 14).
435 Version 0.8 (2012-Mar-21)
436 -------------------------
438 * Implement option `-x` to increase the x height of the font for small
439 PPEM values by rounding up far more often then rounding down.
441 * Add option '`-G n`' to switch off hinting completely above value\ `n`.
443 * ttfautohint now appends version information and the used parameters to
444 the 'Version' field(s) in the 'name' table. This can be suppressed with
448 Version 0.7 (2012-Feb-05)
449 -------------------------
451 * A GUI has been added, using the Qt framework. The binary is called
455 Version 0.6.1 (2012-Jan-02)
456 ---------------------------
458 * The improved handling of composite glyphs in 0.6 was buggy under certain
459 circumstances, making ttfautohint crash and FontValidator complain.
461 * Dropout handling has been activated.
464 Version 0.6 (2011-Dec-25)
465 -------------------------
467 * Improved handling of composite glyphs.
469 * Implement option `-p` to pre-hint glyphs with original hints before
470 conversion takes place.
472 * Don't add a `DSIG` table if there is none in the input font.
474 * Human-readable error messages instead of hexadecimal error codes.
476 * Better tests (both at runtime and compile time) to reject too old
480 Version 0.5 (2011-Nov-06)
481 -------------------------
483 * Rendering on iOS is now expected to give good results.
485 * No bad rendering at very large PPEM values.
488 Version 0.4 (2011-Oct-27)
489 -------------------------
491 * The bytecode has been changed to 'create' twilight points. This should
492 avoid rendering artifacts on some platforms.
495 Version 0.3 (2011-Sep-09)
496 -------------------------
498 * Fix font generation; sometimes the `glyf` table was one byte too short,
499 making the font invalid.
502 Version 0.2 (2011-Jul-19)
503 -------------------------
505 * Fix bytecode bugs that prevented correct rendering on some platforms.
508 Version 0.1 (2011-Jun-30)
509 -------------------------