1 Version 1.7 (2017-Aug-26)
2 -------------------------
4 * Support for Adlam, Avestan, Bamum, Buhid, Unified Canadian Syllabics,
5 Carian, Chakma, Coptic, Cypriot, Deseret, Glagolitic, Gothic, Kayah Li,
6 Lisu, N'Ko, Ol Chiki, Old Turkic, Osage, Osmanya, Saurashtra, Shavian,
7 Sundanese, Tai Viet, Tifinagh, and Vai scripts.
9 Note that the used blue zone characters might not be optimal. Please
10 report any problems so that I can fix issues!
12 * Option `--fallback-stem-width` now works for non-symbol fonts also, as
15 * TrueType bytecode generated by ttfautohint now correctly supports most
16 recent MS interpreter versions.
18 * A bug with bytecode for composite glyphs with composite subglyphs is now
22 Version 1.6 (2016-Nov-27)
23 -------------------------
25 * A new option `--reference` (and `--reference-index` to select a font
26 within a TTC) makes ttfautohint use the blue zones from another font.
27 This helps synchronize the ascenders and descenders of font families.
29 * Support for Armenian, Cherokee, Ethiopic, Georgian, Gujarati, Gurmukhi,
30 Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhala, and Tamil scripts.
32 * New option `--ttfa-info` to display a font's `TTFA` table (if present).
34 * Glyphs covered by the fallback script are now hinted by default.
35 Previously, they were scaled only. The default fallback script `none`
36 now implies hinting without script-specific blue zones (but still
37 aligning stems to the grid if possible).
39 * The new option `--fallback-scaling` changes the behaviour of the
40 fallback script from hinting to scaling (as implemented in previous
43 * ttfautohint (but not ttfautohintGUI) now honours the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
44 environment variable for reproducible builds. This corresponds to the
45 new library option `epoch`.
47 * Bug fix: Allow dehinting of fonts that contain a `.ttfautohint` glyph.
50 Version 1.5 (2016-Jan-24)
51 -------------------------
53 * Support for Khmer, Myanmar, and Bengali scripts.
55 * Improved Devanagari hinting.
57 * ttfautohintGUI can now be compiled with Qt5.
59 * Bug fix: Too many delta control instructions for a single glyph caused a
60 bytecode stack overflow, making the MS rasterizer ignore all hinting
61 instructions for this glyph.
63 * Bug fix: Don't create multiple `TTFA` tables in font.
65 * Bug fix: Under certain circumstances, glyph indices used in Indic
66 features were incorrectly assigned to the default script.
69 Version 1.4.1 (2015-Oct-17)
70 ---------------------------
72 * A bug in handling control instruction files could cause severe glyph
73 shape distortions of accent-like glyphs. All users should update.
76 Version 1.4 (2015-Oct-04)
77 -------------------------
79 * Support for Thai and Lao scripts.
81 * Support for the Arabic script.
83 * Better support for scripts that contain superscript-like and
84 subscript-like glyphs, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
86 * Accents and other `non-base' glyphs are now hinted without snapping to
89 * A new control instruction syntax form was added to adjust the mapping
90 between glyphs and styles. Right now, its usage is quite limited; a
91 forthcoming version will give much more flexibility.
93 * The `touch` keyword in a control instructions file was buggy: If used
94 for a point\ `P` at a ppem value\ `s`, it sometimes led to unwanted
95 movements of\ `P` for ppem values unequal to\ `s`, thus causing outline
99 Version 1.3 (2015-Jan-06)
100 -------------------------
102 * Keywords in control instruction files can be more verbose to increase
103 readability. You can now use `left`, `right`, `nodir`, `point`,
104 `touch`, `xshift`, and `yshift` for `l`, `r`, `n`, `p`, `t, `x`, and
107 * A new control instruction keyword `touch` was added to apply delta
108 instructions before the final IUP bytecode commands, also `touching' the
109 affected points (to use the TrueType instructions terminology). Such
110 deltas *do* work even with ClearType if applied to the non-ClearType
113 * Support for the Telugu script.
115 * The amount of information about ttfautohint and its parameters that gets
116 added to the `name` table by default has been reduced. A new option
117 `--detailed-info` restores the previous behaviour.
119 * ttfautohintGUI crashed if not used with a control instruction file.
121 * ttfautohintGUI now correctly switches to a horizontal two-column layout
122 if the standard one-column layout would exceed the screen height.
124 * A new option `--family-suffix` makes it possible to append a suffix to a
125 font's family name in the `name` table. This can be useful during the
126 development process: It helps the operating system to simultaneously
127 display several instances of a font that are processed with different
128 ttfautohint parameters.
130 * The new library option `info-post-callback` helps in processing data
131 from the `name` table.
134 Version 1.2 (2014-Oct-06)
135 -------------------------
137 * It is now possible to control the hinting process at a very low level
138 using a 'control instructions' file. Right now, two modes are
141 - Adding segments and changing segment directions.
143 - Applying delta exceptions. Note that this doesn't really work in
146 Please see the documentation for a description and a small tutorial.
148 In the command-line front-end, use option `--control-file` to load such
151 * Support for input file watching in ttfautohintGUI: If the 'Watch Input
152 File' box is checked, the program automatically regenerates the output
153 file as soon as the input font or control instructions file gets
156 The idea is to dock ttfautohintGUI to your favourite font and text
157 editor instead of adding a cheap text editor to ttfautohintGUI itself.
159 * With the new option `--fallback-stem-width` it is now possible to set a
160 default stem width for all scripts that lack proper standard characters
163 * Add alias `--adjust-subglyphs` for option `--pre-hinting` to better
164 describe its functionality. The short form `-p` stays unchanged.
166 * New option `--ttfa-table` to add an SFNT table `TTFA` to the output
167 font, containing an ASCII dump of all used ttfautohint parameters
168 (including control instructions). Right now, this is mainly for
169 archiving purposes. Forthcoming versions of ttfautohint will be able to
170 re-use this data if a font gets re-processed.
172 * A harmless buglet was fixed that made the `glyf` table too large by one
173 byte under some circumstances.
175 * A bug fix taken from FreeType, correcting a crash for unusual outlines.
177 * Better handling of TTC files.
179 * New library options `error-callback` and `error-callback-data` for
180 improved diagnostics. [No change in the front-ends except better error
183 * Many other, minor fixes and improvements.
186 Version 1.1 (2014-May-05)
187 -------------------------
189 * Support for the Devanagari script.
191 * Bug fixes in the computation of strong stem widths. GDI hinting now
192 gives much more consistent results.
194 * Better recognition of script coverage: ttfautohint now properly scans
195 composite glyphs to cover components also.
197 * Improved glyph shape analysis: Non-flat local extrema are now recognized
198 more reliably, and stem detection works better.
201 Version 1.00 (2014-Mar-20)
202 --------------------------
204 * Much less memory consumption while handling fonts with complicated
207 * Option `-s` was partially broken.
210 Version 1.00rc1 (2014-Feb-07)
211 -----------------------------
213 * OpenType feature support. ttfautohint now uses the HarfBuzz library to
214 analyze data from the `GSUB` table. This allows the hinting of glyphs
215 that don't have an entry in a font's `cmap` table, for example
216 superscripts or small caps.
218 Related to this, the new option `--default-script` controls the default
219 (fallback) script used for OpenType features.
221 * More than a single standard character is used. For example, the 'latin'
222 script uses characters 'o', 'O', and digit '0'. This improves the
223 hinting of fonts (and features) that have only a partial coverage of a
224 script's character repertoire.
226 * Much better GDI ClearType hinting in the range 30-80ppem (approx.),
227 avoiding overly flat tops and bottoms of round glyphs.
229 * Better handling of non-square pixels (this is, horizontal and vertical
230 resolutions differ) in the created TrueType bytecode.
233 Version 0.97 (2013-Nov-09)
234 --------------------------
236 * Improved script support. Besides Cyrillic and Greek, which are now
237 handled separately from Latin, ttfautohint can handle Hebrew.
239 * Option `-f` now takes a parameter to specify the fallback script. The
240 corresponding long option name has been renamed from `--latin-fallback`
241 to `--fallback-script`.
243 * Work around a bug in display environments that use FreeType 2.5.0 and
244 earlier for rendering: Sometimes, the 'strong' stem width routine was
245 used for DW ClearType (this is, subpixel hinting in FreeType is enabled)
246 even if 'smooth' was selected while generating the font with
250 Version 0.96 (2013-Aug-06)
251 --------------------------
253 * Option `--components` has been replaced with `--composites`: By default,
254 the components of a composite glyph are now hinted separately, since
255 tests has shown that this gives good results in most cases. If this
256 option is set, however, the composite glyph itself gets hinted (and the
257 hints of the components are ignored).
259 An unfortunate side effect is that ttfautohint's option `-c` (which
260 stays as a shorthand for `--composites`) now does exactly the opposite
261 as in previous releases.
263 * Older versions of Monotype's 'iType' bytecode interpreter have a serious
264 bug: The DIV instruction rounds the result, while the correct operation
265 is truncation. This caused 'exploding characters' with fonts hinted by
266 ttfautohint. Since many printers contain this rasterizer without any
267 possibility to update to a non-buggy version, ttfautohint now contains
268 work-arounds to circumvent the problem.
270 * Better support for glyphs where some points have almost the same
271 position (for example glyph 'Oslash' in font 'Roboto-Thin').
273 * Better support for glyphs that use explicit 'on' points around round
277 Version 0.95 (2013-Mar-07)
278 --------------------------
280 * New option `--dehint` to strip off all hints without generating new
281 hints. This option is intended for testing purposes.
283 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility.
285 * Minor GUI improvements.
288 Version 0.94 (2012-Nov-29)
289 --------------------------
291 * New option `--windows-compatibility` that adds two artificial blue zones
292 at vertical positions given by 'usWinAscent' and 'usWinDescent'. This
293 helps ttfautohint's hinting algorithm reduce the possibility of clipping
294 if those two values are very tight.
296 * Implement option `--x-height-snapping-exceptions`, making ttfautohint
297 avoid x-height snapping for selected PPEM values. Useful in combination
298 with `--windows-compatibility`.
300 * Minor fixes to the created bytecode for compatibility and robustness.
303 Version 0.93 (2012-Oct-09)
304 --------------------------
306 * New option `--components` to treat components of composite glyphs
307 separately. This greatly reduces the bytecode size.
309 I'm waiting for reports whether this option works for most fonts; in
310 case this is true I'm inverting the option, making it the default (and
311 the old behaviour optional).
313 * Full support of TTCs, this is, all subfonts get auto-hinted now.
315 * The upper limit of the `--increase-x-height` option has been removed.
317 * Drag-and-drop support in the GUI.
319 * The command-line version of ttfautohint now acts like a (Unix) filter,
320 this is, it accepts stdin and stdout as input and output, respectively.
322 * Less memory consumption.
325 Version 0.92 (2012-Aug-07)
326 --------------------------
328 * A serious bug in the created bytecode has been fixed, causing incorrect
332 Version 0.91 (2012-Jul-12)
333 --------------------------
335 * A new, 'strong' routine to handle stem widths and positions has been
336 added, to be selected with the `--strong-stem-width` command line
337 option. If it is active, stem widths and positions are snapped to the
338 grid as much as possible. This algorithm is useful for GDI ClearType
341 * A new command line option `--debug` (not available for ttfautohintGUI)
342 to print very detailed debugging information.
345 Version 0.9 (2012-Jun-06)
346 -------------------------
348 * The created bytecode has been reduced in size, making it approx. 20%
351 * New option `--symbol` to use standard stem height and width values
352 instead of using character 'o' (which may be missing). Use this option
353 for symbol fonts or math glyphs.
355 * More documentation (in text, HTML, and PDF format). It's still
358 * Option `--ignore-permissions` has been renamed to
359 `--ignore-restrictions`. The short form is still `-i`.
361 * Defaults for various parameters have been set to more sensible values:
363 - hinting-range-max: 50 (was 1000)
364 - hinting-limit: 200 (was 1000)
366 * Option `--increase-x-height` now has a mandatory argument (in the range
367 6-20 or value\ 0 to disable it, default value is 14).
370 Version 0.8 (2012-Mar-21)
371 -------------------------
373 * Implement option `-x` to increase the x height of the font for small
374 PPEM values by rounding up far more often then rounding down.
376 * Add option '`-G n`' to switch off hinting completely above value\ `n`.
378 * ttfautohint now appends version information and the used parameters to
379 the 'Version' field(s) in the 'name' table. This can be suppressed with
383 Version 0.7 (2012-Feb-05)
384 -------------------------
386 * A GUI has been added, using the Qt framework. The binary is called
390 Version 0.6.1 (2012-Jan-02)
391 ---------------------------
393 * The improved handling of composite glyphs in 0.6 was buggy under certain
394 circumstances, making ttfautohint crash and FontValidator complain.
396 * Dropout handling has been activated.
399 Version 0.6 (2011-Dec-25)
400 -------------------------
402 * Improved handling of composite glyphs.
404 * Implement option `-p` to pre-hint glyphs with original hints before
405 conversion takes place.
407 * Don't add a `DSIG` table if there is none in the input font.
409 * Human-readable error messages instead of hexadecimal error codes.
411 * Better tests (both at runtime and compile time) to reject too old
415 Version 0.5 (2011-Nov-06)
416 -------------------------
418 * Rendering on iOS is now expected to give good results.
420 * No bad rendering at very large PPEM values.
423 Version 0.4 (2011-Oct-27)
424 -------------------------
426 * The bytecode has been changed to 'create' twilight points. This should
427 avoid rendering artifacts on some platforms.
430 Version 0.3 (2011-Sep-09)
431 -------------------------
433 * Fix font generation; sometimes the `glyf` table was one byte too short,
434 making the font invalid.
437 Version 0.2 (2011-Jul-19)
438 -------------------------
440 * Fix bytecode bugs that prevented correct rendering on some platforms.
443 Version 0.1 (2011-Jun-30)
444 -------------------------