Bug#1028897: fontconfig-config: default latin fonts changed from DejaVu to Noto

[Raphaël Halimi]

Package: fontconfig-config
Version: 2.14.1-3

Dear developers,

In the recent upgrade from fontconfig 2.13 to 2.14, the default latin 
fonts changed from DejaVu to Noto, in the file 
"/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/60-latin.conf".

The default fonts in Debian is still supposed to be DejaVu, as stated in 
the debconf template :

"Select 'Native' if you mostly use DejaVu (the default in Debian)"

The difference is very slight for the serif and sans families used in 
most graphical applications like Firefox or Thunderbird, but for the 
monospace family, it makes terminals look ugly : gnome-terminal handles 
the spacing somewhat right, but the resulting window is square-shaped, 
far from what one could be accustomed to; and in Xterm (if configured to 
use whatever TrueType font aliased to "Monospace") it's even worse, it 
handles the spacing completely wrong, resulting in over-spaced 
characters and a comically large shaped window.

I don't know if this change is intentional (to follow upstream 
configuration) or if it's an overlook; of course feel free to close the 
bug as wontfix if the change is intentional (and maybe update the 
debconf template), but if that's the case, please at least mention 
somewhere the "right" way to revert that change, as it's not intuitive.

I created "/etc/fonts/conf.avail/60-latin.conf" which switches DejaVu 
and Noto to make the former the default, and I initially thought that 
re-configuring the package would pick up the file by itself (seeing that 
the filename is the same, the file in "/etc" superseding the one in 
"/usr", like other tools usually do), but it's not the case, and I had 
to symlink it manually in "/etc/fonts/conf.d", overwriting the original 
one linking to "/usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/60-latin.conf", which 
belongs to the package. Is that the correct way of changing default 
fontconfig settings ?

Regards,

-- 
Raphaël Halimi