#886384 rxvt-unicode: font issue with FreeType 2.8 and TrueType fonts

Package:
rxvt-unicode
Source:
rxvt-unicode
Description:
RXVT-like terminal emulator with Unicode and 256-color support
Submitter:
Vincent Lefevre
Date:
2026-02-21 02:37:03 UTC
Severity:
important
Tags:
#886384#5
Date:
2018-01-05 08:10:40 UTC
From:
To:
Just like xterm and Emacs, rxvt-unicode has font issues with
FreeType 2.8, which uses different rounding rules for ascender
and descender for TrueType fonts. 2 consequences:
  * The window is taller and wider than expected (which can break
    existing configurations and waste screen space).
  * There sometimes (not always) are blank lines (rows or columns)
    between characters, which is an issue for line-drawing characters.

FreeType developers assume that applications should not use the
rounded values.

This is an important regression.

Note: Contrary to xterm, for which the problem occurs only vertically,
here it occurs both vertically and horizontally.
#886384#10
Date:
2018-01-06 17:25:31 UTC
From:
To:
Hi Vincent,

Could you please let us know which fonts you're experiencing this with  and the
relevant urxvt settings so that we can reproduce this?

Best wishes,
Ryan
#886384#17
Date:
2018-01-06 17:46:33 UTC
From:
To:
$ fc-match Monospace
DejaVuSansMono.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Book"

No specific urxvt settings, but I have Xft.dpi set to 132.
#886384#22
Date:
2019-08-15 16:14:17 UTC
From:
To:
A workaround for the wide window due to additional spacing between
letters is to use "-letsp -1".

Unfortunately, for the spacing between lines, using "-lsp -1" does
not have any effect.

No issue with the built-in block graphics/line drawing characters
(the default), but some characters, not handled by this code, are
affected, e.g.

‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾
(the issue disappears with "-letsp -1") and

⎧
⎪
⎪
⎨
⎪
⎪
⎩

One may consider that supporting negative values with -lsp would
solve this bug (this would first need checking that the expected
blank line is removed).
#886384#27
Date:
2026-02-21 02:34:08 UTC
From:
To:
Trying rxvt again after years...

This part seems to have been fixed, which is a big improvement!

Well, "-letsp -1" does not avoid the issue with some font sizes.
This seems specific to rxvt, as xterm and GNU Emacs do not have
any issue. However, xterm is rather ugly on block graphics/line
drawing characters.

Note: I've tried the following:

  rxvt -fn "xft:DejaVu Sans Mono:pixelsize=18"
  rxvt -fn "xft:DejaVu Sans Mono:pixelsize=17"
  rxvt -fn "xft:Noto Mono:pixelsize=18"
  rxvt -fn "xft:Noto Mono:pixelsize=17"

with and without "-letsp -1".