[texworks] Preferences on Mac OS X 10.6.2

[Helge Baumann]

Am 24.11.2009 um 21:57 schrieb Jonathan Kew:

> As I understand it so far:
> 
> * since updating to 10.6.2, TeXworks hangs when you try to open the Preferences dialog

I didn't use TeXWorks before 10.6.2.

> * using a different user account *on the same machine*, the problem does not occur

Yes.

> This *strongly* suggests that the problem is triggered by something in your account's preferences or caches.

Yes.

> The Activity Monitor sample you provided of a "hang" shows clearly that it's trying to add the fonts to the popup menu:
> 
>  PrefsDialog::doPrefsDialog(QWidget*)
>  .. QComboBox::insertItems(int, QStringList const&)
> 
> and in the process, it's trying to do text layout:
> 
>  QLineEdit::setText(QString const&)
>  .. QLineEditPrivate::updateTextLayout()
>  .... QTextEngine::shapeTextMac(int) const
>  ...... QFontEngineMacMulti::stringToCMapInternal
>  ........ TTextLineLayout::ConstructGlyphRecordArray
>  ..etc
> 
> but this is apparently hanging for you, whereas it doesn't for other people (or other users on your same machine).

Yes.

> The only plausible explanation I can think of is that there's some font-related data associated with your account that is confusing things. Do you run any kind of font-management software? Do you have fonts installed in ~/Library/Fonts? Do you have other "font libraries" enabled in FontBook?

No, not any more.

> All I can suggest -- though it sounds like you've already tried much of this -- is to:
> 
> (a) First, ensure that *everything* "special" related to fonts is disabled: any font managers, any user libraries, any fonts in ~/Library/Fonts. Turn off the Automatic Font Activation option in Font Book / Preferences. Double-check, triple-check that NO fonts other than the standard ones in /System/Library/Fonts and /Library/Fonts are enabled. Do you have MS Office? Ensure its fonts are NOT installed/enabled.

Same font-related settings like the other accounts, no MS Office ever on my Mac, font caches cleared in many different ways.

> (b) Second, clear every possible font-related cache and preference, and then restart the machine. If that still doesn't help, I'm at a loss.

So am I.

> Hmm, looks like other people have font-related hangs or crashes on 10.6.2 as well, not related to TeXworks: see for example <http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2229872&tstart=0>. Sounds like for some people, the only solution that's worked is to set up a new account or do a clean install. Ugh.

I'll just stop working with TeXWorks, stay at TeXShop, and wait for new releases of TeXWorks and/or Mac OS X, or a new Mac :). And I made two notes on my BIG todo list: watching for font related issues and sometimes start up preferences in TeXWorks to see if some magic is done (may be friday, full moon, midnight ...).

Thanks for any help!