[XeTeX] segfault with xetex

[Jonathan Kew]

Hi Pablo,

On 3 Sep 2006, at 1:30 pm, Pablo Rodríguez wrote:
>>>
>>> Just in case it helps, Pango 1.14.x seems to have problems with this
>>> font (it makes Firefox crash when browsing a page that loads the  
>>> font
>>> [bug already reported]).
>>
>> Reported as a bug in Pango, Firefox, or the font? I believe it's
>> primarily the font at fault here.
>
> Sorry, reported as a bug in Pango (it is actually the software that
> cannot handle the font properly).

True, the software (like xetex) isn't doing a good job of handling  
the error condition, and it would be good for this to be fixed. But I  
think the primary flaw is in the font itself. Few complex systems are  
entirely immune from problems when given bad data.

> I forgot to mention that the font developer knows that the font is
> flawed. The font itself has been superseded by “New Athena Unicode”
> (http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~pinax/greekkeys/NAUdownload.html).

Thanks for this pointer. I looked at this font as well, and the  
OpenType tables seem to be in better shape (probably built with newer/ 
better tools). However, I still see major problems with the glyphs,  
and would not recommend using it where typographic quality is a  
concern. Surely there are better-drawn Greek fonts out there?

JK