Sorry if this subject makes it sound like a flame - it's not intended that
way, but I couldn't think of a better subject.

I have some serious trouble with X and fonts lately, partly, probably, because
of my high expectations on rendering quality or my local chaotic mix of
pkgsrc stuff installed - however:

 - The default install (from src/x11 or xsrc) does not mix well with pkgsrc.
   You get a second (or third) version of fontconfig soon, unless you play
   mk.conf magic like this:

	# use as much of base xsrc install as possible
	PREFER_NATIVE=  MesaLib Xft2 Xrandr Xrender expat fontconfig    \
	                freetype2 glu randrext render xcursor yes
	PREFER_PKGSRC=  no

   However, there are already pkgs that will force newer fontconfig from
   pkgsrc, because they believe they can't cope with the version in XFree.

   This leads to multiple fc-cache binaries, and depending on your $PATH
   it will work or not. For some reason my fc-cache's disagreed on the
   font path to use - no idea why. Probably you need to run all fc-cache's
   to get this to work right with all your software. IMHO it's an 
   unacceptable configuration that should be avoided by all means

 - If you have working true type fonts, the rendering quality is ********.
   And doing text selections takes ages on slower machines.
   This is not much improved with 

	# freetype2 bytecode interpreter
	MKTTINTERP=YES

   IMHO *this* display of true type fonts does not warrant all the
   trouble they cause.

I used to have no true type fonts at all with XFree 4.3 and I was a happy
camper. After updating to our current X and rebuilding most of pkgsrc, I 
have a esthetically very unpleasant display now.

So, my questions to you all:

 - how are we going to proceed with this mess?
 - can we make a knob to leave out all true type support and fonts when
   building X?
 - probably better asked on tech-pkg: can we optionally avoid all the
   pkgsrc font stuff too? say I want to run gnome, but have no true type
   stuff at all - would that be possible?
 - is there any way to get *good* font rendering with X?

Martin
(in asbestos armor, ready for the flames)