Latest revision as of 14:44, 12 September 2023

Use Noto fonts for Indic (Indian language) scripts

Summary

Google Noto fonts for Indic (Indian) languages replace the default Lohit fonts

Owner

Name: Jens Petersen
Email: <petersen@redhat.com>
Name: Sudip Shill
Email: <sshil@redhat.com>
Name: Akira Tagoh
Email: <tagoh@redhat.com>

Current status

Targeted release: Fedora Linux 39
Last updated: 2023-09-12
devel thread
FESCo issue: https://pagure.io/fesco/issue/3048
Tracker bug: #2233271
Release notes tracker: #1003

Detailed Description

Currently the Lohit fonts are installed and used by default for Indian languages (Indic scripts). However the Lohit project is essentially inactive and at best in maintenance mode now. So we will change the default to Google's Noto Indic fonts, which are available in both Sans and Serif faces with multiple weights and as variable fonts. This should provide a more flexible modern maintained set of fonts for Indic language scripts.

Default Indic fonts changes
Language script	Old default	New default	Serif font
Devanagari	lohit-devanagari-fonts	google-noto-sans-devanagari-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-devanagari-vf-fonts
Bengali	lohit-bengali-fonts	google-noto-sans-bengali-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-bengali-vf-fonts
Gujrati	lohit-gujarati-fonts	google-noto-sans-gujarati-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-gujarati-vf-fonts
Kannada	lohit-kannada-fonts	google-noto-sans-kannada-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-kannada-vf-fonts
Odia	lohit-odia-fonts	google-noto-sans-oriya-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-oriya-vf-fonts
Tamil	lohit-tamil-fonts	google-noto-sans-tamil-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-tamil-vf-fonts
Telugu	lohit-telugu-fonts	google-noto-sans-telugu-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-telugu-vf-fonts
Assamese	lohit-assamese-fonts	google-noto-sans-bengali-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-bengali-vf-fonts
Marathi	lohit-marathi-fonts	google-noto-sans-devanagari-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-devanagari-vf-fonts
Maithili	lohit-devanagari-fonts	google-noto-sans-devanagari-vf-fonts	google-noto-serif-devanagari-vf-fonts

(Note that Noto is already default for Punjabi (Gurmukhi) and Sinhala, as well as Divehi, whereas Malayalam defaults to RIT fonts)

Feedback

There was some initial discussion on fonts list, etc, which was generally positive.

This started with:

comparison screenshots: https://sshil.fedorapeople.org/lohit-vs-noto-comparison.html
a copr repo for testing: http://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/sshil/indic-fonts-test

Benefit to Fedora

Wider range of Indic (Indian) fonts will be available by default as variable fonts in both sans and serif faces with various weight styles.

Scope

Proposal owners:
- update Indic langpacks (default-fonts) to use Noto fonts [draft PR]
- update the Noto and Lohit fonts packages so that Noto Indic fonts have higher priority
- change comps @fonts (through default-fonts) from Lohit to the corresponding Noto Indic fonts
- update ostree desktops to use Noto Indic
- update lorax to use Noto for Indic fonts

Other developers: N/A

Release engineering: #11502

Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)

Alignment with Community Initiatives:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

Lohit fonts will continue to be available, but assuming the default-fonts Change is implemented users will be moved to use Noto Indic fonts by default on upgrade.

Nevertheless advanced users can use fonts-tweak-tool to change the priority of one or more Lohit fonts to be higher than Noto if they so wish.

How To Test

install/test default/Noto fonts on various desktops and their applications
test Noto Indic with and without Lohit fonts installed
test rendering of Indic scripts in applications/websites
test upgrades from Fedora 38
test if removing Noto Indic (and (re-)installing Lohit) still allows using Lohit as a second default.
(advanced) revert the font priorities using the user fonts-tweak-tool.
Compare default font installed for mr_IN language

On Fedora 38 you will see

$ LANG=mr_IN fc-match
Lohit-Marathi.ttf: "Lohit Marathi" "Regular"

On Fedora 39 you will see

$ LANG=mr_IN fc-match
NotoSansDevanagari[wght].ttf: "Noto Sans Devanagari" "Regular"

User Experience

Dependencies

Not really a direct dependency, but we currently plan to implement this using the new default-fonts metapackages.

Contingency Plan

Contingency mechanism: Change owners will revert the changes back to using Lohit by default
Contingency deadline: before final freeze
Blocks release? Yes

Documentation

https://sshil.fedorapeople.org/lohit-vs-noto-comparison.html

Release Notes

Google Noto fonts are now installed and used for Indic scripts (Indian language) by default instead of Lohit fonts.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 = Use Noto fonts for Indic (Indian language) scripts =
-{{Change_Proposal_Banner}}
 == Summary ==
@@ Line 20: / Line 18: @@
 * Name: Sudip Shill
 * Email: <sshil@redhat.com>
+* Name: [[User:Tagoh| Akira Tagoh]]
+* Email: <tagoh@redhat.com>
 <!--- UNCOMMENT only for Changes with assigned Shepherd (by FESCo)
 * FESCo shepherd: [[User:FASAccountName| Shehperd name]] <email address>
@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 == Current status ==
-[[Category:ChangePageIncomplete]]
+[[Category:ChangeAcceptedF39]]
 <!-- When your change proposal page is completed and ready for review and announcement -->
 <!-- remove Category:ChangePageIncomplete and change it to Category:ChangeReadyForWrangler -->
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
 ON_QA -> change is fully code complete
 -->
-* [<will be assigned by the Wrangler> devel thread]
+* [https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/devel@lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/UF2JL7GSXRJBC7GIFLUC4HLR7SIPJIQY/ devel thread]
-* FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
+* FESCo issue: https://pagure.io/fesco/issue/3048
-* Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
+* Tracker bug: [https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2233271 #2233271]
-* Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
+* Release notes tracker: [https://pagure.io/fedora-docs/release-notes/issue/1003 #1003]
 == Detailed Description ==
 Currently the Lohit fonts are installed and used by default for Indian languages (Indic scripts).
 However the Lohit project is essentially inactive and at best in maintenance mode now.
-So we will change the default to Google's Noto Indic fonts, which are available in both Sans and Serif faces with multiple weights, and include variable fonts.
+So we will change the default to Google's Noto Indic fonts, which are available in both Sans and Serif faces with multiple weights and as variable fonts.
 This should provide a more flexible modern maintained set of fonts for Indic language scripts.
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+ Default Indic fonts changes
+|-
+! Language script !! Old default !! New default !! Serif font
+|-
+| Devanagari || lohit-devanagari-fonts || google-noto-sans-devanagari-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-devanagari-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Bengali || lohit-bengali-fonts || google-noto-sans-bengali-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-bengali-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Gujrati || lohit-gujarati-fonts || google-noto-sans-gujarati-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-gujarati-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Kannada || lohit-kannada-fonts || google-noto-sans-kannada-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-kannada-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Odia || lohit-odia-fonts || google-noto-sans-oriya-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-oriya-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Tamil || lohit-tamil-fonts || google-noto-sans-tamil-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-tamil-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Telugu || lohit-telugu-fonts || google-noto-sans-telugu-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-telugu-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Assamese || lohit-assamese-fonts || google-noto-sans-bengali-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-bengali-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Marathi || lohit-marathi-fonts || google-noto-sans-devanagari-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-devanagari-vf-fonts
+|-
+| Maithili || lohit-devanagari-fonts || google-noto-sans-devanagari-vf-fonts || google-noto-serif-devanagari-vf-fonts
+|}
+(Note that Noto is already default for Punjabi (Gurmukhi) and Sinhala, as well as Divehi, whereas Malayalam defaults to RIT fonts)
 == Feedback ==
@@ Line 64: / Line 92: @@
 == Benefit to Fedora ==
-Wider range of Indic (Indian) fonts will be available by default as variable fonts in both sans and serif faces in various styles of weights.
+Wider range of Indic (Indian) fonts will be available by default as variable fonts in both sans and serif faces with various weight styles.
 == Scope ==
 * Proposal owners:
-** update Indic langpacks to use Noto fonts
+** update Indic langpacks (default-fonts) to use Noto fonts [draft [https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/langpacks/pull-request/31 PR]]
 ** update the Noto and Lohit fonts packages so that Noto Indic fonts have higher priority
 ** change comps @fonts (through default-fonts) from Lohit to the corresponding Noto Indic fonts
@@ Line 77: / Line 105: @@
 <!-- What work do other developers have to accomplish to complete the feature in time for release?  Is it a large change affecting many parts of the distribution or is it a very isolated change? What are those changes?-->
-* Release engineering: [https://pagure.io/releng/issues #Releng issue number] <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
+* Release engineering: [https://pagure.io/releng/issue/11502 #11502] <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
 <!-- Does this feature require coordination with release engineering (e.g. changes to installer image generation or update package delivery)?  Is a mass rebuild required?  include a link to the releng issue.
 The issue is required to be filed prior to feature submission, to ensure that someone is on board to do any process development work and testing and that all changes make it into the pipeline; a bullet point in a change is not sufficient communication -->
@@ Line 94: / Line 122: @@
 [https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/ImproveDefaultFontHandling default-fonts] Change is implemented
 users will be moved to use Noto Indic fonts by default on upgrade.
+Nevertheless advanced users can use `fonts-tweak-tool` to change the priority of one or more Lohit fonts to be higher than Noto if they so wish.
 <!-- What happens to systems that have had a previous versions of Fedora installed and are updated to the version containing this change? Will anything require manual configuration or data migration? Will any existing functionality be no longer supported? -->
@@ Line 104: / Line 134: @@
 * test upgrades from Fedora 38
 * test if removing Noto Indic (and (re-)installing Lohit) still allows using Lohit as a second default.
+* (advanced) revert the font priorities using the user fonts-tweak-tool.
+* Compare default font installed for mr_IN language
+     On Fedora 38 you will see <pre>$ LANG=mr_IN fc-match
+Lohit-Marathi.ttf: "Lohit Marathi" "Regular"
+</pre>
+     On Fedora 39 you will see     <pre>$ LANG=mr_IN fc-match
+NotoSansDevanagari[wght].ttf: "Noto Sans Devanagari" "Regular"
+ </pre>
 <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
@@ Line 129: / Line 166: @@
 <!-- If you cannot complete your feature by the final development freeze, what is the backup plan?  This might be as simple as "Revert the shipped configuration".  Or it might not (e.g. rebuilding a number of dependent packages).  If you feature is not completed in time we want to assure others that other parts of Fedora will not be in jeopardy.  -->
-* Contingency mechanism: Change owners will revert to use Lohit by default  <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
+* Contingency mechanism: Change owners will revert the changes back to using Lohit by default  <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->
 <!-- When is the last time the contingency mechanism can be put in place?  This will typically be the beta freeze. -->
 * Contingency deadline: before final freeze  <!-- REQUIRED FOR SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES -->

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