Bug 441341

Created attachment 301541 [details]
Test case of incorrect PDF rendering (Sudoku puzzle)

What cairo version?  Can you please report this upstream at bugs.freedesktop.org
against cairo?

Bug was created upstream as requested:
http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=527954

I tried it with cairo 1.5.16 that was included with Rawhide Snapshot LiveCD
20080404. 
I also did an upgrade to cairo 1.6.4 and restarted X and the results were the same.

Changing version to '9' as part of upcoming Fedora 9 GA.
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(In reply to comment #1)
> Created an attachment (id=301541) [edit]
> Test case of incorrect PDF rendering (Sudoku puzzle)
> 

This is not a cairo bug as the PDF was created by gnomeprint (select
File->Properties in either Evince or Acroread).

If not cairo, what does gnome-print (the "Create a PDF document" option that is
given in the print dialog) use to render PDFs?

Nothing.  It does it itself.

That is a gnome-print issue.  I'm guessing the solution would be to get sudoko
guys to move to gtkprint since gnome-print is deprecated.  I would file this
upstream with them.

OK ... there is a bug already filed against gnome-print upstream. I should be
able to switch the component over to Sudoku and suggest gtkprint.

Is it gtkprint that uses cairo as a backend to render to PDF? Or is it yet
another PDF generator?

I was actually taking a break from my normal duties to look at the sudoku code
yesterday.  gtkprint does in fact use cairo as the backend for pdf generation. 
Even better, sudoku is in python so fairly easy to retrofit.  What needs to
happen is the sudoku guys need to use Gtk.PrintOperation, split up their
callback to print each page (the gtkprint callback gets called for each page)
and switch their gtkprint rendering code to cairo.  The cairo bit should be dead
easy because I believe they display their sudoku board using cairo anyway.  If
not the gnome-print primitives map almost directly to cairo.

Thanks John.

I added some commentary on the upstream bug and changed its component over to
gnome-games so hopefully there is more response than filing it against a defunct
system.

I am a little confused though. I thought that switching the backends for
rendering PDFs via the printing system would be best done at the printing system
level and not in every single app. Or is it the fact that the Gnome printing
system infrastructure got upgraded from gnome-print to gtkprint and many apps
are still pointing at the old gnome-print that is kept around for compatibility?

gnome-print was at best a hack since we had no real drawing backend to speak of.
 When we went about designing gtkprint we centred it around cairo which already
had an excellent ps and pdf output backend.  Since all applications are supposed
to move to using cairo and pango for drawing this all made sense since the same
code that draws the screen can be used to print.  There are still some issues
such as pagination that do have to be taken into account.     Since printing
itself is a complex operation it wasn't as easy as just replacing the
gnome-print API's.  We took the chance to design a fuller API but in the process
made it a bit harder to port existing applications due to the differences in
approach. Most maintainers will take the if it works then don't fix it approach
and since and since printing is decidedly unsexy it is going to take awhile for
all the apps to be ported.  All new apps should however find it much easier to
start with gtkprint from the get go.

OK. Thank you for the clear explanation.

Are there plans for an estimated Gnome release version that these developers
should know about where gnome-print will be removed completely and gtkprint will
take over?

I just suspect that bugs like this will rot in limbo since gnome-print is
depreciated (so no one is interested in fixing bugs in it) yet apps are still
using it (so the bugs affect them).

It really should be done ASAP in all apps but since there are so many other
fires to fight most maintainers are going to put it low on the list.  If more
people file bugs like yours it may be fixed sooner than later.  

libgnome print has not been deprecated yet
(http://live.gnome.org/TwoPointTwentythree/Desktop) but is listed as an upcoming
deprecation.  I'm on the release team so I can recommend it.

Hmmmm ... catch 22.

If I go on a targeted upstream bug-hunting safari (I think repoquery
--whatrequires libgnomeprint would get me on the right road), is there a simple
gnome-print -> gtkprint migration page that I could point the devs to?

All I could Google up was:
http://advogato.org/person/pbor/diary/59.html
which is just an example and not really a complete migration guide.

I would think that if such a guide existed, the activation energy for migrating
upstream projects would be reduced.

However, when all is said and done, I don't know if cairo will render the PDFs
any better for this app. However, I would guess that there is more chance of
getting things fixed in the shiny and new gtkprint/cairo than the old and crufty
gnome-print.

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