Description of problem: For the unicode codepoints "U+E844" and "U+E863" (designated as private use characters) no glyphs are provided in any of the truetype fonts provided with the Red Hat Linux distribution. This means Java applications attempting to display those characters, will not be able to. The characters in question are Simplified Chinese characters and are available in the Red Flag (Chinese Linux) distribution as part of their zysong.ttf (DongWen-Song) font. We would like to request an enhancement that glyphs for these codepoints be added to the truetype fonts provided with the Red Hat Linux distribution. I have attached a picture of what the glyphs look like on RedFlag. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): I tried installing the latest fonts-chinese-zysong-0.1-5.el5.noarch.rpm package as per Advisory: RHEA-2007:0833-8 and I am still seeing the same problem. How reproducible: Always and easily by viewing the font in a Character Map application Sample steps to Reproduce on Windows: 1. the latest fonts-chinese-zysong-0.1-5.el5.noarch.rpm package on Linux 2. copy the ukai.ttf / uming.ttf files to a Windows machine 3. drag-and-drop them to C:\Windows\Fonts to install them 4. open Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Character Map 5. change the Font being viewed to either one of the AR PL fonts just installed 6. try to scroll to codepoint U+E844 and U+E863; they will not be there Actual results: Codepoints U+E844 and U+E863 will not be represented in the font Expected results: We had hoped that there would be glyphs for these two codepoints Additional info: I have attached a picture of what the glyphs look like on RedFlag.
Created attachment 304982 [details] picture of how the characters look on RedFlag 5 (Chinese Linux)
Hi Dan, Which font are you talking about? You are mentioning zysong.ttf in RedFlag but the reproduction procedures is testing on cjkunifonts. If you are reporting to zysong, the procedures should be: Sample steps to Reproduce on Windows: 1. the latest fonts-chinese-zysong-0.1-5.el5.noarch.rpm package on Linux 2. copy the *zysong.ttf* files to a Windows machine 3. drag-and-drop them to C:\Windows\Fonts to install them 4. open Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Character Map 5. change the Font being viewed to either one of the AR PL fonts just installed 6. try to scroll to codepoint U+E844 and U+E863; they will not be there.
Confirmed bug is reproducible by gucharmap. Checking if those 2 codepoints are under GB18030 standard.
Hi Dan, I could not found the current GB18030 standard book. Could you provide where is the standard book available so I could look into it. Cheers, Caius.
I found a couple of references. The best reference I found to show that those characters are in gb18030 is Converter Explorer by ICU: http://www.icu-project.org/icu-bin/convexp?conv=gb18030&s=ALL It lets you view all code pages known to ICU. If you go to the link above, click on the link for GB18030, you can drill down into all the code points on the code page. I used the following reference to find the code points in GB18030 that represent U+E844 and U+E863 : http://www.sfr-fresh.com/unix/misc/libiconv-1.12.tar.gz:a/libiconv- 1.12/lib/gb18030.h U+E844 is gb18030 codepoint 0x8336CD30 and can be seen with converter explorer by going here : http://www.icu-project.org/icu-bin/convexp?conv=gb18030&b=8336CD&s=ALL#layout U+E863 is gb18030 codepoint 0x8336CF39 and can be seen with converter explorer by going here : http://www.icu-project.org/icu-bin/convexp?conv=gb18030&b=8336CF&s=ALL#layout
There is a good list of "external links" for the authoritative specs on gb18030 (best I could find) at the end of this WikiPedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GB_18030
How you tried any of the WQY fonts? Basically the Supplementary zysong font is proprietary and as such unsupported by Red Hat. Any missing codepoints would have to be resolved by the vendor, I believe.
After you suggested it I went to find the WQY fonts, downloaded and installed them, but they were not TrueType fonts, they were bitmap fonts. I was looking for TrueType fonts because Java applications can pick those up. The problem report is really that the "out-of-the-box" Red Hat does not have support for the above Chinese characters. There may be more. It does not really matter to me which font I have to use, as long as it includes more code points. If you can direct me to a different free font (like those WQY fonts) that is a TrueType font, and that includes more codepoints that Red Hat does, then we can just recommend that to our customers as well. It would be better though to provide an improved font with the OS. When I applied the fonts-chinese-zysong update it seemed to replace the zysong.ttf with some new ttf files; namely ukai.ttf and uming.ttf. These appeared to be a major improvement. Are there any other fonts that come with Red Hat, or are available free, that you can recommend that would cover more code points?
(In reply to comment #8) > After you suggested it I went to find the WQY fonts, downloaded and installed > them, but they were not TrueType fonts, they were bitmap fonts. I was looking > for TrueType fonts because Java applications can pick those up. There are more than WQY fonts available on the official website. Afaik most of them are TrueType fonts. > > The problem report is really that the "out-of-the-box" Red Hat does not have > support for the above Chinese characters. There may be more. It does not > really matter to me which font I have to use, as long as it includes more code > points. The main feature of the zysong is it is a font which conforms GB18030. This standard is currently a mandatory requirement for a operation system to be sold legally in China. IMHO even I take your assumption that WQY (there are more than 1 WQY so a bit ambiguous to call it just WQY) includes more glyphs than zysong, very unlikely WQY could be a superset of GB18030 standard. Otherwise, RHEL has no reason to include zysong in order to make the OS be certified as meeting GB18030. > If you can direct me to a different free font (like those WQY fonts) that is a > TrueType font, and that includes more codepoints that Red Hat does, then we can > just recommend that to our customers as well. It would be better though to > provide an improved font with the OS. Personally, you could try also installing some other TrueType fonts of WQY, uming.ttf, and even any fonts you have found for a better coverage of codepoints. However, please be aware that all these activities are not guaranteed to work and not supported by Red Hat. Furthermore, it is not recommended to use any codepoints in any business/formal communication with any parties within China simply because there would be possibilities which certain beyond-GB18030 codepoints could not be readable on the other side. Hence, Red Hat is not responsible to any lost resulted by using any codepoints beyond GB18030 standard. > When I applied the fonts-chinese-zysong update it seemed to replace the > zysong.ttf with some new ttf files; namely ukai.ttf and uming.ttf. These > appeared to be a major improvement. fonts-chinese-zysong should not replace zysong.ttf with ukai.ttf/uming.ttf. All of them should be still located and available in the system and either of them are the fallback of the other. > Are there any other fonts that come with Red Hat, or are available free, that > you can recommend that would cover more code points? As answered above, afaik the font that come with Red Hat (later releases of RHEL only, not Fedora as it is not supported by Red Hat) which covered the most Chinese codepoints is zysong. Personally you could also try the latest version of some WQY TrueType fonts and uming/ukai in 'cjkunifonts' open source project. Please perform test thoroughly before making any recommendations to your customers, since you will be the only party who is going to be responsible to provide supports to your recommendations.
I tried WQY because RedHat support asked me to. Actually I see now it was Jens Petersen that asked me about WQY; all my other emails were with Caius Chance. I am perfectly happy with zysong if it covers the codepoints in the problem report. Again, I have no attachment to using WQY, I was just following your (Red Hat support's) suggestion and trying to be cooperative. It would be much better for our customers if we don't have to tell them to download a font that is not included with the OS. Hopefully I've provided enough evidence that those codepoints are part of GB18030. I am not asking about codepoints "beyond GB18030". You'll notice in my original problem report I pointed out that the zysong.ttf that comes with Red Flag (Chinese Linux) includes these codepoints and the zysong.ttf that I got with Red Hat does not. Can we focus on getting me the latest zysong.ttf that comes with Red Hat? Can you email it to me? Or tell me how to get it? Did you already look inside with Character Map to know that it includes the codepoints above?
Dear Dan, Thank you very much for your reply. (In reply to comment #10) > I tried WQY because RedHat support asked me to. Actually I see now it was Jens > Petersen that asked me about WQY; all my other emails were with Caius Chance. > I am perfectly happy with zysong if it covers the codepoints in the problem > report. Again, I have no attachment to using WQY, I was just following your > (Red Hat support's) suggestion and trying to be cooperative. It would be much > better for our customers if we don't have to tell them to download a font that > is not included with the OS. I would like to inform you that I and Jens are not Red Hat Support. Therefore, as I clarified in previous replies that my suggestions are not guaranteed to work and not supported by Red Hat. Furthermore, bugzilla is not the first place to request for support of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You should contact via Red Hat Support (Please read https://www.redhat.com/support/process/production/) for official support from Red Hat. Given you are holding current subscription or eligible to receive support in any other ways, they will manage to resolve your problems or escalate to appropriate personnels. > Hopefully I've provided enough evidence that those codepoints are part of > GB18030. I am not asking about codepoints "beyond GB18030". The most obvious evidence you have provided is from the ICU example page. However, all I need is a official GB18030 document which specified how glyphs of the codepoints supposed to be looked like. Personally I searched on the Internet but I couldn't found it. > You'll notice in my original problem report I pointed out that the zysong.ttf > that comes with Red Flag (Chinese Linux) includes these codepoints and the > zysong.ttf that I got with Red Hat does not. Would it be possible to host the zysong.ttf that comes with Red Flag online and let me have a look on it? Please kindly be aware that it is not an implication that we have to make zysong.ttf in RHEL covers all codepoints which zysong.ttf in Red Flags included. All zysong.ttf in RHEL only supposed to be GB18030 conformed and it was already certified by the organization who authorized by Chinese Government. > Can we focus on getting me the latest zysong.ttf that comes with Red Hat? Can > you email it to me? Or tell me how to get it? Did you already look inside > with Character Map to know that it includes the codepoints above? > The zysong.ttf that comes with Red Hat is not distributable via email so we will not email it to you. Please contact Red Hat Support (the link written above) for how to get it legally. All I could confirm is the zysong.ttf currently on my hand doesn't have the 2 glyphs mentioned by you. Cheers, Caius.