ref: 558ac99de1081f74842cc343133ae62d56054bf6
dir: /README.UNX/
SPECIAL NOTE FOR UNIX USERS =========================== If you are installing this release of FreeType on a system that already uses release 2.0.5 (or even an older version), you have to perform a few special steps to ensure that everything goes well. I. Enable the TrueType bytecode hinter if you need it ----------------------------------------------------- The TrueType bytecode interpreter is disabled in all public releases of the FreeType packages for patents reasons (see http://www.freetype.org/patents.html for more details). However, many Linux distributions do enable the interpreter in the FreeType packages (DEB/RPM/etc.) they produce for their platforms. If you are using TrueType fonts on your system, you most probably want to enable it manually by doing the following: - open the file "include/freetype/config/ftoption.h" - locate a line that says: #undef TT_CONFIG_OPTION_BYTECODE_INTERPRETER - change it to: #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_BYTECODE_INTERPRETER of course, this must be done _before_ compiling the library II. Determine the correct installation path -------------------------------------------- By default, the source package will install the library in "/usr/local". However, many Unix distributions now install the library in "/usr", since FreeType is becoming a critical system component. If FreeType is already installed on your system, type freetype-config --prefix on the command line. This should return the installation path to use below (e.g. "/usr" or "/usr/local"). Otherwise, simply use "/usr" (or what you think is adequate for your installation). III. Ensure that you are using GNU Make --------------------------------------- The FreeType build system _exclusively_ works with GNU Make. You will not be able to compile the library with the instructions below using any other alternative (including BSD Make). Trying to compile the library with a different Make tool will print a message like: Sorry, GNU make is required to build FreeType2. and the build process will be aborted. If this happens, install GNU Make on your system, and use the GNUMAKE environment variable to name it. IV. Build and install the library --------------------------------- The following should work on all Unix systems where the `make' command invokes GNU Make: ./configure --prefix=<yourprefix> make make install (as root) where "<yourprefix>" must be replaced by the prefix returned by the "freetype-config" command. When using a different command to invoke GNU Make, use the GNUMAKE variable. For example, if `gmake' is the command to use on your system, do something like: GNUMAKE=gmake ./configure --prefix=<yourprefix> gmake gmake install (as root) If this still doesn't work, read the detailed compilation procedure available in the file "docs/BUILD" for troubleshooting. V. Take care of XFree86 version 4 --------------------------------- Certain recent Linux distributions will install _several_ versions of FreeType on your system. For example, on a fresh Mandrake 8.1 system, you can find the following files: /usr/lib/libfreetype.so which links to /usr/lib/libfreetype.6.1.0.so and /usr/X11R6/lib/libfreetype.so which links to /usr/X11R6/lib/libfreetype.6.0.so Note that these files correspond to two distinct versions of the library! It seems that this surprising issue is due to the install scripts of recent XFree86 servers (from 4.1.0) which irremediably install their own (dated) version of the library in "/usr/X11R6/lib". In certain _rare_ cases you may experience minor problems if you install this release of the library in "/usr" only, namely, that certain applications will not benefit from the bug fixes and rendering improvements you'd expect. There are two good ways to deal with this situation: - Install the library _twice_, in "/usr" and in "/usr/X11R6" (you have to do that each time you install a new FreeType release though). - Change the link in /usr/X11R6/lib/libfreetype.so to point to /usr/lib/libfreetype.so, and get rid of /usr/X11R6/lib/libfreetype.6.0.so The FreeType Team is not responsible for this problem, so please contact either the XFree86 development team or your Linux distributor to help clear this issue in case the information given here doesn't help.