[Mapserver-users] Labels with strange AUTO angles - fixed, with explanation

[Ed McNierney]

OK, it's fixed now.  I was wrong to blame GD.  It was a FreeType bug.

Do NOT use FreeType 2.1.2.  Use FreeType 2.1.3, in which this bug is documented and fixed.  If you think you have FreeType 2.1.2 and don't see this problem, keep reading.

I took the test program I sent around and had Steve Woodbridge build it on his Linux system.  The text went the OTHER way and behaved as documented.  So we had a little chat:

E: "Are you SURE you're using GD 2.0.11?"
S: "Yup."
E: "Are you SURE you're using FreeType 2.1.2?"
S: "Yup."
E: "Hmmmm...."

A little later, Steve reports that he's running (on Red Hat) RH's freetype-2.1.2-7 distribution.  Not all FreeType 2.1.2s are alike.  Red Hat (at least) seems to roll updates and fixes into the RPM, keeping the same base version.  So Steve's FreeType 2.1.2 was not the same as MY FreeType 2.1.2 and his had the bug fixed and mine did not.

It appears that other folks are using "newer" FreeType 2.1.2 releases than mine, explaining why I'm out in this parallel universe seeing bugs no one else sees.

FreeType 2.1.3 is a stable, full release, and is the current stable release of FreeType.  Anyone using FT 2 should be using it.

	- Ed

Ed McNierney
President and Chief Mapmaker
TopoZone.com / Maps a la carte, Inc.
73 Princeton Street, Suite 305
North Chelmsford, MA  01863
ed at topozone.com
(978) 251-4242