Update bundled FreeType and HarfBuzz libraries#30938
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QuLogic merged 3 commits intomatplotlib:text-overhaulfrom Feb 6, 2026
Merged
Update bundled FreeType and HarfBuzz libraries#30938QuLogic merged 3 commits intomatplotlib:text-overhaulfrom
QuLogic merged 3 commits intomatplotlib:text-overhaulfrom
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tacaswell
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Jan 29, 2026
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Not actually waiting for any other PR; just need to drop the image update after approvals. |
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Due to the circular dependency between FreeType and HarfBuzz, this requires a small patch to make FreeType not look for HarfBuzz, allowing it to come from the superproject linkage. While FreeType does support dynamically loading HarfBuzz, this should be a bit safer at avoiding any chance of mixing system with bundled libraries.
wavebyrd
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Mar 13, 2026
Update bundled FreeType and HarfBuzz libraries
QuLogic
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Apr 10, 2026
This includes images changes for the following pull requests / commits: * [Fix center of rotation with rotation_mode='anchor'](matplotlib#29199) (c44db77) * [Remove ttconv backwards-compatibility code](matplotlib#30145) (8caff88) * [Remove kerning_factor from tests](matplotlib#29816) (7b4d725) * [Set text hinting to defaults](matplotlib#29816) (8255ae2) * [Update FreeType to 2.13.3](matplotlib#29816) (89c054d) * [Implement text shaping with libraqm](matplotlib#30000) (b0ded3a, 9813523) * [Add language parameter to Text objects](matplotlib#29794) (7ce8eae) * [Fix auto-sized glyphs with BaKoMa fonts](matplotlib#29936) (3ba2c13) * [pdf: Improve text with characters outside embedded font limits](matplotlib#30512) (b70fb88, 6cedcf7) * [Prepare `CharacterTracker` for advanced font features](matplotlib#30608) (8274e17, 70dc388, df670cf, ed5e074) * [Add font feature API to Text](matplotlib#29695) (972a688) * [Fix spacing in r"$\max f$"](matplotlib#30715) (4a99a83) * [Implement libraqm for vector outputs](matplotlib#30607) (bd17cd4) * [Drop the FT2Font intermediate buffer](matplotlib#30059) (9d7d7b4) * [Rasterize dvi files without dvipng](matplotlib#30039) (7627118) * [Update bundled FreeType and HarfBuzz libraries](matplotlib#30938) (a161658, 9619bcc) * [Fix positioning of wide mathtext accents](matplotlib#31069) (c2fa7ba) * [Refactor RendererAgg.draw_{mathtext,text,tex} to use same base algorithm](matplotlib#31085) (931bcf3) * [Implement TeX's fraction and script alignment](matplotlib#31046) (94ff452, 4bfa0f9, 1cd8510) * [Fix confusion between text height and ascent in metrics calculations](matplotlib#31107) (60f2310) * [mathtext: Fetch quad width & axis height from font metrics](matplotlib#31110) (692df3f, 383028b) * [mathtext: add mathnormal and distinguish between normal and italic family](matplotlib#31121) (a6913f3) * [ENH: Ignore empty text for tightbbox](matplotlib#31285) (d772043) * [Drop axis_artist tickdir image compat, due to text-overhaul merge](matplotlib#31281) (2057583) * [text: Use font metrics to determine line heights](matplotlib#31291) (3ab6a27, d961462, 97f4943) * [ps/pdf: Override font height metrics to support AFM files](matplotlib#31371) (e0913d4) * [TST: Cleanup back-compat code in tests touched by text overhaul](matplotlib#31295) (7c33379) * [TST: Set tests touched by text overhaul to mpl20 style](matplotlib#31300) (41c4d8d)
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PR summary
These were released over the last couple of months but I didn't notice them. Note, I have included the new test images here, but this should not be merged until they are removed.
The main changes in HarfBuzz do appear to mostly be speedups and optimizations. Version 12 adds support for the new
VARCtable, but I don't think that's particularly widespread yet. There are various other bug fixes and rejections of invalid fonts in the smaller releases as well. The other useful change is that they've simplified the search for FreeType, so we can drop our patch for it.The main change in FreeType is an improvement in the diacritics at small sizes. This is the cause of the mathtext test image changes.
Additionally, FreeType changed the way they use HarfBuzz (yes, there's a dependency loop there) that doesn't require the headers, which makes it possible to enable support. They do support dynamically loading HarfBuzz, but I don't want to run into issues loading the wrong library, so instead I've added a small patch that allows enabling support without explicitly linking HarfBuzz to FreeType. Then the ft2font extension library links to both and this resolves all symbols. Enabling HarfBuzz support improves auto-hinting in OpenType fonts. This causes the change in the Last Resort test image since that is an OpenType font.
To compare the test images on this PR with the current state of the
text-overhaulbranch, you can use this link https://github.com/QuLogic/matplotlib/compare/text-overhaul-figures..ft214 but unfortunately it also shows all the other images, so you need to look at the few images from this PR specifically.PR checklist