[Bug 2000551] Re: [System Fonts] Replace default sinhala font from LKLUG to Noto

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

> so this is not the expected solution :(

It's the solution we are able to offer ATM.

Please understand:

* It's not an option in the short run to install fonts-noto-core for all
Ubuntu users. At the moment that package gets installed as a language
support component for certain languages, including Sinhala due to the
fix of this bug. We deal with e.g. Arabic in a similar way.

* As a consequence of that, the user needs to tell the system somehow
that they want the relevant Sinhala language support. They can do so by:

- selecting Sinhala lanaguage in the installer,
- Go to Settings -> Region & Language -> Manage Installed Languages
  and install the Sinhala language from there, or
- simply install fonts-noto-core manually.

* It's unlikely that a package which installs only the Sinhala Noto
*.ttf files would be approved in Debian/Ubuntu, since those files are
already provided by fonts-noto-core.

It's worth mentioning that everybody is not happy with the packaging of
Noto fonts:

https://bugs.debian.org/983291

There is indeed work to be done in order to improve the selection of
fonts provided for Ubuntu by default, and the way the Noto fonts are
packaged makes that harder. In the future we will hopefully be able to
improve all this, but in the short run this is as long as we will get as
regards e.g. Sinhala.

HTH

** Bug watch added: Debian Bug tracker #983291
   https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=983291

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2000551

Title:
  [System Fonts] Replace default sinhala font from LKLUG to Noto

Status in language-selector package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in ubuntu-meta package in Ubuntu:
  Won't Fix
Status in language-selector source package in Jammy:
  Fix Released
Status in language-selector source package in Kinetic:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [ Impact ]

  The current default font for Sinhala (LKLUG) is unmaintained and comes
  with issues. Noto offers Sinhala fonts with significantly higher
  quality.

  fonts-lklug-sinhala is pulled by quite a few meta packages. Instead of
  changing that, the proposed change makes fontconfig give Noto Sans
  Sinhala respective Noto Serif Sinhala higher precedence than LKLUG,
  and that — together with installation of fonts-noto-core — seems to be
  sufficient to achieve the desired result.

  [ Test Plan ]

  * Install language-selector-[common,gnome] from
  [jammy,kinetic]-proposed.

  * Open Language Support and install the Sinhala language.

  * Open a terminal window and run this command:

    fc-match -a | grep -E 'LKLUG|Sinhala'

  * Confirm that Noto Sans Sinhala is listed before LKLUG.

  * Close Firefox and re-open it.

  * Visit e.g. https://si.wikipedia.org and confirm the
    improvement. (Also I (Gunnar), who don't speak Sinhala,
    notice a remarkable difference.)

  [ Where problems could occur ]

  No real problem in sight. Some Sinhala speaking users with fonts-noto-
  core installed will indeed see a surprise change when it starts to
  render Sinhala via Noto fonts instead of LKLUG. But that surprise
  ought to make them happy. :)

  Please note Robie Basak's warning about the changed font metrics in
  comment #7, though.

  [ Original description ]

  **What's the problem?**

  Currently ubuntu comes with LKLUG font for sinhala (si). it's not
  clear. e.g. we cannot recognize vowel signs and read websites using
  that font. We can change it manually but such changes do not apply to
  some applications or application types e.g. snap apps etc.

  LKLUG (last active: 2012) no one maintain it now.
  https://web.archive.org/web/20220000000000*/http://www.lug.lk/
  http://www.lug.lk/fonts/lklug

  **What expected to happen?**

  We would like to see Noto serif sinhala as the default font for sinhala language
  https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Serif+Sinhala
  [Highlighs: clear (readable), thin, takes less space than sans sinhala]

  If noto sans is more suitable for ubuntuOS, you can add noto sans sinhala https://fonts.google.com/noto/specimen/Noto+Sans+Sinhala
  [Highlighs: clear (readable), thick, takes more space than serif sinhala]

  **Additional details**

  Screenshots (see the difference: LKLUG/Noto)

  LKLUG
  https://i.ibb.co/nbHM5Mw/lklug.jpg

  Noto Sinhala
  https://i.ibb.co/k9dbtYb/noto.jpg

  If you need more examples or clarifications, please add a comment

  Random posts
  1. https://groups.google.com/g/Sinhala-Unicode/c/LYxuJ44dY3g
  2. https://twitter.com/thilinag/status/1598707165920825344#m (LKLUG bug with some apps)
  3. https://www.reddit.com/r/srilanka/comments/nzpl9p/change_sinhala_font_in_ubuntu/

  Also, some developers already have designed tools, scripts for that problem however many people do not try to find these scripts and switch to other OS
  1. https://github.com/IMS94/UbuntuSinhalaFont (developer: PMC chair @apache)
  2. https://gist.github.com/thilinag/66577033fafd00c3dfdaa898c2478c79
  3. https://github.com/hankyoTutorials/linux-system-sinhala-font-changer

  Please review details, screenshots and posts. This is not a personal
  opinion and atleast, i expect to see this change in the next interim
  or LTS release.

  Furthermore, please let me know if i can help to speed-up this
  replacement process

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