Current Thunderbird 102.2.2 screen/fonts issues

English Network/Internet
#1

Hi there,

I just installed the current update to 102.2.2 for Thunderbird on LP 15.4 and now have some issues with fonts, e.g. no date shown in the date fields and no spaces between words, all words, everywhere without spaces, e.g. like “thisissomemessagetext” instead of “this is some message text”.

What catches my eye is these error messages in terminal:


[2022-09-19T22:07:54Z ERROR webrender::platform::unix::font] Unable to set glyph size and transform: 23
[GFX1-]: Unable to set glyph size and transform: 23
[2022-09-19T22:07:54Z ERROR webrender::platform::unix::font] Unable to set glyph size and transform: 23
Missing chrome or resource URL: resource:///modules/MailConstants.jsm
Missing chrome or resource URL: resource:///modules/MailConstants.sys.mjs
Missing chrome or resource URL: resource:///modules/MailConstants.jsm
Missing chrome or resource URL: resource:///modules/MailConstants.sys.mjs
[GFX1-]: Unable to set glyph size and transform: 23
[2022-09-19T22:07:56Z ERROR webrender::platform::unix::font] Unable to set glyph size and transform: 23

According to google there are known issues, but didn´t find any workaround.
Closing TB does not work properly as well, have to SIGTERM it.

Thanks for any hints!

#2

Some more investigation tells, this has to do with some new “webrender” engine in TB which is now mandatory with 102.2.2 and was not enabled by default in previous versions.

#3

I am on Thunderbird and running 102.2.2 (64-bit) I see and everything is working properly. It would be good to hear from somebody else if he/she is also seeing problems for LEAP 15.4 or not.

I found Thunderbird 91.2.0 has blurry fonts that are hard to read.

Based on that: Did you try with “gfx.webrender.force-disabled”?

#4

The fact that TB won’t terminate is odd, if you start TB from a terminal, then immediately attempt to close TB using ctrl-q is anything of interest shown in the terminal?

Also running TB Version: 102.2.2-lp154.1.1 on Leap 15.4 with no problems.

Are you by any chance using Wayland?

Try TB in “Troubleshoot Mode”:
Settings -> Help -> Troubleshoot Mode

Rather lengthy but worth a try to eliminate completely your TB profile, with TB closed rename “~/.thunderbird/”, then start TB and set up a fresh profile.

#5

I found the root of the issue now, it affects only people who have enabled emoji support for console/terminal in

/etc/fonts/local.conf

The offending entry in /etc/fonts/local.conf is this:


<match target="pattern"> 
                <edit name="family" mode="prepend"> 
                <string>Noto Color Emoji</string> 
                </edit> 
</match>

The workaround is to delete these lines.

That problem is known in Thunderbird, they also showed this workaround:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1565588#c29

And, if someone wonders, how would I enable emoji support for VT/console, this is what you need in
/etc/fonts/local.conf (and of course the Noto emoji font need to be installed). But, as we know now, this causes TB to show font issues.


$ cat /etc/fonts/local.conf
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<!-- /etc/fonts/local.conf file for local customizations -->
<fontconfig>
<match target="font">
                <edit mode="assign" name="rgba">
                <const>rgb</const>
                </edit>
        </match>
        <match target="font">
                <edit mode="assign" name="hinting">
                <bool>true</bool>
                </edit>
        </match>
        <match target="font">
                <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
                <const>hintfull</const>
                </edit>
        </match>
        <match target="font">
                <edit mode="assign" name="antialias">
                <bool>true</bool>
                </edit>
        </match>
        <match target="font">
                <edit mode="assign" name="lcdfilter">
                <const>lcddefault</const>
                </edit>
        </match>
        <match target="font">
                <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
                <bool>false</bool>
                </edit>
        </match>
        <match target="pattern"> 
                <edit name="family" mode="prepend"> 
                <string>Noto Color Emoji</string> 
                </edit> 
        </match> 

</fontconfig>

I chose a more elegant workaround for now, I have an AppArmor profile for Thunderbird and I blocked access to /etc/fonts/local.conf there, so I can leave emoji support enabled and have TB work correctly the same time.

#6

No, not using Wayland. BTw, any plans there forcing users to migrate to Wayland?

The fonts issue is now solved (“worked around”), but quitting still does not work properly.

This is terminal output, when starting and closing TB, all addons disabled.


$ thunderbird --safe-mode
ATTENTION: default value of option mesa_glthread overridden by environment.
ATTENTION: option value of option mesa_glthread ignored.

(thunderbird:15618): Gtk-WARNING **: 22:35:47.389: Theme directory panel/22 of theme elementary_git has no size field


(thunderbird:15618): Gtk-WARNING **: 22:35:47.389: Theme directory panel/24 of theme elementary_git has no size field


(thunderbird:15618): Gtk-WARNING **: 22:35:47.389: Theme directory panel/48 of theme elementary_git has no size field

Interesting, closing takes very long and it is still running:


$ ps aux | grep -i thunder
foobar+ 15618  8.7  1.2 3572196 421792 pts/3  Sl+  22:35   0:36 /usr/lib64/thunderbird/thunderbird-bin --safe-mode

Next is trying with a new, empty profile.

#7

Holy ##!1$$!, started the new profile wizard, did not completely configure a new profile, but quit again, and… it closed correctly.
So that quit issue seems to be my (several GB sized) profile, maybe TB doing some cleanup work that takes ages and leaves the impression it does not quit?