FreeType
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| Developer(s) | FreeType contributors |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 2.4.8 / November 15, 2011[1] |
| Written in | C |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Font rasterization |
| License | GNU General Public License / FreeType License |
| Website | http://freetype.org/ |
FreeType is a software library written in C that implements a font rasterization engine. It is used to render text on to bitmaps and provides support for other font-related operations.
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[edit] Details
The main authors of FreeType are or were David Turner, Robert Wilhelm, and Werner Lemberg.[2][3]
FreeType works with an assortment of font formats, including TrueType, Type 1, and OpenType.[4]
FreeType is released under two free software licenses: the GNU General Public License or a permissive license with an acknowledgment clause similar to that of the current license of XFree86 (the acknowledgment clause renders it incompatible with version 2 of the GNU GPL, though it is compatible with GPL version 3). The library can thus be used by any kind of project, be it proprietary or not. As well as being used by the major free software desktop systems, FreeType has been used as a rasterization engine for modern video games,[5] and Opera for the Wii.[6]
In 2007, Sun Microsystems switched from using a proprietary font rasterizer to using FreeType in the OpenJDK Java development kit.
[edit] Versions
- FreeType 1.X
- "Is a portable and highly efficient TrueType rendering engine."[7]
- FreeType 2.X
- "FreeType 2 is a software font engine that is designed to be small, efficient, highly customizable, and portable while capable of producing high-quality output (glyph images)." [4] "The FreeType 2 API is a lot simpler than the one in 1.x while being much more powerful. (...) It is not backwards compatible with FreeType 1.X. However, transition from 1.X to 2 should be rather straightforward." [8]
Summary of the main differences ([9], [10]):
- The algorithms of FreeType 2 are an evolution, simpler and more powerful than FreeType 1;
- The objective of FreeType 1 is only support the TrueType format (while FreeType 2 supports a lot more), and it includes an extension to support OpenType text layout processing;
- The text layout processing is not an objective of FreeType 2 (it has been moved to a distinct project, called "FreeType Layout" and now part of the Pango library).
[edit] Font Hinting patent conflict
Some free software distributions of Linux, including Fedora, have included FreeType with font hinting functionality disabled or degraded to avoid the issue of software patents held by Apple Incorporated.[11] Because a goal of free software by nature is that it be easily shared, software patents render this goal unreachable to users in countries which enforce software patents.
Since May 2010, the last of all conflicting software patents expired,[11] allowing FreeType's TrueType font hinter to be used in free software. Many of the operating systems which disabled the renderer now give the user the option to enable it. In Fedora, freetype-freeworld was switched from the proprietary yum repository to the free repository.[citation needed]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "FreeType 2.4.8 has been released". 2011-11-15. http://freetype.sourceforge.net/index2.html#release-freetype-2.4.8. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
- ^ "Interview with David Turner of Freetype". OSNews. June 28, 2007. doi:story/18166. http://www.osnews.com/story/18166/Interview-with-David-Turner-of-Freetype/. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
- ^ "The FreeType Project LICENSE" (text). FreeType. January 27, 2006. http://www.freetype.org/FTL.TXT. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
- ^ a b "FreeType 2 Overview". FreeType 2. SourceForge, Inc.. July 4, 2010. Features. http://freetype.sourceforge.net/freetype2/index.html#features. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
- ^ Games company Relic Entertainment has used FreeType for their games Dawn of War and Company of Heroes, as can be seen in the credits on the loading screens.
- ^ Opera 9 for the Wii console uses FreeType, as can be seen by looking at the "Third-party information" page which can be found on the Wii via: Internet Channel > Operations Guide > About > Opera 9 for Wii — Third-party information
- ^ http://www.freetype.org/freetype1/
- ^ "FreeType 2 FAQ". FreeType 2. http://www.freetype.org/freetype2/docs/ft2faq.html. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
- ^ http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/documentation/freetype-2.1.9/docs/ft2faq.html#general-freetype1
- ^ http://www.experts123.com/q/what-are-the-differences-between-freetype-1.x-and-freetype-2.html
- ^ a b "FreeType and Patents". FreeType. SourceForge, Inc.. July 4, 2010. http://www.freetype.org/patents.html. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
[edit] External links
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