Setting FONTCONFIG_FILE golbally causes issues in other programs using fontconfig

[Ede123]

This is not an actual bug in Demeter but I think it would be good to let you know anyway:
Demeter does not play well with others! 😉

I just noticed you set the environment variable FONTCONFIG_FILE on Windows (I think here and here) which causes compatibility issues with other applications using fontconfig.

Specifically I'm a developer of the Inkscape project and this issue has already caused a few bugreports (https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1697681, https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1709729 and likely https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1662293).

I'm not sure if this issue is caused by an incompatible fonts.conf file or if it happens if Demeter is uninstalled (maybe it leaves the environment variable behind?), but maybe it's worth to look into solutions that do not need to set a global environment variable at all.

[bruceravel]

Wow! My little project is having an impact on a real software project. How 'bout that!

I'm not sure what to say about this other than "hmm ... that's kind of embarassing" and "frickin' Windows".

I see that I do have my installer (done using Inno Setup) hardwired to change that environment variable. I think there is an easy fix -- I can set that variable in the bat files that get called by the desktop/start menu icons. That is, set it for the instance of the program rather than globally at install time.

Obviously, it is going to take a while to make this problem go away completely. FWIW, I'll make an announcement on our mailing list.

Sorry for being a hassle. I love Inkscape -- I use it a lot, both as a scientist making figures for publication and as a hobbyist board game designer. So thanks for that!

[bruceravel]

FYI, announcement on mailing list : http://millenia.cars.aps.anl.gov/pipermail/ifeffit/2017-August/009212.html

[Ede123]

Hey, thanks for your quick response and don't worry, stuff like this happens... (I know it first hand how exhausting it can be to get your program working on Windows).

Inkscape does not exactly handle this graciously either (crashing because it can not find a config file?!?), so this has also found a place on my todo list and I guess the small amount of users using both programs at the same time can now properly be supported in case they hit this issue.