i3bar does not seem to have subpixel rendering

[prempaolo]

I'm submitting a…

[x] Bug
[ ] Feature Request
[ ] Documentation Request
[ ] Other (Please describe in detail)

Current Behavior

The main problem is that i3bar does not seem to render fonts using subpixel rendering. I tried to make a comparison with another bar (lemonbar), which instead seems to work fine. I encounter this problem only on i3bar, all my other applications work as expected. I tried to modify the .Xresources file, but it does not work. If I change, for example, the dpi value in that file, I see the effects on i3bar, so I know that it will look for settings in the .Xresources. The content of such file is the following:

Xft.autohint: 0
Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight
Xft.hinting: 1
Xft.antialias: 1
Xft.rgba: rgb

I don't know if this is a bug or I am missing some configuration, but I cannot find a way to make it work.

Expected Behavior

i3bar should render fonts using subpixel rendering, resulting in a sharper result of the characters.

Reproduction Instructions

As I already mentioned, I don't know if this is a bug or I misconfigured something, but it affects only i3bar every time I start it.

Environment

Output of i3 --moreversion 2>&-:

i3 version: 
Binary i3 version:  4.16 (2018-11-04) © 2009 Michael Stapelberg and contributors
Running i3 version: 4.16 (2018-11-04) (pid 586)to abort…)
Loaded i3 config: /home/paolo/.config/i3/config (Last modified: Mon 28 Jan 2019 12:04:02 AM CET, 38239 seconds ago)

The i3 binary you just called: /usr/bin/i3
The i3 binary you are running: i3

This is the part in the i3 config where I set the font and the bar:

font pango:Hack Nerd Font Mono 7
bar {
	font pango:Hack Nerd Font Mono 9
	colors {
			background $darkblack
			statusline $darkwhite
			separator $cyan
			focused_workspace  $blue $darkblue $darkblack
			active_workspace   $blue $blue $darkwhite
			inactive_workspace $darkblack $darkblack $white
			#urgent_workspace   $darkblack $darkblack $white
		}
	status_command i3blocks
	position top
	mode dock
	modifier None
}

I followed the guide to debug i3bar but the only log I found in the file is the following:

ERROR block_reap:328: [record] bad exit code 1

- Linux Distribution & Version:
                   -`                    paolo@arch
                  .o+`                   ----------------
                 `ooo/                   OS: Arch Linux x86_64
                `+oooo:                  Host: K56CB 1.0
               `+oooooo:                 Kernel: 4.20.3-arch1-1-ARCH
               -+oooooo+:                Uptime: 11 hours, 19 mins
             `/:-:++oooo+:               Packages: 1447 (pacman)
            `/++++/+++++++:              Shell: bash 5.0.0
           `/++++++++++++++:             Resolution: 1366x768
          `/+++ooooooooooooo/`           WM: i3
         ./ooosssso++osssssso+`          Theme: Adwaita [GTK2], oomox-gruvbox-numix [GTK3]
        .oossssso-````/ossssss+`         Icons: Adwaita [GTK2], oomox-gruvbox-numix [GTK3]
       -osssssso.      :ssssssso.        Terminal: st
      :osssssss/        osssso+++.       Terminal Font: Hack Nerd Font
     /ossssssss/        +ssssooo/-       CPU: Intel i7-3517U (4) @ 3.000GHz
   `/ossssso+/:-        -:/+osssso+-     GPU: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controll
  `+sso+:-`                 `.-/+oso:    GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M
 `++:.                           `-/+/   Memory: 4081MiB / 7861MiB
 .`                                 `/
- Are you using a compositor (e.g., xcompmgr or compton): yes, compton

[i3bot]

I don’t see a link to logs.i3wm.org. Did you follow https://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html? (In case you actually provided a link to a logfile, please ignore me.)

[mzanibelli]

Hi @prempaolo ,

Do you have freetype2-cleartype installed? Is seems to be needed on Arch.

[prempaolo]

Hi,
yes, I have it installed and I tried both with freetype2 in the official repos and freetype2-cleartype in the AUR.

[mzanibelli]

Then I'd recommend testing it with i3status instead of i3blocks. Don't forget to restart X between your tests!

[prempaolo]

I tried also with i3status and every time I made a change in a file, I rebooted the system to check if it was working. Unfortunately, no results yet!

[mzanibelli]

Weird.

Seems to work for me with the mentionned package, Source Code Pro Regular 11 and the following fonts.conf:

    <match target="font">
        <edit mode="assign" name="antialias">
            <bool>true</bool>
        </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="embeddedbitmap">
            <bool>false</bool>
        </edit>
        <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
            <bool>false</bool>
        </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="hinting">
            <bool>true</bool>
        </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle">
            <const>hintslight</const>
        </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="lcdfilter">
            <const>lcddefault</const>
        </edit>
        <edit mode="assign" name="rgba">
            <const>rgb</const>
        </edit>
    </match>

[prempaolo]

I tried with your exact config and font but the result is the same. The weird thing is that I see this problem only with i3bar!

[orestisf1993]

Please run i3bar like this and upload the output: i3bar --bar_id=bar-0 -V

[prempaolo]

Here it is:
https://pastebin.com/p1xq0dRj