RStudio won't detect Firacode on Ubuntu 20.04

EeethB · December 4, 2020, 9:23pm

Related to these 3:

I've installed Firacode using every method I can find, but RStudio can't detect it (It's not available in Tools -> Global Options -> Appearance). I've tried all the fixes in the three links above, but nothing has worked. I've restarted RStudio and my computer. fc-list | grep "fira" returns the path to several OTF files in /usr/share/fonts/opentype/firacode

Any help is greatly appreciated! I'm working on reading through the RStudio source code to see where fonts are loaded, but I don't know java, so it's been slow. If anyone has found another way to get this to work, I would love to hear it!

josecasasn · December 4, 2020, 9:50pm

What worked for me with the JetBrains Mono font (also couldn't get it to work) is that I installed a different version of it that didn't include ligatures and then RStudio detected it with no problem.

EeethB · December 4, 2020, 10:22pm

Thanks for the response! I'm mainly trying it out to see how I like the ligatures, so I'm really hoping to find a solution that keeps them. But I do like the font itself, so maybe I will still try it out. Thanks again!

kevinushey · December 9, 2020, 5:52pm

Do you also see this issue with the current preview release?

If so, would you mind filing this as a bug report at https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues, so we can try to investigate further?

kevinushey · December 9, 2020, 5:55pm

For extra context, this is where we build the list of fonts to be used by RStudio:

github.com

rstudio/rstudio/blob/fd8b30c42efbd329ce8171cf7dec7fea662b192f/src/cpp/desktop/DesktopInfo.cpp#L109-L131


if (desktop::options().useFontConfigDatabase())
{
   // if fontconfig is installed, we can use it to query monospace
   // fonts using its own cache (and it should be much more performant
   // than asking Qt to build the font database on demand)
   core::system::ProcessOptions options;
   core::system::ProcessResult result;
   Error error = core::system::runCommand(
            "fc-list :spacing=100 -f '%{family}\n' | cut -d ',' -f 1 | sort | uniq",
            options,
            &result);

   bool didReturnFonts =
         !error &&
         result.exitStatus == EXIT_SUCCESS &&
         !result.stdOut.empty();

   if (didReturnFonts)
   {
      s_fixedWidthFontList = QString::fromStdString(result.stdOut);

This file has been truncated. show original

So, the output of the following would likely be helpful:

fc-list :spacing=100 -f '%{family}\n' | cut -d ',' -f 1 | sort | uniq

EeethB · December 10, 2020, 5:57am

Thank you, Kevin! I appreciate the context, and I will check the preview release and file the issue.

$ fc-list :spacing=100 -f '%{family}\n' | cut -d ',' -f 1 | sort | uniq
Courier 10 Pitch
DejaVu Sans Mono
FreeMono
Hasklig
Liberation Mono
Mitra Mono
Nimbus Mono PS
Noto Color Emoji
Noto Mono
Tlwg Mono
Tlwg Typo
Ubuntu Mono

EeethB · December 11, 2020, 9:38am

While working on filing this issue, I actually found this one:

github.com/rstudio/rstudio

Support dual/charcell-spaced editor fonts (e.g. Fira Code)

opened 02:15PM - 16 May 20 UTC

closed 12:25AM - 26 Feb 21 UTC

salim-b

enhancement desktop integration

### System details RStudio Edition : Desktop RStudio Version : 1.3.959 ([U…buntu 18/Debian 10 package](https://download1.rstudio.org/desktop/bionic/amd64/rstudio-1.3.959-amd64.deb)) OS Version : Linux (Ubuntu 20.04) R Version : 4.0.0 ### Steps to reproduce the problem 1. Install RStudio. 2. [Install Fira Code](https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode/wiki/Installing), either [manually](https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode/wiki/Linux-instructions#manual-installation) or by issuing ```sh sudo apt install fonts-firacode ``` 3. Open RStudio, go to <kbd>Tools</kbd>→<kbd>Global Options...</kbd>→<kbd>Appearance</kbd> and try to select `Fira Code` as _Editor font_ (it doesn't show up!). ### Describe the problem in detail RStudio detects available monospace fonts on Linux using this command: https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/blob/30aa1f83a276c19fb2212e562b436b0086fa4ef2/src/cpp/desktop/DesktopInfo.cpp#L117 <sub>(`fc-list :spacing=100` is equivalent to `fc-list :spacing=mono` or just `fc-list :mono`)</sub> The problem is, that there are also so called "dual-width" and "charcell" (i.e. multiple-width) fonts (recent versions of [Fira Code](https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode/) or [Terminus](http://terminus-font.sourceforge.net/) for example) which are **not** listed by the `:spacing=100` option **but** `:spacing=90` (or the equivalent `:spacing=dual` or just `:dual`) and `:spacing=110` (or the equivalent `:spacing=charcell` or just `:charcell`). Possible `spacing` values in fontconfig are described [here](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/fontconfig/fontconfig-user.html): Constant | Property | Value -------- | -------- | ----- proportional | spacing | 0 dual | spacing | 90 mono | spacing | 100 charcell | spacing | 110 Imortant in this context: > [spacing is not set by the font. Spacing is calculated from actual glyph sizes in the font file by fontconfig](https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty/issues/1968#issuecomment-531437076) ### Describe the behavior you expected I expected dual-width fonts like Fira Code and charcell fonts like Terminus to show up by default in RStudio. ### Solution I think the proper way to support dual-width and charcell fonts would be to change [line 117 of `src/cpp/desktop/DesktopInfo.cpp`](https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/blob/master/src/cpp/desktop/DesktopInfo.cpp#L117) to something like: ```sh "{ fc-list :mono -f '%{family}\n' & fc-list :dual -f '%{family}\n' & fc-list :charcell -f '%{family}\n'; } | cut -d ',' -f 1 | sort | uniq", ``` ### Workaround For now, a possible ("hackish") workaround is to [overwrite the `spacing` of the desired font to `100` (`mono`) using a custom fontconfig `.conf` file](https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode/issues/840#issuecomment-531471498). ### See also - https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues/3862 - https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/issues/3909 - [Rethinking the spacing detection: Dual Width => Multiple width](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/fontconfig/fontconfig/issues/176) ---  - [x] I have read the guide to submitting good bug reports at https://github.com/rstudio/rstudio/wiki/Writing-Good-Bug-Reports . - [x] I have installed the latest version of RStudio and confirmed that the issue still persists. - [x] If I am reporting a RStudio crash, I have included a diagnostics report. https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/200321257-Running-a-Diagnostics-Report - [x] I have done my best to include a minimal, self-contained set of instructions for consistently reproducing the issue.

It looks like Fira Code is being filtered out by the :spacing=100 step.

$ fc-list :spacing=90 -f '%{family}\n' | cut -d ',' -f 1 | sort | uniq
Fira Code

system · January 1, 2021, 9:38am

This topic was automatically closed 21 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

If you have a query related to it or one of the replies, start a new topic and refer back with a link.