Bug#701109: Processed: [bts-link] source package iceweasel

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2013-03-14 17:06:25 +0000, Debian Bug Tracking System wrote:
> Processing commands for control at bugs.debian.org:
> > #
> > # bts-link upstream status pull for source package iceweasel
> > # see http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel-announce/2006/05/msg00001.html
> > #
> > user bts-link-upstream at lists.alioth.debian.org
> Setting user to bts-link-upstream at lists.alioth.debian.org (was bts-link-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org).
> > # remote status report for #701109 (http://bugs.debian.org/701109)
> > # Bug title: iceweasel: pdf.js (PDF preview) should render pages correctly even when browser.display.use_document_fonts=0
> > #  * https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=738627
> > #  * remote status changed: (?) -> RESOLVED
> > #  * remote resolution changed: (?) -> WONTFIX
> > #  * upstream said bug is wontfix
> > tags 701109 + upstream wontfix
> Bug #701109 [iceweasel] iceweasel: pdf.js (PDF preview) should render pages correctly even when browser.display.use_document_fonts=0
> Added tag(s) wontfix.
> > usertags 701109 + status-RESOLVED resolution-WONTFIX
> There were no usertags set.
> Usertags are now: resolution-WONTFIX status-RESOLVED.

Upstream doesn't want to fix the bug for completely stupid reasons,
making PDF files unreadable. But I really think that this should be
fixed on the Debian side.

Upstream thinks that if the user doesn't want to use the document
fonts for HTML, the same rule should be followed for PDF files.

Here's my reply:

I do not use document fonts for *HTML* pages because they usually
render with a better quality with my own choices. And HTML pages are
based on Unicode, so that not using the document fonts won't make a
page unreadable. For PDF, this is completely the opposite: special
characters (e.g. in math formulas) are specific to the PDF file, so
that the font in the PDF MUST be used (I suppose that this is in the
PDF spec), otherwise the PDF is unreadable; moreover even with
standard characters, if a font is replaced by another one in a PDF,
the rendering can be ugly because a part of the layout has already
been done (this is not the case with HTML).

Another difference: With PDF, you don't have the choice: the fonts are
necessarily downloaded with the file. With HTML, you can avoid that,
e.g. with slow connections or if you are paying for communication
(e.g. via GSM).

And if the user doesn't want to use the fonts from the PDF document
(but who would want that? Most PDF viewers don't even offer such a
choice), a new config option could be introduced for this purpose.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent at vinc17.net> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <http://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)