[Bug 1891733] Re: Support better Arabic font

[Timo Aaltonen]

Hello Gunnar, or anyone else affected,

Accepted language-selector into focal-proposed. The package will build
now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/language-
selector/0.204.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package.  See
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation on how
to enable and use -proposed.  Your feedback will aid us getting this
update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug,
mentioning the version of the package you tested, what testing has been
performed on the package and change the tag from verification-needed-
focal to verification-done-focal. If it does not fix the bug for you,
please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-
failed-focal. In either case, without details of your testing we will
not be able to proceed.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification .  Thank you in
advance for helping!

N.B. The updated package will be released to -updates after the bug(s)
fixed by this package have been verified and the package has been in
-proposed for a minimum of 7 days.

** Changed in: language-selector (Ubuntu Focal)
       Status: In Progress => Fix Committed

** Tags added: verification-needed verification-needed-focal

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1891733

Title:
  Support better Arabic font

Status in Ubuntu Seeds:
  New
Status in language-selector package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in language-selector source package in Focal:
  Fix Committed
Status in language-selector source package in Groovy:
  Fix Released

Bug description:
  [Impact]

  Arabic speaking users have requested better rendering of Arabic. This
  proposed upload addresses that wish. Related discussion is being held
  at <https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/14573>.

  So how is this an SRUable bug fix and not just an enhancement which
  should go to -backports? Well, currently, if you install the Arabic
  language via Language Support, a couple of Arabic fonts packages are
  pulled. But even if you set an Arabic locale, those fonts won't make a
  difference. The explanation is that DejaVu fonts, which also are able
  to render Arabic, have higher fontconfig precedence. The user must
  mess with fontconfig themselves to change the effective font, which is
  a bug. (I can't tell if it ever worked as intended.)

  So to summarize: This is a combination of a bug fix and an
  enhancement.

  [Test Case]

  * Install the language-selector-{gnome,common} packages
    from focal-proposed.

  * Open the Language Support tool and install Arabic.

  * Open a terminal window and run this command:

    LC_CTYPE=ar_EG.UTF-8 fc-match -a | head -10

  * Find that Noto fonts are at the top of the list.

  [Regression risk]

  This will change the effective font for rendering Arabic for some
  users. But the user experience will be improved in those cases, not
  the opposite.

  The change in font will only happen for users with an Arabic locale.
  The risk that other users would be affected by the change is low.

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