Freetype 2.6.5 along with libcairo

[up-to-you]

There are a lot of debates, flames and bugs according to new freetype v40 engine. Sure, FREETYPE_PROPERTIES is a right way, but only sometimes, since far from all processes inherits env variables.

So, the best way to have clear readable fonts that are similar to 16.04.* Ubuntu versions is a 2.6.5 libfreetype, that put maximum effort for v35 until 2.7 released.

You can just compare fonts using VM with 16.04 distro as well and the difference is incredible. I just tried to substitute /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libfreetype.so.6.16.1 with libfreetype.so.6.12.5, that i got from Fedora rpm package (currently on Ubuntu 18.10 with freetype 2.9.1), but the problem is in corresponding libcairo that is much newer than 2.6.5 freetype. I don't know what libcairo version to use with 2.6.5 freetype.

Can you please assist or even deliver 2.6.5 with right libcairo package versions ?

Thanks in advance!

P.s. i do not possess enough financial income for 4k laptop to solve freetype v40 engine quirks (sure, i tried every prop in /etc/fonts/local.conf)

[achaphiv]

Freetype 2.6.5 on the recent distributions is likely not going to happen.

I vaguely recall that some core system packages rely on the newer freetype (v2.7+) APIs, so it's not possible to downgrade freetype without also downgrading all those dependencies.

I'm not sure what you mean by v35 vs v40.

Are you saying that export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES=truetype:interpreter-version=35 produces different results?

[up-to-you]

I solved the issue by compiling freetype.so.6.16.1 with patches that delivers aur repository (freetype-v35) and substituted current one at /usr/lib/... with newly compiled.

As a result - i can emphasize much better fonts rendering.

But, patches involves several fixes , including cleartype subpixels anti-aliasing, so, unfortunately, i can't confirm anything about v35 hinting engine.