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benwiggy Author

Level 4

1,479 points

Font problems after 10.6.7

I'm getting lots of strange behaviour relating to fonts since updating to 10.6.7. This is all in things that used to work perfectly.
PostScript output causes errors in Distiller (problems in font definitions); and manipulating PDF objects can cause embedded fonts to become .... unembedded.

As I understand it, there were lots of security fixes to font handling in the update, but it seems to have caused loads of trouble.

The developers for an app I use, Imposition Wizard, have confirmed that things aren't working as they are supposed to and have filed bug reports with Apple.

However, as I do a lot of work with PostScript and PDFs, I will have to reinstall the OS to 10.6.6.

iMac 2006 2Ghz, Mac OS X (10.6.7), MacBook 2008

Posted on Mar 22, 2011 3:07 PM

424 replies

KJK555

Level 4

2,900 points

Apr 13, 2011 6:40 PM in response to R C-R

According to some engineers we are both wrong, ATS stands for “Apple Type Solution”.

I Guess only Apple knows for sure, nevertheless, Open type fonts are processed
as well by the ATS module. I suspect Matteo Cacciari's MyriadPro font problem may be the
result of a corrupt font cache or other issue. If not, then the problem runs deeper than the
ATS module and the only cure (at the moment) is going to be a return to 10.6.6.

Kj

Apr 14, 2011 12:38 AM in response to benwiggy

Rather than reverting to 10.6.7, if you have Acrobat Pro, you can print to a postscript file and then use Distiller to generate the PDF. I've tested this with Word docs that were failing via all the other routes and it works.

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Apr 14, 2011 1:56 AM in response to KJK555

From table B-3 of Mac OS X Technology Overview: Mac OS X Frameworks:

+ATS.framework -- Contains interfaces for font layout and management using Apple Type Services.+

From what I can tell from poking around in /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ ATS.framework, it primary provides font validation services like checking fonts for "parsability." Its resources folder also contains copies of a few protected system fonts like LucidaGrande or LastResort & a "Font Info" folder. Curiously, all the references I can find in it are to Windows or Datafork TrueType fonts -- lots of fonts mentioned by name but no OpenType ones I can find.

The header info for table B-3 also suggests that group of frameworks is primarily for support of older carbon apps, so it seems possible it actually has little or nothing to do with OpenType fonts, but I am far from certain about that.

BTW, something else I'm not certain about probably needs to be mentioned. As much as some users might appreciate it, I think redistributing Apple code, including installer packages extracted from the OS or its updates, is a violation of Apple's software licensing agreement. A safer approach, legally speaking, would be to post instructions on how to extract & install the packages from copies users obtain from Apple, for instance with Pacifist.

Apr 14, 2011 2:37 AM in response to R C-R

BTW, something else I'm not certain about probably needs to be mentioned. As much as some users might appreciate it, I think redistributing Apple code, including installer packages extracted from the OS or its updates, is a violation of Apple's software licensing agreement. A safer approach, legally speaking, would be to post instructions on how to extract & install the packages from copies users obtain from Apple, for instance with Pacifist.

Help me understand this then, how can it be a violation when the Combi-update is offered to the public domain and NOT sold as a private update or app? For instance, to obtain the update, I all I had to do was follow the link, to obtain the original OS, I had to go to the store and purchase it. I fail to see how, in this instance, if someone creates an installer that only works on a very specific item that you have to have in order that it even works, how is that different from me doing the same thing myself? The distribution to some other person who does not own a mac or the latest OS would find this installer completely useless. But yes, I get it, Apples agreements are tighter than a drum, and if I actually read the bleeping thing, I would say oh yea, sure, don't do it, make me follow the free link and get the app myself, I also pose this, isn't extracting 1 part of the whole also a violation? The very use of Pacifist would be a violation of the terms I believe. Not sure why Apple bundled it with their app, makes no sense?!? In case you think me insane, here is the line from their SLA

I. You may not and you agree not to, or to enable others to, copy (except as expressly permitted by this License), decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, attempt to derive the source code of, decrypt, modify, or create derivative works of the Apple Software or any services provided by the Apple Software, or any part thereof (except as and only to the extent any foregoing restriction is prohibited by applicable law or to the extent as may be permitted by licensing terms governing use of Open-Sourced Components). You agree to use the Apple Software and the Services (as defined in Section 5 below) in compliance with all applicable laws, including local laws of the country or region in which you reside or in which you download or use the Apple Software and Services.

Wow, that sucts!

Message was edited by: British31

Message was edited by: British31

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Apr 14, 2011 3:37 AM in response to British31

I am no lawyer & as I said I'm not certain about this, but I know Apple is very strict about not allowing any third party sites to distribute its OS software directly, in whole or in part. (For instance MacUpdate, CNet, etc. all link to Apple download URL's instead of to URL's on their own servers for any Apple software they mention.)

In part, I think this is a security measure, & in part a support issue -- there is no assurance that it really is genuine, unaltered Apple software unless it comes from Apple. Regardless, the EULA states that "You may not rent, lease, lend, sell, redistribute or sublicense the Apple Software." That seems pretty air-tight to me.

As for using Pacifist, as long as you are just extracting & reinstalling Apple software that you have obtained from Apple, I don't see how that violates anything in the EULA.

Apr 14, 2011 1:34 PM in response to KJK555

Thanks for the download KJK555... your quick help allowed me to hit an otherwise impossible deadline yesterday. The only solution Apple is offering currently is to downgrade to 10.6.6.

I hope attention is given to this promptly as it's seriously effecting every deadline I have for Flash development. Files which have worked fine for months are not suddenly corrupting the fonts. I've tried every solution listed here and have even purchased a font conversion program for $99 so in the event of another emergency like this (with major deadline lingering) I'm not caught without some form of work around.

Apr 14, 2011 1:40 PM in response to Daibodhisattva

I believe that I have found a temporary workaround if you are creating documents in Pages '09. In order to print the document, save the document as a PDF to iPhoto. Then print the document from iPhoto. It is working for me so far. Let me know if it works for you!

KJK555

Level 4

2,900 points

Apr 14, 2011 2:33 PM in response to Daibodhisattva

Your welcome, I'm glad it worked for you. I'm sure Apple will respond with a solution soon
and we will all be able to get back to business as usual.

Kj

Thorzdad

Level 3

508 points

Apr 14, 2011 2:38 PM in response to KJK555

Hopefully, Apple's solution won't be "Upgrade to Lion."

Apr 15, 2011 3:35 AM in response to benwiggy

I produce a number of large reports - 160 to 200 pages with heavy graphics, using Quark 7 and now Quark 8. I use traditional Postscript fonts, not open type fonts. I then create a pdf of the report, printing to a Postscript file and using Distiller to create the final pdf. For several years these have all worked fine, until I upgraded to 10.6.7. Now occasional pages glitch - for example in one report page 78 will always output as garbled courier instead of Adobe Garamond, yet every other page will be fine. If I send the same file from my laptop which is still at 10.6.6 the page is fine. So the problem is not Open Type fonts. I have cleared caches, cleared Jaws, run Onyx, rebooted, all the usual stuff. I am reluctant to backtrack to 10.6.6 because I have heard that can break the links in Mail and Safari which were updated at the same time as 10.6.7. Let's all hope Apple sort this out soon!

Kurt Lang

Level 9

62,184 points

Apr 15, 2011 6:25 AM in response to normandienut

Hi normandienut,

Have you tried using Quark's own PDF generator? I tested it pretty thoroughly under 10.6.7, and the resulting PDFs work fine. The functions are so similar to the Distiller, that it appears Quark licensed Acrobat from Adobe to incorporate into Quark.

Choose File > Export > Layout as PDF (or Command OptionP). You don't have all of the PDF styles to pick from the Distiller offers, so that may be the only thing stopping you from using it. Choose the PDF output style you want and then click the Options button to set things such as downsampling, whether or not you want page and center marks, etc. Click the Capture Setting button. The print window will disappear.

Press Command OptionP again. You'll see that the style now says "Captured Settings". Quark will stay at those settings day in and day out until you change it. PDF files are automatically output to the size of the open document.

Apr 15, 2011 7:11 AM in response to benwiggy

Thanks for the notes on Quark pdf - I do use this for small files or non-important ones. I use - or used to use - PS files and Distiller in the past to create files for printers or for high quality laser print. The files are smaller and there are more controls available using Distiller route.

It means I will have to remake up to 20 new very large pdf files, which is annoying when I have them already made up and working fine until 10.6.7. Why should I have to spend several days recreating files at my expense when I already have them.....

I guess I will just have to set aside the time but it is very frustrating, and looking at the various threads on the internet a lot of other people feel the same about this latest upgrade.

Apple seems to be losing the plot lately with various bugs allowed through.

Thanks anyway

Les

franzzup

Level 1

0 points

Apr 17, 2011 5:31 PM in response to benwiggy

I generate PDFs (estimates and invoices) with Billings Pro and the Benton Sans Compressed Book font from Font Bureau (PostScript OpenType), and as of Mac OS X 10.6.7 these PDFs crash older versions of Apple Preview as well as Adobe Acrobat 8 and 9 on Mac and Windows. Not good!

Having created quite a few PDFs with Apple's new damaged/unorthodox font data format, I decided to look for a way to convert them back into a format that the rest of the world can understand. Here's what works for me.

- Download and install GhostScript 9.0.2 (www.ghostscript.com) and Poppler 0.16.4 (poppler.freedesktop.org). Source only, unfortunately, so you have to compile them yourself, and Poppler requires a few additional libraries. Easy if you have developer tools installed and are comfortable with the Terminal, pretty difficult otherwise. Perhaps somebody can make a tool that wraps this procedure into a nice drag-and-drop package.

- Run each damaged PDF through the following conversion sequence. Note that "pdftops" is part of the Poppler package, while "pdf2ps" and "ps2pdf" are part of GhostScript.

pdftops mypdf.pdf mypdf-poppler.ps

ps2pdf mypdf-poppler.ps mypdf-gs.pdf

pdf2ps mypdf-gs.pdf mypdf-gs.ps

ps2pdf mypdf-gs.ps mypdf-golden.pdf

The second two steps use GhostScript to take the PDF to PostScript and back again, and this is where the damaged font data gets rewritten so the final file is readable by Acrobat.

(You can in fact omit the second argument on the several command lines and overwrite the files as you go along. Please only do this if you know what you're doing.)

The first step uses Poppler to take the PDF to PostScript, and then it is converted back to PDF with GhostScript. Without this stage, I was unable to force GhostScript to use my chosen font (Benton Sans Compressed Book), no matter what I put in its configuration files. Apparently, Poppler modifies the font definition code in a way that allows GhostScript to locate the font, or else I am too stupid to set up GhostScript properly.

OTOH, converting to PostScript and back using Poppler (pdftops and pstopdf) does not eliminate the font corruption introduced by 10.6.7.

Klutzy, but I'm happy I can get back to work now.

Apr 18, 2011 5:31 AM in response to etresoft

The font problem is not isolated to Adobe PDF generation. My invoicing program creates PDFs of my invoices and resulting PDFs will not print properly. The problem also exists when I attempt to print directly from programs, not PDFs.

I am booting to an older backup drive running 10.6.3 to print my PDFs rather than downgrade back to 10.6.6. The PDFs generated in 10.6.7 open fine and print perfectly while booted to 10.6.3. Some have mentioned PDFs generated in 10.6.7 will not open in previous OS versions. I've not had that problem. Also, PDFs generated in 10.6.7 print perfectly in Windows.

I have never had this problem prior to 10.6.7.

PaddyD

Level 1

94 points

Apr 18, 2011 9:29 AM in response to KJK555

Thanks so much for that download, KJK555 - it appears to have fixed the problem for me! 😀 (at least in Word with Myriad Pro, which is all the testing I've done so far)

While I don't actually do much PDF-generation from non-Adobe apps, it was bothering me that I was going to have to consider font choices unless I got this problem fixed. All of my professional layout/design work is done in InDesign, which so far seems ok, again with fairly limited testing, since I only updated yesterday.

None of the other suggested fixes (deleting font caches via Safe Boot, re-downloading fonts) had worked. Yours did the trick, and I'm very grateful.

I don't know what is taking Apple so long to fix it...

Font problems after 10.6.7