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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

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424 replies

Apr 20, 2011 2:05 AM in response to KJK555

I can report that after installing your fix, the troublesome fonts are also now behaving as normal again in Freehand.


What was interesting about Freehand was how it actually showed me the fonts that were 'broken' after the 10.6.7 update.


As I scrolled down the font list I could actually see a preview what fonts were no longer working- and yes it was Myriad, as well as Adobe's own versions of Garamond (although not all wieghts of the fonts were affected - mostly the Bold and Extra Bold versions) and a few others like Cooper Black which I think came from Microsoft via Word (not certain).


Anyway many thanks KJK555, for sorting this out while we wait for the official fix.

Apr 20, 2011 12:33 PM in response to benwiggy

Thank you KJK555. Your fix solved my issue as well. Thank goodness!


An obscure font (a TTF called Script1 Rager Hevvy - i know, sounds great huh?) suddenly rendered out like a captcha, but only in Flash CS4. I could get it to look correct in Flash CS5 if I activated TLF Text. But that, for a number of reasons, is not the solution I wanted to pursue.


I was dreading rolling back to the previous OS version, having never done such a thing before. So I'm thrilled that the installation worked for me. Thank you again!


Hopefully the next OS patch will fix this problem but I'll be waiting for someone to give the all-clear first.

Apr 20, 2011 4:35 PM in response to benwiggy

KJK555 helped me as well, insofar as I was again able to use Billings to generate readable PDFs that contain my favorite Helvetica Neue Extended fonts.


One glitch was that after installing KJK555's patch, the previous (failing) invoices I had saved as PDFs since the 10.6.7 update - which had be viewable in Preview (if not Acrobat) started locking up EVERY app that tried to view them. Including the Finder, PathFinder, Billings, Acrobat Pro - everything.


I deleted those files and recreated them and they work, so I'm glad... but it'd be nice if Apple provided a fix. In the meantime, KJK555 got me unstuck!

Apr 20, 2011 7:44 PM in response to bjd609

"will there be any issues with future software updates after installing kjk555's package?"


Probably not, most likely Apple will have to update the ATS framework,

in order to correct the font problems.


If you are worried about it, simply reapplying the 10.6.7 update returns the

ATS framework back to its original 10.6.7 configuration.


Kj

Apr 21, 2011 1:48 AM in response to Miles Kurland

Miles: The crashes are to be expected. Problem PDFs as generated by 10.6.7 will render incorrectly and/or cause crashes in both Apple's old PDF framework (10.6.6 and earlier) and Adobe Acrobat (Mac and Windows). Apple certainly could have done some more testing here.


Kj's patch is an excellent way to revert to the old PDF font behavior and obviously simpler than reverting to 10.6.6 entirely.


If you have problem PDFs created in 10.6.7, it is possible to convert them to a readable format with GhostScript as I described above, which converts the Type 1 fonts to Type 3 BTW. It's still preferable to recreate the PDFs from scratch if you can, as the conversion degrades the display quality of the fonts, although they do print fine.


Chris Ferebee

Apr 21, 2011 8:23 AM in response to Kurt Lang

How can you determine this if you don't have Quark or Suitcase? I have mostly fonts that are True Type or OpenType True Type. I can't see any PS fonts in the Font application. However, looking at the fonts in the /Library/Fonts folder, there are several Apple font files that have .otc endings. All of these are Asian fonts that I never use (Japanese, Korean, Chinese?). Don't know if these are PS or TT fonts though. The Microsoft fonts that are installed with Office 2008 appear to all be True Type fonts. PS. I'm still running 10.6.6.

Apr 21, 2011 9:44 AM in response to arbee

Hi arbee,


None of the fonts supplied with Office 2008 are OpenType PostScript. They are either legacy Mac TrueType suitcase fonts, or OpenType TrueType. You can see that by viewing the folder in List view, and then looking at the Kind column at the far right.


The OS labels legacy Mac TrueType fonts "font suitcase". OT TT are labeled "TrueType® OpenType® font". OpenType PostScript fonts are labeled "Open Type font".


OS X isn't exactly perfect here. I have a set of old .ttf fonts that I know for a fact are 8 bit fonts (I bought them when Windows 3.1 came out). And yet the OS labels them as "TrueType® OpenType® font".


There is no such font type as .otc. I would imagine you meant to type .ttc. That stands for TrueType Collection. Similar to a legacy Mac TrueType suitcase font, it's a font bundle containing more than one typeface in a single file.


Just to confuse everyone, the same .ttf and .ttc extensions used for the original 8 bit TrueType fonts are also used for the 16 bit OpenType TrueType fonts. And just to make sure we're all thoroughly confused, a .otf font can also be OpenType TrueType, and not just OpenType PostScript.

Apr 21, 2011 10:00 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks for the feedback.

Sorry, I meant to type *.otf. (Example: Hiragino Sans GB W3.otf) However, all the Asian fonts are listed as "Open Type font" under the Kind heading. These are Apple fonts. Can I assume they're PS fonts? Also, how will this affect the update to 10.6.7 and printing, if at all, since I do not use these fonts?

Font problems after 10.6.7

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