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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

Reply
424 replies

Mar 28, 2011 10:40 PM in response to benwiggy

I have similar problems to everyone else. Open Type fonts don't show up or act screwy.

I wanna add my voice to the crowd. Apple we need you to fix this and quickly.

I'm a designer and use these things to make a living. I don't have the time to backtrack to 10.6.6.

We'd appreciate some acknowledgement of the issue and to know that you are working on it.

Mar 28, 2011 11:39 PM in response to benwiggy

we can confirm, this issue appears while using apples internal system libraries for creating pdfs with open type fonts. trying postscript files on distiller cancels the job with error on font stack. saving as pdf makes unreadable output and error message on reading the embedded font.

since this is an unacceptable situation for all design studios around the world, apple should be encouraged to fix this problem within the next view hours. this issue has blown up or meeting yesterday with an important customer. pushing this issue to adobes fault is not an option. seriously, advising to downgrade also is not an option.

kind regards from germany

Mar 28, 2011 11:50 PM in response to mediastuttgart

since this is an unacceptable situation for all design studios around the world, apple should be encouraged to fix this problem within the next view hours. this issue has blown up or meeting yesterday with an important customer. pushing this issue to adobes fault is not an option. seriously, advising to downgrade also is not an option.


I wouldn't be overly optimistic that there will be a speedy fix. This problem seems to have completely passed many builds in beta testing and may take a little time to sort out.

The good news is that downgrading with 10.6 is less problematic than with previous versions of Mac OS X as applications and user folders are left intact and useable (better than the old archive and install) and the installer doesn't refuse to work because the system on the computer is newer than that which is being installed.

Just remember to deauthorise all those Adobe CS applications before you start, or you'll be phoning Adobe before you finish!

Mar 29, 2011 12:28 AM in response to Jayfsee

Jayfsee wrote:
I wanna add my voice to the crowd. Apple we need you to fix this and quickly.
{…} We'd appreciate some acknowledgement of the issue and to know that you are working on it.


Please note that Discussions is a user-to-user forum. You are not talking to Apple here, just to other users. And as explained in the Terms of Use Apple does not provide any formal technical support here, nor would any information that it or its employees post here informally come with any warranties of any kind.

If you want to contact Apple about this, try http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html. Be sure to describe the problem in detail. (Not everyone has the same problems.)

Mar 29, 2011 6:23 AM in response to hdfonts

I haven't been able to figure that one out. A few folks, like yourself, have noted that just clearing the font cache files fixed the problem.

But I've tried that, multiple times, as have other here without any change in the problem.

Are you using OpenType PostScript fonts? OpenType TrueType will not cause the issue. And even more confusing, an OpenType font ending in .otf is not necessarily a PostScript version.

Mar 29, 2011 7:13 AM in response to R C-R

R C-R wrote:

How do you know what most people are doing? There are millions of Snow Leopard users around the world. How many did you consult before coming to this conclusion?



I lol'ed! I'm guessing it's not affecting your daily workflow, but maybe you could try to sympathize instead? With 'most people', I mean those that are affected. And obviously I can only extrapolate what's going on in our business… Imagine the next update killing your audio setup, what would you do? I can't roll back, as explained in my post. But I'm using my old MacBook Pro instead… that's almost the same as rolling back, no?

Message was edited by: Logic interface

Mar 29, 2011 7:20 AM in response to Logic interface

Logic interface wrote:
With 'most people', I mean those that are affected. And obviously I can only extrapolate what's going on in our business… Imagine the next update killing your audio setup, what would you do?


If your livelihood depends on your computers, then you have to be very careful about updates. People have gotten into a security paranoia and feel that if they don't update TODAY they will be hacked and their machines turned into hacker-serving bots before lunch time. Having some sort of OS bug or 3rd party software incompatibility is far more likely.

That being said, this bug really shouldn't affect professionals at all. They should be running Acrobat, InDesign, Quark, etc. This bug should only affect casual users who have installed Adobe Reader (even though they didn't need to), created documents using those fancy Adobe fonts, and then distributed those PDFs. Such users just need to disable those OpenType Postscript fonts and wait for a fix. Your only loss is a few fonts.

Mar 29, 2011 7:39 AM in response to etresoft

Such users just need to disable those OpenType Postscript fonts and wait for a fix. Your only loss is a few fonts.


Far more than a few, I'm afraid. For those who work from Adobe's Font Folio 10 or 11, all of the fonts are OpenType PostScript. Linotype's latest font folios are also completely OpenType PostScript.

Full press and prepress shops also must remain at 10.6.6 to be sure they can print to their PostScript printers and RIPs, as you can never be sure what type of fonts a client will send you with their project.

Mar 29, 2011 7:41 AM in response to Kurt Lang

So has anybody seriously considered the possibility that it is just certain OpenType Postscript fonts that cause these problems, or just certain typeface styles that might not be included in every distribution of those fonts?

Could it be that this is why some users are seeing substantially different problems from others or why some fix that works for some don't for others?

Mar 29, 2011 7:53 AM in response to benwiggy

i am reading some of the last responses only with a shake of the head. guess you are not faced with the problem at all. you are talking about adobe apps, but what about all the other tools, using apples system library for creating pdfs, what about a corporate font you have to use and are unable to, because your system is broken - broken by an update delivered by the manufacturer.

i would like to see you in action, when you collect your car from the dealers garage, realizing engine trouble because of a broken software update.

Mar 29, 2011 8:04 AM in response to R C-R

So has anybody seriously considered the possibility that it is just certain OpenType Postscript fonts that cause these problems, or just certain typeface styles that might not be included in every distribution of those fonts?


Yes, I've mentioned that in quite a few of my posts. I can for example apply all one typeface of a randomly chosen OT PS font to a test document, print it out using Apple's "Save as PDF", and it would open without a problem in Acrobat under 10.6.7. But then pick another font, change all the text to that typeface, save a PDF again, and it won't open.

This happens with any OT PS font; Adobe's, MacFonts', converted fonts I made, etc. It's seemingly random, though more fonts than not won't work. I have no idea why some work and other don't. I only know the issue is limited to OT PS fonts.

Font problems after 10.6.7

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