Chord diagram problem, question marks in boxes

• Sep 10, 2019 - 05:19

I am using version 3.2.3+dfsg1-1~ppa1804+1 with Linux Mint 19.2 Cinnamon. Suddenly I've started getting a problem with chord diagrams: Above strings that should have no o or x mark, instead of a blank there's a question mark in a box. See attached PDF. If I try to change the mark it cycles between o, x, and question mark in box.

Attachment Size
qm.pdf 14.46 KB
qm.mscz 3.24 KB

Comments

• Sep 10, 2019 - 05:53

I don't fully understand what's going on in that thread, but this seems to be something different. It doesn't involve attempting to copy and paste symbols, and the fretboard diagrams in the master palette also have the question mark in box — selecting diagrams from there doesn't give any different behavior. See screen grab attached.

Attachment Size
qm2.png 50.67 KB

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• Sep 10, 2019 - 15:00

My best guess is you have a font conflict - some font installed on your system that is "stealing" the attention of MuseScore from the internal version font it is wanting to use instead, and your version is not compatible.

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• Sep 10, 2019 - 15:29

Why would MuseScore be using the wrong font? That sounds like a bug. How would one diagnose this?

I have not installed any new fonts lately. I did upgrade Linux Mint from 19.1 to 19.2 recently, though, and this new behavior might be associated with that. I suppose the upgrade might have changed some fonts.

I see in Tools > Style > Text Styles one can set the font for many things but if any are relevant for this I can't tell from the name. All of the items in that dialog have font set to "FreeSerif".

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• Sep 10, 2019 - 15:58

To be clear: MuseScore simply for a font called "FreeSerif" or whatever, it's up tot he OS and/or Qt to provide the appropriate one. If it's a font MuseScore needs control over, we provide our own version, and need you not to override it. meaning, don't install your own conflicting version fo the same font, since on most OS's, an installed font takes precedence over our own version (maybe there is an OS setting to override that behavior).

Many Linux systems do provide their own version of FreeSerif, and it might be missing some needed glyph. Looks like it's actually "FreeSans" that we use for drawing those characters (hardcoded, not set by any style).

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• Sep 10, 2019 - 16:19

As I said, I haven't installed any new fonts. Possibly the OS upgrade did something to its "FreeSerif" font. So how to fix the problem? As it stands MuseScore has become unusable for me. Is there any workaround at all?

If I understand you there may be a possible fix on the OS side, but I wouldn't know how to ask for it since I don't know exactly what it is MuseScore is expecting and not getting (like which glyph is missing).

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• Sep 10, 2019 - 17:44

FreeSans, more likely, as I mentioned. Fix would be simple - uninstall that font.

As far as I can tell, there is an empty character ('') being drawn in that case, so it really shouldn't be displaying anything at all. Maybe some font settings causes that to go wrong. Or maybe it's some conflict in the Qt and/or freetype libraries installed on your system vs the ones MuseScore expects. Solution in that case would probably be to use the AppImage rather than the PPA version.

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• Oct 19, 2019 - 20:39

The problem also occurs in the AppImage version.

I'm using Ubuntu 19.10, the result is identical in the snap, repository and AppImage version.

fonts-freefont-ttf is part of the base fonts installed by Ubuntu, removing it will also remove the desktop metapackages:

# apt remove fonts-freefont-ttf
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  fonts-freefont-ttf ubuntu-desktop ubuntu-desktop-minimal

I hope there's a better way to fix this problem... thanks!

Perhaps there's an invisible control character in the code? Or an explicit space character would solve the problem?

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• Dec 8, 2019 - 10:08

Hi,

this problem affect me too.
Purging and reinstalling the font package doesn't fix it.
Removing fonts-freefont-ttf is not the solution because of the dependances, and using the AppImage neither.
Diagrams are OK in the inspector, not in the score only. And the interrogation mark appears only into the diagram when you add a finger, not with other signs, as you can in in attachment.
I am disappointing, just when I wanted to use the chords diagram feature, it doesn't work !

Best,
Thibaud.

Ubuntu 19.10, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.2.3+dfsg1-1 (Ubuntu eoan/amd64), MuseScore build number not set, revision: d2d863f

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• Jul 23, 2020 - 10:38

That's definitively NOT TRUE! I renamed as root the freefont folder to freefont_OLD and restarted the Computer. NO CHANGE! Freefonts remain available. MuseScore uses - on Linux Mint 20.3 - the internal fonts and the bug remains. Before I did so, I searched the whole computer for another directory where freefonts could be - nothing. And in Chord diagrams FreeSans is used and the font is not changeable

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• Aug 27, 2020 - 08:47

I can confirm this.
When using the recent AppImage (3.5.0) in Ubuntu 20.04 it shows the chord diagram correctly.
The issue does exist though in version 3.2.3 which is unfortunately the one that is in the Ubuntu 20.04 repositories.

So, solution is to use the AppImage (or Snap) in Ubuntu 20.04.

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• Aug 27, 2020 - 19:20

Anyone one any Linux distribution should always use the AppImage. The versions built by distribution maintainers re well-intentioned, but they are almost always several releases behind, and they often contain numerous serious bugs due to them not including the correct versions of needed dependencies or otherwise not building correctly. That's why we provide the AppImage - so Linux users can always have a well-tested current version.

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