This bug seems similar to another bug, but without the @font-face stuff they were talking about:
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=578275

Unable to reproduce the issue on Linux 14.04 chrome stable version 51.0.2704.103 - Linux Libertine is used as expected.


Please find the screenshot

Could you please upgrade to latest stable and see if the issue still exists

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	Screenshot from 2016-06-17 14:19:52.png 603 KB View Download

Hello tkonchada,

I tried the latest version of Chrome, and I still have the issue. In fact, the issue is visible in your screenshot as well, I think.

Edit the CSS to say "Linux Libertine O" and you will see the font change. Your screenshot shows a serif fallback font, probably Liberation Serif.

To clarify what I mean in reporting this issue: the page always "uses" Linux Libertine by requesting the font in its CSS sheet. That part is fine. I am reporting as a bug that chromium *does not render* Linux Libertine as requested.

This is because of two things: 

1) The underlying Linux font system only knows Linux Libertine by a weird name, which its font creator specified in the font file, and which happens to be "Linux Libertine O". I don't know why they did that, but that's what they did. They should probably not do that. (note: I looked it up just now, and the font creators did this only to the OpenType version, by design. The TrueType version is simply "Linux Libertine". They say they did this to let you install and use both side by side.) (note 2: Ubuntu's repositories, meanwhile, only give you the OTF version, "Linux Libertine O". Maybe the Ubuntu package should be changed to [additionally, or exclusively] offer the TTF version? Or they should add a package ttf-linuxlibertine and have fonts-linuxlibertine suggest it?)

2) This strange (in my opinion) situation is "fixed" with fontconfig, a system that helps Linux systems handle font usage in various scenarios. fontconfig entries for Linux Libertine tell the system to use Linux Libertine [O] (in whatever TTF or OTF version you have installed)  whenever "Linux Libertine" OR "Linux Libertine O" are requested.

2a) Chrome does not heed the fontconfig system, apparently by design, and apparently due to a conscious decision by developers. 

"Because web pages themselves (via CSS) provide their own font fallback preferences, Chrome *disregards* the font fallback provided by fontconfig except when the fonts requested by the page don't provide the characters needed. (We believe this general goal is a feature, not a bug, . . . )"

(quoted from the archived blog of an ex chrome dev: http://neugierig.org/software/chromium/fonts)

2b) in contrast with this behavior, Firefox on Linux uses fontconfig all the way, and thus picks up the fontconfig system's hints. It understands that the "Linux Libertine O" file provides "Linux Libertine." From the user perspective, it "just works" in Firefox.

So that was a long comment, but that's what's going on. I hope there is a way that users can get Linux Libertine from the official Ubuntu repositories AND have them work in chrome/ium; I wish to point out that is *not* possible at the moment.

My suggestions: either Chrome/ium should support fontconfig font fallback, OR Ubuntu should package the TTF version of the font, or someone should patch the version of the font in Ubuntu's repositories to not have the "Linux Libertine O" name and use plain "Linux Libertine" instead.

Also I noticed in your screenshot: your browser seems to be rendering Georgia, not Linux Libertine, on the page heading and subheadings.

Thank you for providing more feedback. Adding requester "tkonchada@chromium.org" for another review and adding "Needs-Review" label for tracking.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

I started a thread about this in the Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list. No-one has replied yet. :/

as mentioned in Comment 6, the ubuntu-devel-discuss thread: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/2016-June/016645.html

Unable to reproduce the issue on Linux 14.04 chrome stable version 51.0.2704.106 - "Linux Libertine",Georgia,Times,serif" font-family is used

Please find the screenshot

Could you please try the same on a new profile where there are no apps/extensions and update the thread. You can create a new profile from chrome://settings

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	Screenshot from 2016-07-15 16:19:15.png 630 KB View Download

That's not the issue I am reporting.

Either Chromium should use fontconfig to pick font replacements (fixes the issue, i.e. makes chromium behave like Firefox does), or this bug should be marked invalid/won't fix.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for providing more feedback. Adding requester "tkonchada@chromium.org" for another review and adding "Needs-Review" label for tracking.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

Thanks for the detailed report dandromb. This is indeed the "desired" behavior even though it doesn't work as one would expect in this case.

 Bug 47683  tracks the feature request to use fontconfig for fallback.