1 Due to our use of "libtool" to generate and install the FreeType 2 libraries
2 on Unix systems, as well as other historical events, it is generally very
3 difficult to know precisely which release of the font engine is installed
6 This file tries to explain why and to document ways to properly detect
10 I. Version & Release numbers:
12 For each new public release of FreeType 2, there are generally *three*
13 distinct "version" numbers to consider:
15 * the official FT2 release number, like 2.0.9, or 2.1.3
17 * the libtool (and Unix) specific version number, like "9.2.3". This
18 is what "freetype-config --version" will return
20 * the platform-specific shared object number, used for example when
21 the library is installed as "/usr/lib/libfreetype.so.6.3.2"
24 the platform-specific number is, unsurprisingly, platform-specific and varies
25 with the operating system you're using (several variants of Linux, FreeBSD,
26 Solaris, etc...). You should thus _never_ use it, even for simple tests.
28 the libtool-specific number does not equal the release number but is tied
31 the release number is available at *compile* time through the following
32 macros defined in FT_FREETYPE_H:
34 - FREETYPE_MAJOR : major release number
35 - FREETYPE_MINOR : minor release number
36 - FREETYPE_PATCH : patch release number
38 see below for some Autoconf fragment to
41 the release number is also available at *runtime* through the
42 "FT_Library_Version" API. Unfortunately, this one wasn't available or
43 working correctly before the 2.1.3 official release !!
48 the following is a simple table that gives, for each official release,
49 the corresponding libtool number, as well as the shared object number
50 found on _most_ systems, but not all of them:
53 -------------------------------------
62 the libtool numbers are a bit inconsistent due to the library's history:
64 - 2.1.0 was created as a development branch from 2.0.8
65 (hence the same libtool numbers)
67 - 2.0.9 was a bug-fix release of the "stable" branch, we
68 apparently incorrectly increased its libtool number
70 - 2.1.4 is still in the "development" branch, however it's stable enough
71 to be the basis of an upcoming 2.2.0 release
75 III. AutoConf Code Fragment:
77 Lars Clausen contributed the following Autoconf fragment to detect at
78 which version of FreeType is installed on your system. This one tests
79 for a version that is at least 2.0.9, you should change the last line to
80 check against other release numbers.
82 AC_MSG_CHECKING([for version of FreeType])
83 FREETYPE_INCLUDE=`freetype-config --cflags | cut -c3-`
84 FREETYPE_MAJOR=`grep '^#define FREETYPE_MAJOR' $FREETYPE_INCLUDE/freetype/freetype.h | cut -d' ' -f3`
85 FREETYPE_MINOR=`grep '^#define FREETYPE_MINOR' $FREETYPE_INCLUDE/freetype/freetype.h | cut -d' ' -f3`
86 FREETYPE_PATCH=`grep '^#define FREETYPE_PATCH' $FREETYPE_INCLUDE/freetype/freetype.h | cut -d' ' -f3`
87 FREETYPE_VERSION=`echo | awk "BEGIN { printf \"%d\", ($FREETYPE_MAJOR * 1000 + $FREETYPE_MINOR) * 1000 + $FREETYPE_PATCH;}"`
88 AC_MSG_RESULT([$FREETYPE_MAJOR.$FREETYPE_MINOR.$FREETYPE_PATCH])
89 if test "$FREETYPE_VERSION" -ge 2000009; then