deploy gtkmm2 application to windows - fonts not rendering out of mingw terminal - c++

Question

I have run into peculiar problem. Did a lot of research but cannot find even a hint what can I try to do to fix the problem.
What I did is to write a very simple example that uses glade to render application main view. I tried this on Linux ubuntu and then planned to port the code to Windows using msys2 and mingw32. Example is written in GTKmm2 (C++ GTK2 (not GTK3)) After a lot of struggle to port I have managed to compile example under windows.
Result is as follows (since it is hard to describe I include picture):
https://imgur.com/WkoiN3v
This is how it looks when application is started from mingw32 terminal window.
Now, I try to 'export/deploy' the app in another part of windows where I intended to use it. Basically trying to make POC of deployment.
After ordial of finding all relevant .dlls and supporting files in deployment application starts but fonts are not rendering properly.
When I run app from windows command line I get this:
https://imgur.com/PWZloIr
I tried to toy with ~/.gtkrc-2.0 (as previously using it for python gtk+) and try to set default gtk font to something available in windows, but it seem not to have any effect on font rendering.
What else I can try to do ?
As suggested ... Code:
main.cxx
// #include <gtkmm.h>
#include <gtkmm-2.4/gtkmm.h>
Gtk::Window* window;
static void on_q_button_clicked()
{
if(window)
window->hide(); //hide() will cause main::run() to end.
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
Gtk::Main kit(argc, argv);
Glib::RefPtr<Gtk::Builder> builder = Gtk::Builder::create_from_file("basic.glade");
builder->get_widget("window1", window);
Gtk::Button* pButton = 0;
builder->get_widget("button1", pButton);
if(pButton)
{
pButton->signal_clicked().connect( sigc::ptr_fun(on_q_button_clicked) );
}
Gtk::Main::run(*window);
return 0;
}
basic.glade
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<interface>
<requires lib="gtk+" version="2.24"/>
<!-- interface-naming-policy project-wide -->
<object class="GtkWindow" id="window1">
<property name="can_focus">False</property>
<property name="default_width">440</property>
<property name="default_height">250</property>
<property name="destroy_with_parent">True</property>
<child>
<object class="GtkVBox" id="vbox1">
<property name="visible">True</property>
<property name="can_focus">False</property>
<child>
<object class="GtkLabel" id="label1">
<property name="visible">True</property>
<property name="can_focus">False</property>
<property name="label" translatable="yes">Yes!
Always
This is just a text</property>
<property name="justify">center</property>
</object>
<packing>
<property name="expand">True</property>
<property name="fill">True</property>
<property name="position">0</property>
</packing>
</child>
<child>
<object class="GtkButton" id="button1">
<property name="label" translatable="yes">click me to close</property>
<property name="visible">True</property>
<property name="can_focus">True</property>
<property name="receives_default">True</property>
<property name="use_action_appearance">False</property>
</object>
<packing>
<property name="expand">True</property>
<property name="fill">True</property>
<property name="position">1</property>
</packing>
</child>
</object>
</child>
</object>
</interface>
that's about all source that there is. It's a kind of 'hello world' code just to test concept end to end, before writing intended application.

Answer 1

I managed to get font rendering working, by some lateral thinking, but I am still puzzled what to do.
Due the specifics of the setup (enterprise constrains) I thought that USERPROFILE or HOMEDRIVE or HOMEPATH are playing a role (because of ~/.gtkrc-2.0 settings). But it turned out that it is not making any influence.
Font rendering comes correct when I add path to mingw32 bin folder. So:
SET path=C:\path\to\mingw32\bin;%path%
Then, application shows fonts properly. I believe that after this intervention, font settings in ~/.gtkrc-2.0 start working too.
However, this still do not make full deployment to the target machine proper, as I still do not know what file (dynamic library or
executable) is needed from \mingw32\bin folder to render fonts at
the target. I would like not to be dependent on installing mingw at
the target machine just for the sake of running the application.
But it is a step forward :)
Update:
figured out 2 more libraries expected to be included in deployment, but still not enough to fix the font issue. Following libraries shall be reachable by main.exe that are found in bin folder:
libgdk-win32-2.0-0.dll
libgtk-win32-2.0-0.dll
full list of dynamic libraries that shall be accessible is:
libatk-1.0-0.dll
libatkmm-1.6-1.dll
libbz2-1.dll
libcairo-2.dll
libcairomm-1.0-1.dll
libffi-6.dll
libfreetype-6.dll
libgcc_s_dw2-1.dll
libgdk-win32-2.0-0.dll
libgdkmm-2.4-1.dll
libgio-2.0-0.dll
libgiomm-2.4-1.dll
libglib-2.0-0.dll
libglibmm-2.4-1.dll
libgobject-2.0-0.dll
libgraphite2.dll
libgtk-win32-2.0-0.dll
libgtkmm-2.4-1.dll
libharfbuzz-0.dll
libiconv-2.dll
libintl-8.dll
libpango-1.0-0.dll
libpangomm-1.4-1.dll
libpcre-1.dll
libpixman-1-0.dll
libpng16-16.dll
libsigc-2.0-0.dll
libstdc++-6.dll
libwinpthread-1.dll
zlib1.dll
And, confirmed: styling, font selection and font size user customization works from ~/.gtkrc-2.0 properly when path is set.
( For people who do not get unix idioms '~/' means your user folder. On windows (e.g. windows 7) this will be c:\Users\YourWindowsUserName therefore customization file on windows is: c:\Users\YourWindowsUserName.gtkrc-2.0 )