[Webkit-unassigned] [Bug 174403] New: [GTK][FreeType] Enable BCI on webfonts

[bugzilla-daemon at webkit.org]

https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=174403

            Bug ID: 174403
           Summary: [GTK][FreeType] Enable BCI on webfonts
           Product: WebKit
           Version: WebKit Nightly Build
          Hardware: Unspecified
                OS: Unspecified
            Status: NEW
          Severity: Normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: WebKit Gtk
          Assignee: webkit-unassigned at lists.webkit.org
          Reporter: aboya at igalia.com
                CC: bugs-noreply at webkitgtk.org

Created attachment 315185

  --> https://bugs.webkit.org/attachment.cgi?id=315185&action=review

GMail login screen, with BCI disabled

Initially embedded font hints were ignored for webfonts because of several
reasons:

* Other browsers ignored them too. This is no longer true; e.g. Chrome respects
  them.

* The FreeType hint interpreter used produced to produce bad results for many
  hinted fonts, but the situation has improved recently.
  https://www.freetype.org/freetype2/docs/subpixel-hinting.html

* Enabling embedded hints for webfonts exposes the FreeType byte code
  interpreter to potentially-malicious input. This one is still true, of
  course.

Given most of the past reasons are no longer valid, except for the last, I
think it's time to reconsider the issue. 

Enabling the BCI gets us better font rendering in most cases and makes it more
consistent with system fonts. See the attached screenshots which were taken
within the jhbuild minibrowser. Look for the letter 't'.

On the other hand, like with so many other features, it's undeniable that
enabling this we're widening our attack surface, even if it was already quite
big.

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