[cairo] How can I activate subpixel positioning for text with `pangocairo` and `(py)cairo`?

[Sebastian M. Ernst]

Hi all,

I just came across this article [1] saying that subpixel positioning was
added to pango 1.44 in 2019 - not without its issues though. Apparently
it is switched off by default [2]. Both articles go as far as saying
that the latest master from cairo is required. Maybe it has been
released in the meantime (?). I am using cairo through pycairo in Python.

Two questions actually:

- Which version / release of cairo & pycairo do I need for activating
this feature? Or do I (still) need to build cairo & pycairo from
(unreleased) master?
- How do I activate subpixel positioning with (py)cairo & pangocairo?

I have also posted this question on stackoverflow [3] and in the pycairo
issue tracker [4] - the folks at pycairo are not sure about the current
status.

Best regards,
Sebastian



1: https://blogs.gnome.org/mclasen/2019/07/27/more-text-rendering-updates/
2: https://blogs.gnome.org/mclasen/2019/08/07/pango-1-44-wrap-up/
3: https://stackoverflow.com/q/61653970/1672565
4: https://github.com/pygobject/pycairo/issues/186