bug#2334: 23.0.90; emacs-snapshot has ugly fonts when using set-default-font elisp function

[Theodore Tso]

On Mon, Feb 16, 2009 at 10:26:16AM -0500, Chong Yidong wrote:
> "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu> wrote:
> 
> > Using emacs-snapshot-20090207, the text display becomes very ugly when
> > set via:
> > (set-default-font "DejaVu Sans Mono-10")
> > However, if the font is set via the menu bar: Options->Set Default Font
> > then the fonts look good (i.e., with proper anti-aliasing).
> 
> Hi Handa-san,
> 
> I think we should give the xft font backend (where it is available) a
> higher priority than the x backend; otherwise, users will keep
> experiencing bugs like this.
> 
> WDYT?

Stupid question --- is there a way to force the right thing to happen
from emacs-lisp?  My biggest gripe is that I couldn't figure out a way
to make the right thing happem from my .emacs.el file, despite a lot
of time spent trying to find the right interfaces via M-x apropos.  So
at the moment, I'm firing up emacs, and then having to use
Options->Set Default Font from the menu bar to change to a small font
size.  (And I'm an old-school emacs person who normally would run with
the menu bar and tool bar disabled.  :-)

I suspect the correct default though should be to give the xft font
backend a higher priority; especially at the moment, where many people
are using emacs-snapshot *because* of the nicer font display.

Thanks, regards,

                                                - Ted