We've been discussing what needs to be done for the Pangoification work that we identified as required for 0.39, and what scope of work we should pursue for this release.
One of the key factors driving the consideration is that we've got a lot of (cool but non-Pango) things implemented in the codebase right now that we'd like to get released to users soon. Unfortunately, the quantity of work to do the full conversion over to Pango 100% is daunting, especially considering the wide number of platform bugs we're certain will crop up.
Thus, we are floating this idea for how to scope the Pango work for this release:
0. Document all of the routines in libnrtype
1. Create a copy of libnrtype in the codebase called libnrtype_pango
2. Go through all of the nr-*.cpp routines in libnrtype_pango and rewrite them to use Pango calls. This is the bulk of the work, but I figure this could be done by a couple developers in a week or so.
3. Cleanup and remove whatever files and code become obsolete from libnrtype_pango in the process.
4. Create a compile-time option --with-libnrtype-pango that controls whether inkscape is built with the existing type renderer, or our new Pango-based one.
5. Get Inkscape able to compile and run with the new libnrtype_pango code; if it misses a lot of existing features or has a lot of new quirks, that's perfectly fine - we'll fix them later.
6. Finish up all the non-Pango development work and finalize the release.
7. Generate two sets of packages for Windows, Linux, and Mac: One compiled with libnrtype_pango for testing, the other compiled with the existing type renderer for regular usage.
We then will adjust the Roadmap by moving the 0.40 milestone and all subsequent ones forward one release and introducing a new 0.40 milestone that focuses on the second phase of the Pango conversion.
The advantage of this change to the Roadmap is that it buys us additional development and testing time for Pango but still gets the current work out and available for users to start taking advantage of and testing out. Another advantage is that it will enable us (including users) to test out the feasibility of switching to Pango without having to take the full plunge all at once.
Previously, we had not scoped out precisely what would be done for this release for Pango, so had assumed we'd try to get 100% finished with it; this may be doable but appears to be unrealistic to achieve within an acceptable amount of time.
Please let us know if this plan sounds suitable, or if not, what adjustments to it that you would suggest.
Thanks, Bryce