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Disable default kerning when letterspacing is active#330

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peaR-red:peaR-harf
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Disable default kerning when letterspacing is active#330
peaR-red wants to merge 1 commit into
latex3:mainfrom
peaR-red:peaR-harf

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@peaR-red
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This PR adds a check to fonts.readers.harf to bypass GPOS kerning when tracking is active when using HarfBuzz.

@FrankMittelbach
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What exactly is the rationale here? I don't quite see why you want to disable kerning just because you do some light tracking/letter spacing. For example, suppose you have "AV" then even with minimal letter spacing you suddenly get "A V".

@peaR-red
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peaR-red commented May 26, 2026

Consider the MWE, compiled with lualatex:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{lmroman10-regular}

\begin{document}
\setlength{\fboxrule}{0pt}
\newcommand\test[1]{\noindent{\framebox[6em][l]{\ttfamily#1:}} {\addfontfeature{LetterSpace=50, Renderer=#1} DOCUMENTATION}\par}


\test{Base}
\test{Node}
\test{Harfbuzz}
\test{OpenType}
\end{document}

Note that with OpenType and HarfBuzz the "NT" does not comply with LetterSpace.

This effect is not limited to Latin Modern; it is also visible in other fonts.

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2 participants