Pango module detection

[wellinton-capixaba]

I am trying to execute two softwares that exhibit incorrect or ugly output
due to pango. The first shows squares instead characters on its menu, and the other uses fonts that are more aliased than usual;

When I try to run any of them I receive these messages on command line:

Pango-WARNING **: failed to choose a font, expect ugly output. engine-type='PangoRenderFc', script='latin'
Pango-WARNING **: failed to choose a font, expect ugly output. engine-type='PangoRenderFc', script='common

Pango-CRITICAL **: No modules found:
No builtin or dynamically loaded modules were found.
PangoFc will not work correctly.
This probably means there was an error in the creation of:
‘/usr/local/etc/pango/pango.modules’
You should create this file by running:
pango-querymodules > ‘/usr/local/etc/pango/pango.modules’ "

I tried to execute an adaptation of the above command and executed:

arquivos/Pango-1.36.7/bin/pango-querymodules /arquivos/Pango-1.36.7/etc/pango/pango.modules

which produced:

Cannot load module /arquivos/Pango-1.36.7/etc/pango/pango.modules: /arquivos/Pango-1.36.7/etc/pango/pango.modules: invalid ELF header
/arquivos/Pango-1.36.7/etc/pango/pango.modules does not export Pango module API
# Pango Modules file
# Automatically generated file, do not edit
#

So, I am open to suggestions as to how to proceed.

[chrisaw (Chris Williams)]

What is this setup? You’re installing every package into its own prefix? Clearly pango is looking in /usr/local/etc anyway.

Also, pango 1.36.7 is nearly a decade old at this point. This whole module system was removed shortly afterward.

[wellinton-capixaba]

I install nearly all my packages on their own directories. So what what I need to know is how to make Pango to look in the directories where the modules are. If that is not possible for some reason, I could create /usr/local/etc/pango/ and put a symbolic link there to pango.modules.

I install libraries according to the minimal requirements stated by the programs that I need to run. One of the two requires gtk 3.14, which happens to need pango 1.36.7 as minimal required version. Once I built a newer Pango (1.41 I think) but faced problems with some of the other libraries, I think.

The fact that the modules system was removed implies that the problems I am facing would vanish if I used a newer Pango? If yes, that’s an atractive prospect, but it would likely force me to rebuild the entire gtk stack, which is always problematic (something usually breaks)

Anyway, if that’s really the case, I could built the newer Pango (or try) and its required libraries, but after doing the /usr/local/etc/pango/ attempt.

Open to advice about my approach or any other possible method.