Subpixel pdf rendering for evince

Question

Here is a simple patch for evince to enable sub-pixel rendering of pdf files.
First you should replace cairo with either aur/cairo-cleartype or aur/cairo-glitz-cleartype,
otherwise you will get ugly color fringes on your glyphs.
Then unpack the source with makepkg -o.
Edit the following patch. (e.g. some people might want  CAIRO_SUBPIXEL_ORDER_VRGB
intead of  CAIRO_SUBPIXEL_ORDER_RGB. You can also choose different hinting styles:
CAIRO_HINT_STYLE_SLIGHT,  CAIRO_HINT_STYLE_FULL or CAIRO_HINT_STYLE_NONE.
--- ev-poppler.cc 2009-09-21 15:12:26.000000000 +0200
+++ /home/markus/tmp/ev-poppler.cc 2009-10-17 14:04:21.000000000 +0200
@@ -487,10 +487,25 @@
#ifdef HAVE_POPPLER_PAGE_RENDER
cairo_t *cr;
+ cairo_font_options_t *options;
+
surface = cairo_image_surface_create (CAIRO_FORMAT_ARGB32,
width, height);
+ memset (cairo_image_surface_get_data (surface), 0xff,
+ cairo_image_surface_get_height (surface) *
+ cairo_image_surface_get_stride (surface));
+
+ options = cairo_font_options_create ();
+ cairo_surface_get_font_options (surface, options);
+ cairo_font_options_set_antialias (options, CAIRO_ANTIALIAS_SUBPIXEL);
+ cairo_font_options_set_subpixel_order (options, CAIRO_SUBPIXEL_ORDER_RGB);
+ cairo_font_options_set_hint_style (options, CAIRO_HINT_STYLE_NONE);
+
cr = cairo_create (surface);
+ cairo_set_font_options (cr, options);
+ cairo_font_options_destroy (options);
+
switch (rc->rotation) {
case 90:
then hand-apply this patch in abs/extra/evince/src/evince-2.28.0/backend/pdf
and finally build the package with makepkg -e.

Answer 1

Yeah I tried mupdf, its rendering is actually worse.
I tried different computers and distros btw, it all looks the same no matter where and what I used. So I figure, there's nothing wrong with my config, it's just (currently?) not possible to have a better rendering without using acroread. Maybe I'll stick to it, but it's a pain in the ass to "maintain" as it's 32-bit and only in AUR. Also not open. And, even worse, adobe.
Thanks anyway.