Wrong symbol rendering in plots (Ubuntu)

I sent the message accidentally to r-help, but I intended to follow
r-sig-debian because it is about the problem that Evince doesn't
render symbols properly.  it explains why I think the embedFonts
function in R is the "magic bullet"


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Johnson <pauljohn32 at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 7, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Subject: Re: [R] Wrong symbol rendering in plots (Ubuntu)
To: "Eduardo J. Chica" <ejchica at gmail.com>
Cc: r-help at r-project.org

Hi I am having problems with the rendering of scientific symbols (mu and
degree) in my plots. Whenever I use these symbols they are rendered changed
(mu is changed to the proportionality symbol and degree is changed to
something resembling a gamma) in the X-device. If I make a pdf of the plot
and open the file in Evince or Okular symbols are also rendered wrong,
however if I open the file with Xpdf or Acroread they are rendered
correctly.

I did not have this problem before, it arose after I upgraded both R and my
system (Ubuntu karmic koala to lucid lynx), so I can not tell for sure if
the problem is R-related or Ubuntu related (I have posted in a Ubuntu forum
also http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1325289).

Please let me know if you have any idea of how to fix this, or if you can
confirm this is not an R-related issue.

I run Ubuntu as well and I see the same problem when I view a pdf with
Evince, the default document viewer. ?In Adobe's Acorbat reader,
acroread, the symbols show correctly.

Here's an example pdf file:

?http://pj.freefaculty.org/linux/pm92.pdf

In Evince, instead of mu, you see the proportional to symbol.

In the Ubuntu bugtracker, this problem has been reported and they say
it has been fixed, but I still see it.


https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/poppler/+bug/518236
http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9410094

I believe the problem is a mismatch between the fonts available to R
and to the various viewers. ?R does not embed all fonts in the pdf
files. ?Open a suspect pdf in Evince or some other viewer and check on
the fonts. In Evince, under the File/Properties menu, there's a font
indication.

None of the fonts in R pdfs are embedded. ?There is a way to embed
fonts after in R, (see ?embedFonts) but I can't understand the
documentation on how to do that.  But I'm testing it out.

I believe that the fonts installed in the system, combined with
whatever user config changes occur, make this a tough problem to
solve.

--
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas

Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas