1[](https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/workflows/linux-ci/badge.svg) 2[](https://circleci.com/gh/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/tree/main) 3[](https://oss-fuzz-build-logs.storage.googleapis.com/index.html) 4[](https://scan.coverity.com/projects/harfbuzz) 5[](https://www.codacy.com/gh/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/dashboard?utm_source=github.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=harfbuzz/harfbuzz&utm_campaign=Badge_Grade) 6[](https://codecov.io/gh/harfbuzz/harfbuzz) 7[](https://repology.org/project/harfbuzz/versions) 8 9# HarfBuzz 10 11HarfBuzz is a text shaping engine. It primarily supports [OpenType][1], but also 12[Apple Advanced Typography][2]. HarfBuzz is used in Android, Chrome, 13ChromeOS, Firefox, GNOME, GTK+, KDE, LibreOffice, OpenJDK, PlayStation, Qt, 14XeTeX, and other places. 15 16For bug reports, mailing list, and other information please visit: 17 18 http://harfbuzz.org/ 19 20For license information, see [COPYING](COPYING). 21 22## Documentation 23 24For user manual as well as API documentation, check: https://harfbuzz.github.io 25 26## Download 27 28For tarball releases of HarfBuzz, look [here][3]. At the same place you 29will also find Win32/Win64 binary bundles that include libharfbuzz DLL, 30hb-view.exe, hb-shape.exe, and all dependencies. 31 32The canonical source tree is available on [github][4]. 33 34The API that comes with `hb.h` will not change incompatibly. Other, peripheral, 35headers are more likely to go through minor modifications, but again, we do our 36best to never change API in an incompatible way. We will never break the ABI. 37 38If you are not sure whether Pango or HarfBuzz is right for you, read [Pango vs 39HarfBuzz][5]. 40 41## Development 42 43For build information, see [BUILD.md](BUILD.md). 44 45For custom configurations, see [CONFIG.md](CONFIG.md). 46 47For testing and profiling, see [TESTING.md](TESTING.md). 48 49To get a better idea of where HarfBuzz stands in the text rendering stack you 50may want to read [State of Text Rendering][6], though, that document is many 51years old. Here are a few presentation slides about HarfBuzz at the 52Internationalization and Unicode Conference over the years: 53 54* November 2014, [Unicode, OpenType, and HarfBuzz: Closing the Circle][7], 55* October 2012, [HarfBuzz, The Free and Open Text Shaping Engine][8], 56* October 2009, [HarfBuzz: the Free and Open Shaping Engine][9]. 57 58Both development and user support discussion around HarfBuzz happens on the 59[github][4]. 60 61To report bugs or submit patches please use [github][4] issues and 62pull-requests. 63 64For a comparison of old vs new HarfBuzz memory consumption see [this][10]. 65 66<!--See past and upcoming [HarfBuzz Hackfests](https://freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/HarfBuzz/Hackfests/)!--> 67 68## Name 69 70HarfBuzz (حرفباز) is my Persian translation of “[OpenType][1]”, 71transliterated using the Latin script. It sports a second meaning, but that 72ain’t translatable. 73 74> Background: Originally there was this font format called TrueType. People and 75> companies started calling their type engines all things ending in Type: 76> FreeType, CoolType, ClearType, etc. And then came OpenType, which is the 77> successor of TrueType. So, for my OpenType implementation, I decided to stick 78> with the concept but use the Persian translation. Which is fitting given that 79> Persian is written in the Arabic script, and OpenType is an extension of 80> TrueType that adds support for complex script rendering, and HarfBuzz is an 81> implementation of OpenType complex text shaping. 82 83<details> 84 <summary>Packaging status of HarfBuzz</summary> 85 86[](https://repology.org/project/harfbuzz/versions) 87 88</details> 89 90[1]: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/typography/opentype/spec/ 91[2]: https://developer.apple.com/fonts/TrueType-Reference-Manual/RM06/Chap6AATIntro.html 92[3]: https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/releases 93[4]: https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz 94[5]: http://mces.blogspot.com/2009/11/pango-vs-harfbuzz.html 95[6]: http://behdad.org/text/ 96[7]: https://goo.gl/FSIQuC 97[8]: https://goo.gl/2wSRu 98[9]: http://behdad.org/download/Presentations/slippy/harfbuzz_slides.pdf 99[10]: https://goo.gl/woyty 100