# moving SDL\_Pango to the libsdl-org GitHub organisation?

**URL:** <https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/moving-sdl-pango-to-the-libsdl-org-github-organisation/30886>\
**Category:** SDL Development\
**Created:** [March 14, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/moving-sdl-pango-to-the-libsdl-org-github-organisation/30886 "2021-03-14T01:07:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pabs](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/pabs/32/4426_2.png) [@pabs](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/pabs)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 1:07am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/moving-sdl-pango-to-the-libsdl-org-github-organisation/30886/1 "2021-03-14T01:07:03Z")

</div>

The [SDL\_Pango project](https://sourceforge.net/p/sdlpango/) is a library for rendering text within SDL based projects using the Pango text layout and rendering library. It is an alternative to SDL\_ttf that better supports internationalisation by falling back to other fonts when glyphs are missing.

It has been abandoned for many years and [does not support SDL2 upstream yet](https://sourceforge.net/p/sdlpango/bugs/7/), but there is a patch by the TuxPaint folks. I’m one of the maintainers of a couple of open source games that use SDL and SDL\_Pango and need to be ported to SDL2. I’d like to convert the CVS history of SDL\_Pango to git (with the script I just wrote), add an SDL\_Pango repository to the libsdl-org GitHub repository, push the CVS to git conversion to the new GitHub repository, add the patches from the SDL2 port created by the TuxPaint folks to the repository, forward all the SourceForge bugs to GitHub and collaboratively maintain the new project with the libSDL community.

Does anyone here use SDL\_Pango for a project?

Does anyone think this is a bad idea?

Who should I ask to create the new libsdl-org GitHub repository?

Is anyone willing to join the maintenance of SDL\_Pango?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rtrussell](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/rtrussell/32/4768_2.png) [@rtrussell](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/rtrussell)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 10:27am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/moving-sdl-pango-to-the-libsdl-org-github-organisation/30886/2 "2021-03-14T10:27:24Z")

</div>

> [@pabs](#):
>
> Does anyone here use SDL\_Pango for a project?

I would be tempted to, because of its support for complex-text rendering which is lacking in SDL2\_ttf, **but** it would have to be available for all the major platforms, including Android, iOS and Emscripten. Is that feasible?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pabs](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/pabs/32/4426_2.png) [@pabs](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/pabs)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 12:43pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/moving-sdl-pango-to-the-libsdl-org-github-organisation/30886/3 "2021-03-14T12:43:20Z")

</div>

Personally I am only interested in Linux, but of course others could  
add support for other platforms if they are interested.

The Pango website claims support for Linux, Windows, macOS. Doing a web  
search points a couple of mailing list discussions about Android,  
presumably the macOS code could be ported to iOS and I see someone  
built Pango with emscripten for Wesnoth in the browser.

Pango is licensed under the GNU LGPL, which is probably incompatible  
with the ToS for the Apple/Android app stores and is harder to comply  
with for static-linking-only platforms like iOS/Emscripten, since  
presumably you want to distribute proprietary apps on those platforms.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pabs](https://discourse.libsdl.org/user_avatar/discourse.libsdl.org/pabs/32/4426_2.png) [@pabs](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/pabs)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/moving-sdl-pango-to-the-libsdl-org-github-organisation/30886/4 "2023-10-24T12:42:20Z")

</div>

I’m still interested in this, is anyone willing to help make it happen?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![smcv](https://discourse.libsdl.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@smcv](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/smcv)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 11:14am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/moving-sdl-pango-to-the-libsdl-org-github-organisation/30886/5 "2024-06-10T11:14:41Z")

</div>

A possible alternative is [GitHub - markuskimius/SDL2\_Pango: SDL2 port of SDL\_Pango](https://github.com/markuskimius/SDL2_Pango) which seems to be a somewhat active fork of SDL\_Pango converting it to SDL2. I have not audited this fork for correctness or safety, and I don’t know how it compares with Tuxpaint’s fork.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![smcv](https://discourse.libsdl.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@smcv](https://discourse.libsdl.org/u/smcv)\
**Post date:** [June 10, 2024, 11:15am UTC](https://discourse.libsdl.org/t/moving-sdl-pango-to-the-libsdl-org-github-organisation/30886/6 "2024-06-10T11:15:44Z")

</div>

SDL upstream development is now focused on SDL3 (libsdl3 in Debian experimental), which is not yet API-stable. The upstream project is not necessarily going to be interested in adopting SDL2-based libraries.