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FontForge

DESIGN
Velocity0.0

Free outline font editor for creating typefaces

fontforge.org ↗

FontForge releases when it releases — years apart, and the last one was mostly CI repair.

font-editingtypographyslow-cadencepython-pluginsmaintenance-mode
◆Current state
FontForge publishes a dated release roughly once a year at best, and the gaps have stretched to three years more than once. The October 2025 release is dominated by keeping the project buildable — CI runners updated, Python made consistent on the macOS runner, Windows CI repaired — with a handful of real fixes around lookup flag parsing and glyph file naming. The substantive feature work in this window is older than the release cadence suggests.
◆Where it's heading
The pattern is a mature editor maintained by a small group of contributors, where large capability jumps arrive in single bursts and then nothing for years. The 2020 stroke expansion rewrite and the 2022 plugin and Unicode 14 release are where the actual capability moved; the releases on either side are fixes and packaging. Notably, plugin support was removed in 2019 and rebuilt on Python three years later, which is the clearest signal of how this project resolves architectural questions — by deleting and revisiting rather than iterating.
◆Prediction
Given a cadence measured in years and a most recent release weighted toward CI maintenance, the next publication is more likely to be another consolidation of accumulated fixes than a new capability.

◆Recent moves

  1. 9mo ago

    October 2025 release: CI repair plus lookup flag and glyph naming fixes

    Mostly infrastructure — GitHub CI runners, macOS Python consistency, Windows CI, translation files from Crowdin — with genuine fixes to lookup flag parsing and uXXXXX glyph file naming. Two years after the previous release, this is the project catching its build up to its environment.

    View source ↗
  2. 3y ago

    January 2023 release refines editing UI and code point display

    A user-interface and correctness pass: block names shown for reserved code points, better control-drag on line-adjacent points, file chooser behaviour on type change, and ToUnicode support. Incremental refinement of the editing surface rather than new capability.

    View source ↗
  3. 4y ago

    March 2022 release restores Python plugin support and lands Unicode 14

    ⚡ SPARK

    The release where FontForge became extensible again: Python plugin support returned three years after being removed, alongside an overhauled resource and appearance system, Unicode 14 with integrated nameslist, and new point-editing operations. It is the largest capability change in this feed.

    View source ↗
  4. 5y ago

    20th anniversary release: minor fixes and a commemorative splash

    A commemorative release marking twenty years since FontForge's first version, carrying minor UI and file format handler fixes plus an anniversary splash screen. Notable as a milestone, not as a change.

    View source ↗
  5. 6y ago

    March 2020 release rebuilds stroke expansion with convex nibs and SVG 2 joins

    Stroke expansion was rebuilt to the point the project describes it as actually working most of the time, gaining arbitrary convex nibs and SVG 2 miter-clip and arc joins, exposed through both the Python and native APIs. Remove Overlap edge cases improved alongside it. For an editor whose core job is outline manipulation, this is the most consequential fix in years.

    View source ↗
  6. 7y ago

    August 2019 release adds user decompositions and PNG images in SFD

    Adds user decompositions and switches embedded SFD images to PNG serialization behind a new Image2 tag, with an option to turn it off. A quiet file format change that affects anyone exchanging SFDs across FontForge versions.

    View source ↗