Quarkus 3.20 UBI9 micro image - Fontconfig head is null, check your fonts or fonts configuration

[TKufrin]

Describe the bug

Quarkus 3.20 native image based on UBI 9 quarkus micro image (based on UBI minimal 9.5) throws error when trying to find font family.

Finding font family based on java.awt.Font.getFamily() throws:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Fontconfig head is null, check your fonts or fonts configuration at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.awt.FontConfiguration.getVersion(FontConfiguration.java:1263) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.awt.FontConfiguration.readFontConfigFile(FontConfiguration.java:221) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.awt.FontConfiguration.init(FontConfiguration.java:105) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.awt.X11FontManager.createFontConfiguration(X11FontManager.java:696) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.font.SunFontManager$2.run(SunFontManager.java:352) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.font.SunFontManager$2.run(SunFontManager.java:309) at java.base@21.0.8/java.security.AccessController.executePrivileged(AccessController.java:129) at java.base@21.0.8/java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(AccessController.java:319) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.font.SunFontManager.<init>(SunFontManager.java:309) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.awt.FcFontManager.<init>(FcFontManager.java:35) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.awt.X11FontManager.<init>(X11FontManager.java:55) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.font.PlatformFontInfo.createFontManager(PlatformFontInfo.java:37) at java.desktop@21.0.8/sun.font.FontManagerFactory.getInstance(FontManagerFactory.java:51) at java.desktop@21.0.8/java.awt.Font.getFont2D(Font.java:526) at java.desktop@21.0.8/java.awt.Font.getFamily(Font.java:1433) at java.desktop@21.0.8/java.awt.Font.getFamily_NoClientCode(Font.java:1407) at java.desktop@21.0.8/java.awt.Font.getFamily(Font.java:1399) at org.acme.QuarkusMainApp.findFontFamily(QuarkusMainApp.java:37) at org.acme.QuarkusMainApp.run(QuarkusMainApp.java:16) at org.acme.QuarkusMainApp_ClientProxy.run(Unknown Source) at io.quarkus.runtime.ApplicationLifecycleManager.run(ApplicationLifecycleManager.java:143) at io.quarkus.runtime.Quarkus.run(Quarkus.java:77) at io.quarkus.runtime.Quarkus.run(Quarkus.java:48) at io.quarkus.runner.GeneratedMain.main(Unknown Source) at java.base@21.0.8/java.lang.invoke.LambdaForm$DMH/sa346b79c.invokeStaticInit(LambdaForm$DMH)

Expected behavior

Should not throw exception but find font family.

Actual behavior

Does not find font family.

How to Reproduce?

quarkus-ubi9-micro-font-issue.zip

A minimal reproducer is attached with a small maven Quarkus CMD application and necessary dependencies.

To reproduce run:

1. ./mvnw clean package -Pnative
2. docker build . -f src/main/docker/Dockerfile-ubi9-micro.native -t app
3. docker run --rm app

Output of uname -a or ver

Linux YMQC009090 5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 #1 SMP Wed Mar 2 00:30:59 UTC 2022 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Output of java -version

openjdk version "21.0.7" 2025-04-15
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.7+6-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 21.0.7+6-Ubuntu-0ubuntu120.04, mixed mode, sharing)

Mandrel or GraalVM version (if different from Java)

MANDREL 23.1.8.0 JDK 21.0.8+9-LTS

Quarkus version or git rev

3.20.0

Build tool (ie. output of mvnw --version or gradlew --version)

Apache Maven 3.9.9 (8e8579a9e76f7d015ee5ec7bfcdc97d260186937)
Maven home: /home/tinkufrin/.m2/wrapper/dists/apache-maven-3.9.9-bin/33b4b2b4/apache-maven-3.9.9
Java version: 21.0.7, vendor: Ubuntu, runtime: /usr/lib/jvm/java-21-openjdk-amd64
Default locale: en, platform encoding: UTF-8 OS name: "linux", version: "5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-wsl2", arch: "amd64", family: "unix"

Output of docker -v

Docker version 28.1.1, build 4eba377

Additional information

If app is built for UBI 8 then it works.
To reproduce this:

1. ./mvnw clean package -Pnative -Dquarkus.native.builder-image=quay.io/quarkus/ubi-quarkus-mandrel-builder-image:jdk-21
2. docker build . -f src/main/docker/Dockerfile-ubi8-micro.native -t app
3. docker run --rm app

Also it works with UBI 9.5 minimal, without quarkus UBI9 micro image.
To reproduce build with Dockerfile-ubi9-macro.native

[quarkus-bot]

/cc @Karm (awt,native-image), @galderz (awt,native-image), @radcortez (config), @zakkak (native-image)

[melloware]

@TKufrin here are the instructions for POI or any library that needs font support:

https://docs.quarkiverse.io/quarkus-poi/dev/index.html#_docker

So it's not a Quarkus issue it's just that you need to add the font support to your image.

######################### Set up environment for POI #############################
RUN microdnf update -y && microdnf install -y freetype fontconfig && microdnf clean all
######################### Set up environment for POI #############################

[TKufrin]

@melloware Please look at the reproducer I attached. All of this is done in the Dockerfiles. Dockerfiles are as they should be according to Quarkus instructions given here https://quarkus.io/version/3.20/guides/quarkus-runtime-base-image and also in quarkus quickstarts repo https://github.com/quarkusio/quarkus-quickstarts/blob/main/awt-graphics-rest-quickstart/src/main/docker/Dockerfile.native-micro.

This issue occurs specifically on Quarkus UBI 9 micro image (quay.io/quarkus/ubi9-quarkus-micro-image:2.0). It works when application is built for UBI 8 micro image (quay.io/quarkus/quarkus-micro-image:2.0, switch to UBI 8 guide) and on UBI minimal 9.5 but not with Quarkus UBI 9 micro image. I use AWT on native in several applications and all works fine but this method specifically for finding font family of a font doesn't work in native mode with Quarkus UBI 9 micro image, some .so files are missing and I don't know which.

[melloware]

Interesting even UBI8 never worked for me with fonts and the trick above has always worked for me.

[Karm]

Will take a look.

[TKufrin]

Thank you.

[Karm]

It seems a mass update was done for UBI 8 -> UBI 9 but some version specifics remained UBI 8-like. Lemme test a fix...

[Karm]

@TKufrin @melloware So, while the reproducer's list of libs to copy is:

COPY --from=nativelibs \
   /lib64/libz.so.1 \
   /lib64/libstdc++.so.6 \
   /lib64/libfreetype.so.6 \
   /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1 \
   /lib64/libbz2.so.1 \
   /lib64/libpng16.so.16 \
   /lib64/libm.so.6 \
   /lib64/libbz2.so.1 \
   /lib64/libexpat.so.1 \
   /lib64/libuuid.so.1 \
   /lib64/

The correct list is:

COPY --from=nativelibs \
   /lib64/libz.so.1 \
   /lib64/libstdc++.so.6 \
   /lib64/libfreetype.so.6 \
   /lib64/libgcc_s.so.1 \
   /lib64/libbz2.so.1 \
   /lib64/libpng16.so.16 \
   /lib64/libm.so.6 \
   /lib64/libexpat.so.1 \
   /lib64/libuuid.so.1 \
   /lib64/libxml2.so.2 \
   /lib64/libharfbuzz.so.0 \
   /lib64/libbrotlidec.so.1 \
   /lib64/libbrotlicommon.so.1 \
   /lib64/liblzma.so.5 \
   /lib64/libglib-2.0.so.0 \
   /lib64/libgraphite2.so.3 \
   /lib64/libpcre.so.1 \
   /lib64/

The dependency on harfbuzz pulls compression (lzma, brotli) and regexp engine and their deps.

So,

• this guide https://quarkus.io/version/3.20/guides/quarkus-runtime-base-image needs fixing and the
• quickstart https://github.com/quarkusio/quarkus-quickstarts/blob/main/awt-graphics-rest-quickstart/src/main/docker/Dockerfile.native-micro needs CI for the micro variant too.

I'll be updating those...

FYI:
@jerboaa Wasn't the Harfbuzz fonts antialiasing lib supposed to be taken from the JDK instead of OS at some point? Like the "intree" variant?

[Karm]

How did I find out: strace