https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1513579
--- Comment #3 from Marek Kašík mkasik@redhat.com --- The new hinting engine was already present in F26. This issue seems to be the one mentioned in freetype's 2.8 release notes:
- `Light' auto-hinting mode no longer uses TrueType metrics for TrueType fonts. This bug was introduced in version 2.4.6, causing horizontal scaling also. Almost all GNU/Linux distributions (with Fedora as a notable exception) disabled the corresponding patch for good reasons; chances are thus high that you won't notice a difference.
If optical backward compatibility for legacy applications is necessary, you might enable the AF_CONFIG_OPTION_TT_SIZE_METRICS configuration option. However, it is strongly recommended to avoid that, adjusting font sizes instead.
Could you attach here screenshots from F27 and F26 ("dnf downgrade freetype* --releasever=26")? I see a difference in sharpness, the F27 version seems a little sharper than the one from F26.