Unless you use the not-yet-released SDL 2.0 with the OpenGL back-end, SDL doesn't use OpenGL, it's plain software rendering.
If that's what "all other OpenGL libraries" mean, sorry but this is not a valid argument 
Yes, SDL 2.0. I think I would have noted that before talking about SDL.
Which ones?
All source engine games, all webGL experiments, basically any other application that uses OpenGL and text works perfectly fine.
That ATI drivers are crappy. That's the only thing to say. And until you fully read and understand SFML code, you'll have to trust me.
Laurent, we're both programmers. You and I both know that "trust me" isn't a term that is easily digested.
It's frustrating, I know. But again, don't say "everything else" if you can't be more precise on this point.
I can be precise. I've had no other text drawing issue when using any other OpenGL application other than the samples I use with SFML.
It is, because I'm not supposed to work around driver bugs, and I usually don't unless the modification straight-forward.
If I had a lot of free time I would probably write a test program and start investigating. But I can't. But you can
I have written a test program, and you shot it down as something I shouldn't care about. Now we're here, and you're suggesting I do the same thing. I'm out of options.
As the library maintainer, I know a lot of driver bugs reported by users, and I know my code perfectly. You know none of them (or at least not better than me), so please don't say there is a flaw, unless you can spot it.
That is a really shitty excuse for ignoring an obvious problem.
I bought one only to help users with ATI bugs. But I don't have the time too investigate.
Well we're users, and we're having ATI bugs. You also won't help us fix it, so you must want to fix it on your own.
Perhaps it's time to start investigating.
I know that something can be done, there is always a ugly workaround to apply to make things work. But ATI won't fix their drivers if everyone works around their bugs.
Two retorts to this god awful statement: 1) Please, enlighten us. I'm sure many people would gladly put this "ugly workaround" in as a temporary fix to this gaping hole of a bug. 2) That's like saying "my son won't learn to not play with fire if we keep pouring water on him when he dowses himself in gasoline and decides to have a smoke".
Seriously? ATI doesn't give two shits about SFML. It's ATI. A big, multi-million (possibly multi-billion) dollar corporation. Their intent is to make money their own way. If they had cared the least bit about making sure there weren't any bugs, we wouldn't be having this issue in the first place.
You aren't ATI's father, you can't 'teach them a lesson'. They have a bug that has been present for several versions now, and the next couple of betas they have put out have failed to fix it thus far.
I'm not angry but I'd like people to focus on technical and relevant details. Saying "there's a flaw" or "it works with all other libraries" without any detail doesn't lead anywhere. Debug stuff on your side, do more tests, try to understand the code, etc. Don't come here every hour to say "there's a flaw". Please.
We've given you many, many "technical and relevant details". You're telling us you're not going to explain anything and that SFML is just fine and we should just ignore this bug. I've been debugging this for two weeks. There is no other explanation other than SFML isn't working without some help from you.
I'm not here every hour. I spent a week trying to fix it on my own, and finally made a thread about it. In fact, I've been taking a break from the project for another week now waiting for replies from somebody shedding some light on the matter. You gave up on it telling me that the drivers were mystical and I shouldn't try to understand why there is a bug.
To me, that sounds like you either don't care about SFML working right, just about it being clean. Secondly, it sounds like you're so caught up with the idea that SFML is yours and you want nobody to touch it that you're forgetting that it's open source and ignoring the fact that there is something wrong with it!!
There is a bug that can be fixed in SFML. We've given you all we have so far. We are two users who would rather not have to stop using SFML, which is why we made threads. I have personally spent more time on this than I should have had to spend, and the fact that the only person who seems to know this magical workaround is cock-blocking his user-base is utterly frustrating.
I would advise that instead of attacking us for asking for help, perhaps it's time to break out the ATI, give us some direction with debugging, or tell us about this magical fix from the mystical garden of workarounds...
So... I can't help at the moment, I'm really sorry, but you two can continue to investigate and find more interesting things related to this bug. I think that's the best thing to do until I can help more.
Look at the "RenderTexture bug" thread: someone decided that it was time to solve this old problem, and within a few days it was solved. Users did an amazing job.
Dear god man. We have investigated. We are at a dead end. What the hell do you expect us to do?
Not everyone has an ATI card, and not all ATI cards are affected. The only people who are going to be interested in investigating are us and you, and you seem to be doing a good job at being nonchalant about your own project.
