How to Check Your FontForge Version

Checking the installed version of FontForge is essential for verifying feature compatibility, reporting bugs, or ensuring your font-design environment is up to date. Depending on your operating system and workflow, you can determine your version number directly through the graphical user interface (GUI), via the command line interface (CLI), or through your system's package manager.

Method 1: Using the Graphical Interface (GUI)

The graphical interface provides the version date directly within the application's information window.

Launch FontForge.
Open any font file or create a new one to reach the main workspace.
Access the About window:
- Windows & Linux: Click on Help in the top menu bar, then select About FontForge.
- macOS: Click on FontForge in the menu bar at the top of your screen, then select About FontForge.
A splash window will appear displaying the version date (FontForge releases are typically identified by the release date, formatted as YYYYMMDD or DD-Mon-YYYY) alongside licensing and build information.

Method 2: Using the Command Line

If you have FontForge added to your system's PATH, the command line is the fastest way to check the version.

Open your terminal application:
- Windows: Command Prompt or PowerShell.
- macOS: Terminal.
- Linux: Your preferred shell terminal.
Run the following command:

fontforge --version

Alternatively, you can use:

fontforge -v

The terminal will return the version release string, build date, and compiler information.

Method 3: Using Package Managers

If you installed FontForge via a package manager, you can query the manager directly without launching the program.

macOS (Homebrew)

Run the following command in Terminal:

brew info fontforge

Ubuntu / Debian

Run the following command in Terminal:

dpkg -l | grep fontforge

Or:

apt-cache policy fontforge

Arch Linux

Run the following command in Terminal:

pacman -Q fontforge

Fedora

Run the following command in Terminal:

dnf list installed fontforge