"error: font fallback list must not be empty" with Typst 0.14

[jvoisin]

Typst 0.14, released today, doesn't work with pandoc:

$ pandoc --version
pandoc 3.8.2
Features: +server +lua
Scripting engine: Lua 5.4
User data directory: /home/jvoisin/.local/share/pandoc
Copyright (C) 2006-2025 John MacFarlane. Web:  https://pandoc.org
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is no
warranty, not even for merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
$ lsb-release -a
LSB Version:	n/a
Distributor ID:	Fedora
Description:	Fedora Linux Asahi Remix 42 (Forty Two [Adams])
Release:	42
Codename:	adams
$ cat test.typ
= Hello world

This is a test.
$ pandoc -o output.pdf ./test.typ --pdf-engine=typst
error: font fallback list must not be empty
   ┌─ toPdfViaTempFile236506-0.typ:81:17
   │
81 │            font: font,
   │                  ^^^^

help: error occurred in this call of function `conf`
    ┌─ toPdfViaTempFile236506-0.typ:146:14
    │  
146 │   #show: doc => conf(
    │ ╭───────────────^
147 │ │   abstract-title: [Abstract],
148 │ │   pagenumbering: "1",
149 │ │   cols: 1,
150 │ │   doc,
151 │ │ )
    │ ╰─^

Error producing PDF.

[43]
$

According to the changelog, the culprit is likely "An empty font list is not allowed anymore in text.font #6049 (Minor breaking change)"

[jgm]

What's the best font to use if no font is specified?
(Or better: which one should we specified to get the behavior we got before with an empty array?)

[jvoisin]

Invoking @MDLC01 and @laurmaedje to get an opinion on this.

[laurmaedje]

Ideally just don't add the parameter. If you have to, set it to "Libertinus Serif". The empty font array would always trigger font fallback. Libertinus Serif is the default font and the first font in the fallback list.

[jgm]

Note to anyone who wants to try pandoc with typst 0.14: you can work around this issue by specifying a mainfont in metadata or with a variable.

[metasim]

@jgm Thanks for sharing the workaround! 😅