I use Debian 7.7.0 and my ~/.Xresources file containsXft.antialias: trueXft.autohint: falseXft.dpi: 96Xft.hinting: trueXft.hintstyle: hintslightXft.lcdfilter: lcddefaultXft.rgba: rgb(These are the settings I used in Ubuntu 14.04 to maintain the same font rendering when using a simple window manager started from the console.)The system font is set to DejaVu Sans at ten points and the word File is rendered like this:With the same settings in Ubuntu 14.04 each letter is one pixel higher:Since each letter has the same width in both cases the rendering in Debian looks vertically squashed.
Why is a ten point font smaller in Debian compared to Ubuntu?
debian;fonts;fontconfig
Changing Xft.dpi from 96 to 100 solved the problem for me. Now the letters have the same shape as in Ubuntu.