--- Text.c.org	2002-09-23 03:23:25.000000000 +0000
+++ Text.c	2006-01-18 12:44:01.941722456 +0000
@@ -4,9 +4,24 @@
 XDrawString(Display *dpy, Drawable d, GC gc, int x, int y,
 	_Xconst char *string, int length)
 {   
-	if (length > 0)
+	if (length > 0) {
+		/* the mask needs to match the color's valid bits,
+		 * i.e. 0x0000FFFF for 5:6:5 16 bit RGB mode
+		 */
+		unsigned long mask = 0x0000FFFF;	/* 0xFFFFFFFF >> (32 - 8*sizeof(MWPIXELVAL)); */
+		XGCValues *vp = (XGCValues *)gc->ext_data;
+		/* this test is to fix a problem where:
+		 * if foreground color == background color,
+		 * it will print transparent and nothing will show up.
+		 * In such a case, change foreground color.
+		 */
+		if (((vp->background ^ vp->foreground) & mask) == 0) {
+			vp->foreground += (vp->foreground == mask) ? -1 : 1;
+			XSetForeground(dpy, gc, vp->foreground);
+		}
 		GrText(d, gc->gid, x, y, (char *)string, length,
 		       GR_TFASCII|GR_TFBASELINE);
+	}
 	return 0;
 }