Index: src/plfreetype.c
===================================================================
--- src/plfreetype.c	(revision 12898)
+++ src/plfreetype.c	(working copy)
@@ -940,6 +940,14 @@
 
             FT_StrX_YW( pls, line, (short) linelen, &w, &h, &overh, &underh );
 
+			//if this was just a call to get the text width then assign the width and return
+			if( pls->get_string_length )
+			{
+				//width must be in mm, freetype is using scaled device coordinates
+				pls->string_length = (PLFLT)w/pls->xpmm;;
+				return;
+			}
+
 //
 //      Set up the transformation Matrix
 //