X Version 11 (Release 6.1)
mkfontdir(X1M)
mkfontdir --
create an index of X font files in a directory
Synopsis
mkfontdir [directory_name . . .]
Description
For each directory argument, mkfontdir
reads all of the font files in the
directory searching for properties named ``FONT'',
or (failing that) the name
of the file stripped of its suffix. These are converted to lower case
and used as font names, and, along with the name of the font files, are
written out to the file fonts.dir in the directory. The X server and
font server use fonts.dir to find font files.
The kinds of font files read by mkfontdir
depend on configuration parameters, but typically include
PCF (suffix .pcf),
SNF (suffix .snf) and
BDF (suffix .bdf).
If a font exists in multiple formats, mkfontdir
will first choose PCF, then SNF and
finally BDF.
The first line of fonts.dir gives the number of fonts in the file.
The remaining lines list the fonts themselves, one per line, in two
fields. First is the name of the font file, followed by a space and
the name of the font.
Scalable fonts
Because scalable font files do not usually include the X font name, the
file fonts.scale can be used to name the scalable fonts in the
directory.
The fonts listed in it are copied to fonts.dir by mkfontdir.
fonts.scale has the same format as the fonts.dir file.
Font name aliases
The file fonts.alias, which can be put in any directory of
the font path, is used to map new names to existing fonts, and should
be edited by hand. The format is two white-space separated columns, the first containing aliases
and the second containing font-name patterns. Lines begining with a ``!'' are
comment lines and are ignored.
If neither the alias nor the value specifies the size fields of the
font name, this is a scalable alias. A font name of any size that
matches this alias will be mapped to the same size of the font that
the alias resolves to.
When a font alias is used, the name it references is searched for in the normal
manner, looking through each font directory in turn. This means that the
aliases need not mention fonts in the same directory as the alias file.
To embed white space in either name, enclose it double-quotemarks. To
embed double-quote marks (or any other character), precede them
with a backslash:
"magic-alias with spaces" "\"name\" with quotes"
regular-alias fixed
If the string FILE_NAMES_ALIASES
stands alone on a line, each filename
in the directory (stripped of its suffix) will be used as an alias for
that font.
Files
fonts.dir-
List of fonts in the directory and the files they are stored in.
Created by mkfontdir. Read by the X server and font server each
time the font path is set (see
xset(X1M)).
fonts.scale-
List of scalable fonts in the directory. Contents are copied to
fonts.dir by mkfontdir.
fonts.alias-
List of font name aliases.
Read by the X server and font server each
time the font path is set (see
xset(X1M)).
References
xfs(X1M),
X(X1M),
Xsco(X1M),
xset(X1M)
© 2004 The SCO Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
UnixWare 7 Release 7.1.4 - 25 April 2004