1MKFONTDIR(1) General Commands Manual MKFONTDIR(1)
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6 mkfontdir - create an index of X font files in a directory
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9 mkfontdir [-n] [-x suffix] [-r] [-p prefix] [-e encoding-directory-
10 name] ... [--] [directory-name ... ]
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13 For each directory argument, mkfontdir reads all of the font files in
14 the directory searching for properties named "FONT", or (failing that)
15 the name of the file stripped of its suffix. These are converted to
16 lower case and used as font names, and, along with the name of the font
17 file, are written out to the file "fonts.dir" in the directory. The X
18 server and font server use "fonts.dir" to find font files.
19 The kinds of font files read by mkfontdir depend on configuration pa‐
21 rameters, but typically include PCF (suffix ".pcf"), SNF (suffix
22 ".snf") and BDF (suffix ".bdf"). If a font exists in multiple formats,
23 mkfontdir will first choose PCF, then SNF and finally BDF.
24 The first line of fonts.dir gives the number of fonts in the file. The
26 remaining lines list the fonts themselves, one per line, in two fields.
27 First is the name of the font file, followed by a space and the name of
28 the font.
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31 Because scalable font files do not usually include the X font name, the
32 file "fonts.scale" can be used to name the scalable fonts in the direc‐
33 tory. The fonts listed in it are copied to fonts.dir by mkfontdir.
34 "fonts.scale" has the same format as the "fonts.dir" file, and can be
35 created with the mkfontscale(1) program.
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38 The file "fonts.alias", which can be put in any directory of the font-
39 path, is used to map new names to existing fonts, and should be edited
40 by hand. The format is two white-space separated columns, the first
41 containing aliases and the second containing font-name patterns. Lines
42 beginning with "!" are comment lines and are ignored.
43 If neither the alias nor the value specifies the size fields of the
45 font name, this is a scalable alias. A font name of any size that
46 matches this alias will be mapped to the same size of the font that the
47 alias resolves to.
48 When a font alias is used, the name it references is searched for in
50 the normal manner, looking through each font directory in turn. This
51 means that the aliases need not mention fonts in the same directory as
52 the alias file.
53 To embed white space in either name, simply enclose it in double-quote
55 marks; to embed double-quote marks (or any other character), precede
56 them with back-slash:
57 "magic-alias with spaces" "\"font name\" with quotes"
59 regular-alias fixed
60 If the string "FILE_NAMES_ALIASES" stands alone on a line, each file-
62 name in the directory (stripped of its suffix) will be used as an alias
63 for that font.
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66 The option -e can be used to specify a directory with encoding files.
67 Every such directory is scanned for encoding files, the list of which
68 is then written to an "encodings.dir" file in every font directory.
69 The "encodings.dir" file is used by the server to find encoding infor‐
70 mation.
71 The "encodings.dir" file has the same format as "fonts.dir". It maps
73 encoding names (strings of the form CHARSET_REGISTRY-CHARSET_ENCODING )
74 to encoding file names.
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77 The following options are supported:
78 -e Specify a directory containing encoding files. The -e option
80 may be specified multiple times, and all the specified directo‐
81 ries will be read. The order of the entries is significant, as
82 encodings found in earlier directories override those in later
83 ones; encoding files in the same directory are discriminated by
84 preferring compressed versions.
85 -n do not scan for fonts, do not write font directory files. This
87 option is useful when generating encoding directories only.
88 -p Specify a prefix that is prepended to the encoding file path
90 names when they are written to the "encodings.dir" file. The
91 prefix is prepended as-is. If a `/' is required between the
92 prefix and the path names, it must be supplied explicitly as
93 part of the prefix.
94 -r Keep non-absolute encoding directories in their relative form
96 when writing the "encodings.dir" file. The default is to con‐
97 vert relative encoding directories to absolute directories by
98 prepending the current directory. The positioning of this op‐
99 tions is significant, as this option only applies to subsequent
100 -e options.
101 -x suffix
103 Ignore fonts files of type suffix.
104 -- End options.
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108 fonts.dir List of fonts in the directory and the files they are
109 stored in. Created by mkfontdir. Read by the X server
110 and font server each time the font path is set (see
111 xset(1)).
112 fonts.scale List of scalable fonts in the directory. Contents are
114 copied to fonts.dir by mkfontdir. Can be created with
115 mkfontscale(1).
116 fonts.alias List of font name aliases. Read by the X server and
118 font server each time the font path is set (see
119 xset(1)).
120 encodings.dir List of known encodings and the files they are stored
122 in. Created by mkfontdir. Read by the X server and
123 font server each time a font with an unknown charset is
124 opened.
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127 X(7), Xserver(1), mkfontscale(1), xfs(1), xset(1)
128X Version 11 mkfontscale 1.2.2 MKFONTDIR(1)