Table of Contents
mkfontdir - create an index of X font files
in a directory
mkfontdir [-n] [-x suffix] [-r] [-p prefix] [-e encoding-directory-name]
... [--] [directory-name ... ]
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 file, 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.
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, and can be created with the mkfontscale(1)
program.
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 beginning
with "!" 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, simply enclose it in double-quote marks; to embed double-quote marks
(or any other character), precede them with back-slash:
"magic-alias with spaces" "\"font name\" with quotes"
regular-alias fixed
If the string "FILE_NAMES_ALIASES" stands alone on a line, each file-name
in the directory (stripped of its suffix) will be used as an alias for
that font.
The option -e can be used to specify a directory
with encoding files. Every such directory is scanned for encoding files,
the list of which is then written to an "encodings.dir" file in every font
directory. The "encodings.dir" file is used by the server to find encoding
information.
The "encodings.dir" file has the same format as "fonts.dir". It
maps encoding names (strings of the form CHARSET_REGISTRY-CHARSET_ENCODING
) to encoding file names.
The following options are supported:
- -e
- Specify a directory containing encoding files. The -e option may be specified
multiple times, and all the specified directories will be read. The order
of the entries is significant, as encodings found in earlier directories
override those in later ones; encoding files in the same directory are
discriminated by preferring compressed versions.
- -n
- do not scan for fonts,
do not write font directory files. This option is useful when generating
encoding directories only.
- -p
- Specify a prefix that is prepended to the encoding
file path names when they are written to the "encodings.dir" file. The prefix
is prepended as-is. If a `/' is required between the prefix and the path names,
it must be supplied explicitly as part of the prefix.
- -r
- Keep non-absolute
encoding directories in their relative form when writing the "encodings.dir"
file. The default is to convert relative encoding directories to absolute
directories by prepending the current directory. The positioning of this
options is significant, as this option only applies to subsequent -e options.
- -x suffix
- Ignore fonts files of type suffix.
- --
- End options.
- 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(1)
).
- fonts.scale
- List of scalable fonts in the directory. Contents are
copied to fonts.dir by mkfontdir. Can be created with mkfontscale(1)
.
- fonts.alias
- List of font name aliases. Read by the X server and font server each time
the font path is set (see xset(1)
).
- encodings.dir
- List of known encodings
and the files they are stored in. Created by mkfontdir. Read by the X server
and font server each time a font with an unknown charset is opened.
X(7)
, Xserver(1)
, mkfontscale(1)
, xfs(1)
, xset(1)
Table of Contents