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)