MKFONTDIR(1)                   X Version 11                    MKFONTDIR(1)

                                 Release 4+



 NAME
      mkfontdir - create fonts.dir file from directory of font files.

 SYNOPSIS
      mkfontdir [directory-names]

 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 used as font
      names, which are written out to the file "fonts.dir" in the directory
      along with the name of the font file.  Without a "fonts.dir" file, the
      server will not be able to access the font files in the directory.

      The kinds of font files read by mkfontdir depends on configuration
      parameters, but typically include SNF (suffix ".snf"), compressed SNF
      (suffix ".snf.Z", or ".scf"), BDF (suffix ".bdf"), and compressed BDF
      (suffix ".bdf.Z").  If a font exists in multiple formats, the most
      efficient format will be used.

 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 straight forward enough, two white-space
      separated columns, the first containing aliases and the second
      containing font-name patterns.

      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 them 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 it's .snf suffix) will be used as
      an alias for that font.

 USAGE
      Xserver(1) looks for both "fonts.dir" and "fonts.alias" in each
      directory in the font path each time it is set (see xset(1)).

 SEE ALSO
      X(1), Xserver(1), xset(1)




                                    - 1 -      Formatted:  February 14, 1992