mkfontdir(1X)                                       mkfontdir(1X)



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

SYNOPSIS
     mkfontdir [directory-name]...

DESCRIPTION
     mkfontdir reads all font files in each directory-name argu-
     ment, for properties named FONT.  If no font properties are
     found, mkfontdir searches each font file for the name of the
     file stripped of its suffix. These base names 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.  The
     server looks for font.dir in each directory in the font path
     each time the path is set. See xset(1X) for details.

     The kinds of font files read by mkfontdir depend on confi-
     guration parameters.  They typically include server natural
     format (SNF) files (suffix .snf), compressed SNF files (suf-
     fix .snf.Z), bitmap distribution format (BDF) files (suffix
     .bdf), and compressed BDF files (suffix .bdf.Z).  If a font
     exists in multiple formats, the most efficient format is
     used.

   Font name aliases
     The file fonts.alias is used to map new names to existing
     fonts and should be edited by hand.  The fonts.alias file
     can be placed in any directory of the font path.  The format
     consists of two white-space-separated columns:  the first
     containing aliases and the second containing font name pat-
     terns.

     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 men-
     tion fonts in the same directory as the alias file.

     To embed spaces in either name, simply enclose the name, in-
     cluding spaces with double quotation marks. To embed double
     quotation marks (or any other symbol), precede double quota-
     tion marks with a 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 filename in the directory (stripped of its .snf suffix)
     is used as an alias for that font.





November, 1990                                                  1

mkfontdir(1X)                                       mkfontdir(1X)



     The server looks for fonts.alias as well as fonts.dir in
     each directory in the font path each time the path is set.
     See xset(1X) for details.

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

















































2                                                  November, 1990