mkfontdir (X)     X Version 11 (Release 4)     mkfontdir (X)


     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 pro-
       perties 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.

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

     FONT NAME ALIASES
       The fonts.alias file, which can be put in any direc-
       tory of the font-path, is used to map new names to
       existing fonts, and should be edited by hand.  The
       format depends upon the version of the X11 server
       that you are using.  For an R4 server, the format
       consists of two white-space separated columns, the
       first containing aliases and the second containing
       font-name patterns.  For an R3 server, the format
       also consists of two white-space separated columns,
       the first containing the font-name pattern and the
       second containinbg aliases.

       When a font alias is used, the name it references is
       search 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.  An example for an R4 fonts.alias file
       is:

       "magic-alias with spaces"      "\"font\name\" with quotes"
       regular-alias                  fixed

       An example for an R3 fonts.alias file is:

       "\"font\name\" with quotes"    "magic-alias with spaces"
       fixed                          regular-alias

       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
       X(X) looks for both fonts.dir and fonts.alias in
       each directory in the font path each time it is set
       (see the xset(X) manual page).

     SEE ALSO
       X(X)
       Xsight(X)
       xset(X)