mkfontdir(X)                  06 January 1993                   mkfontdir(X)


 Name

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

 Syntax


    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.

    The kinds of font files read by mkfontdir depend on configuration parame-
    ters, 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.

 Scalable fonts

    Because scalable font files do not usually include the X font name, the
    fonts.dir file in directories containing such fonts must be edited by
    hand to include the appropriate entries for those fonts.  However, when
    mkfontdir is run, all of those additions will be lost, so be careful.

 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 consists of two white-space separated columns, the first con-
    taining 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 a backslash:

       "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 suffix) will be used as an alias for
    that font.

 User considerations

    Both the X server and the Font Server look for fonts.dir and fonts.alias
    files in each directory in the font path each time the font path is set.
    See xset(X) for more information.

 See also

    fs(X), X(X), Xsco(X), xset(X)