update\-fonts\-dir
Section: Maintenance Commands (8)
Updated: 2004-11-11
Page Index
NAME
update-fonts-dir - compile fonts.dir files
SYNOPSIS
update-fonts-dir
[
OPTION]
directory ...
DESCRIPTION
update-fonts-dir
creates a
fonts.dir
file in an X font directory by invoking
mkfontdir(1x)
with the appropriate arguments.
It is typically invoked only from the
post-installation and post-removal scripts of a
package
containing fonts for the X Window System, but may be invoked at any time to
reconstruct
fonts.dir
files.
For each
directory,
which is simply the last component of its path (such as '75dpi' or
'misc'),
update-fonts-dir
will generate either
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/directory
/fonts.dir
or
/usr/share/fonts/X11/directory
/fonts.dir
from the
fonts.scale
and font files found within it.
This enables multiple packages to provide names for fonts in the same
directory.
No font package actually provides the
fonts.dir
file in the X font directory itself, so there is no danger of overwriting
one package's font names with those of another.
For instance, the two packages 'xfonts-base' (real) and
'xfonts-nifty' (hypothetical) may both install fonts into the
directory
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc,
and
update-fonts-dir
will ensure that the
fonts.dir
file in that directory contains information about the font files provided
by both packages.
The format of
fonts.dir
files is described in the
mkfontdir(1x)
manual page.
An example of how to use
update-fonts-dir
in package maintainer scripts is provided in the Debian Policy Manual.
OPTIONS
-h,
--help
displays a brief usage message and exits.
-7, --x11r7-layout
switches the font layout to the one introduced in X11R7: fonts in
/usr/share/fonts/X11/directory
(default is: fonts in
/usr/lib/X11/fonts/directory)
OPERANDS
update-fonts-dir
takes one or more X font directory names to operate on as operands.
Only the final path component of the directory name should be specified;
e.g.,
-
update-fonts-dir 75dpi
is correct, while
'
update-fonts-dir /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi'
and
'
update-fonts-dir /usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi'
are not.
ENVIRONMENT
- COLUMNS
-
indicates the width of the terminal device in character cells.
This value is used for formatting diagnostic messages.
If not set, the terminal is queried using
stty(1)
to determine its width.
If that fails, a value of '80' is assumed.
DIAGNOSTICS
Errors
- usage error: one or more font directories must be provided
-
update-fonts-dir
was invoked without operands.
Supply one or more X font directory names to operate on.
- usage error: unrecognized option
-
update-fonts-dir
was invoked with an unrecognized option argument.
Use only the options documented in "OPTIONS", above.
- fatal error: path to X font directory must be used
-
A directory name was supplied that was not an X font directory name.
Supply X font directory names only.
Warnings
- warning: absolute path directory was provided
-
Usage of absolute paths is deprecated.
Use only the final component of the X font directory name for
directory.
- warning: directory does not exist or is not a directory
-
The supplied
directory
was invalid.
update-fonts-dir
skipped it.
EXIT STATUS
- 0
-
update-fonts-dir
ran successfully.
- 1
-
update-fonts-dir
experienced a fatal error; see the section on diagnostic messages above.
- 2
-
update-fonts-dir
was invoked with invalid arguments.
BUGS
See
the Debian Bug Tracking System <URL:
https://bugs.debian.org/xfonts-utils >.
If you wish to report a bug in
update-fonts-dir,
please see
/usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt
or the
reportbug(1)
command.
AUTHOR
update-fonts-dir
was written by Branden Robinson.
SEE ALSO
mkfontdir(1x)