MKFONTDIR(1)             USER COMMANDS               MKFONTDIR(1)



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

SYNOPSIS
     mkfontdir [directory-names]

DESCRIPTION
     Mkfontdir 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 depends on  confi-
     guration  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 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  for-
     ward  enough,  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  search
     for  in  the normal manner, looking through each font direc-
     tory 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 suf-
     fix) 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)).





X Version 11         Last change: Release 4                     1

MKFONTDIR(1)             USER COMMANDS               MKFONTDIR(1)



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





















































X Version 11         Last change: Release 4                     2