update-fonts-alias

update-fonts-alias(8)       System Manager's Manual      update-fonts-alias(8)

NAME
       update-fonts-alias - compile fonts.alias files

SYNOPSIS
       update-fonts-alias [OPTION] directory ...

DESCRIPTION
       update-fonts-alias  assembles a fonts.alias file in an X font directory
       using  one  or  more  alias  files   found   in   a   subdirectory   of
       /etc/X11/fonts/.   It is typically invoked only from the post-installa-
       tion and post-removal scripts of a package containing X  Window  System
       fonts  that provide aliases for their XLFD names, but may be invoked at
       any time to reconstruct fonts.alias files.  For each  directory,  which
       is  simply  the last component of its path (such as '75dpi' or 'misc'),
       update-fonts-alias  will  assemble   either   /usr/lib/X11/fonts/direc-
       tory/fonts.alias or /usr/share/fonts/X11/directory/fonts.alias from the
       files found in /etc/X11/fonts/directory/package.alias.

       This enables multiple packages to provide aliases for fonts in the same
       directory.   No  font package actually provides the fonts.alias file in
       the X font directory itself, so there is no danger of  overwriting  one
       package's aliases with those of another.

       For     instance,     the     two     packages     'xfonts-base'    and
       'xfonts-base-transcoded' may both  install  fonts  into  the  directory
       /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc.   They  each  place their fonts.alias files in
       /etc/X11/fonts/misc/xfonts-base.alias                               and
       /etc/X11/fonts/misc/xfonts-base-transcoded.alias  (respectively).   up-
       date-fonts-alias concatenates these two files (as well  as  any  others
       that          match          /etc/X11/fonts/misc/*.alias)          into
       /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/fonts.alias.

       The format of fonts.alias files is described in the mkfontdir(1x)  man-
       ual page.

       An  example  of  how  to  use  update-fonts-alias in package maintainer
       scripts is provided in the Debian Policy Manual.

OPTIONS
       -h, --help displays a brief usage message and exits.

OPERANDS
       update-fonts-alias 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-alias 75dpi
       is correct, while  'update-fonts-alias  /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi'
       and 'update-fonts-alias /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-alias was invoked without operands.  Supply one  or
              more X font directory names to operate on.

       usage error: unrecognized option
              update-fonts-alias was invoked with an unrecognized option argu-
              ment.  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 com-
              ponent 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-alias  skipped
              it.

EXIT STATUS
       0      update-fonts-alias ran successfully.

       1      update-fonts-alias experienced a fatal error; see the section on
              diagnostic messages above.

       2      update-fonts-alias was invoked with invalid arguments.

BUGS
       See the Debian Bug Tracking System <https://bugs.debian.org/
       xfonts-utils>.   If  you  wish  to  report a bug in update-fonts-alias,
       please see /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the  reportbug(1)
       command.

AUTHOR
       update-fonts-alias was written by Branden Robinson.

SEE ALSO
       mkfontdir(1x)

Debian Project                    2004-11-11             update-fonts-alias(8)