update-fonts-dir

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

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 in-
       voking 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'),  up-
       date-fonts-dir    will    generate   either   /usr/lib/X11/fonts/direc-
       tory/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 pack-
       age'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 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-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 <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)  com-
       mand.

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

SEE ALSO
       mkfontdir(1x)

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