2. Installing fonts

Installing fonts in XFree86 is a two step process. First, you need to create a font directory that contains all the relevant font files as well as some index files. You then need to inform the X server of the existence of this new directory by including it in the font path.

2.1. Installing bitmap fonts

The XFree86 server can use bitmap fonts in both the cross-platform BDF format and the somewhat more efficient binary PCF format. (XFree86 also supports the obsolete SNF format.)

Bitmap fonts are normally distributed in the BDF format. Before installing such fonts, it is desirable (but not absolutely necessary) to convert the font files to the PCF format. This is done by using the command `bdftopcf', e.g.

$ bdftopcf courier12.bdf

$ gzip courier12.pcf

After the fonts have been converted, you should copy all the font files that you wish to make available into a arbitrary directory, say `/usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap/'. You should then create the index file `fonts.dir' by running the command `mkfontdir' (please see the mkfontdir(1) manual page for more information):

$ mkdir /usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap 
$ cp *.pcf.gz /usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap
$ cd /usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap 
$ mkfontdir 

All that remains is to tell the X server about the existence of the new font directory; see Section Setting the server font path.

2.2. Installing scalable fonts

The XFree86 server supports scalable fonts in four formats: Type 1, Speedo, TrueType and CIDFont. This section only applies to the former three; for information on CIDFonts, please see Section Installing CIDFonts later in this document.

Installing scalable fonts is very similar to installing bitmap fonts: you create a directory with the font files, and run `mkfontdir' to create an index file called `fonts.dir'.

There is, however, a big difference: `mkfontdir' cannot automatically recognise scalable font files. For that reason, you must first index all the font files in a file called `fonts.scale'. This file has the same format as a `fonts.dir' file, and typically looks as follows:

4
cour.pfa -adobe-courier-medium-r-normal-0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
cour.pfa -adobe-courier-medium-r-normal-0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-2
couri.pfa -adobe-courier-medium-i-normal-0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
couri.pfa -adobe-courier-medium-i-normal-0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-2 

Note that multiple lines may point at the same font file. This is most commonly done in order to make a single font available under multiple encodings; please see Section Fonts and internationalisation.

While it is possible to create the `fonts.scale' file by hand, it is simpler and more convenient to have it generated automatically. Utilities to perform this task are available, but are not currently included with XFree86. For Type 1 fonts, you may use a utility called `type1inst' which is available from standard Free Software repositories throughout the world.

For TrueType fonts, you may use `ttmkfdir', available from Joerg Pommnitz's xfsft page.

After the `fonts.scale' is created, you may run `mkfontdir' as above; this time, however, you need to create an index of encoding files called `encodings.dir' in addition to the `fonts.dir' file. This is done by using `mkfontdir' with the `-e' flag:

$ cd /usr/local/share/fonts/Type1
$ mkfontdir -e /usr/X11R6/lib/font/encodings

2.3. Installing CID-keyed fonts

The CID-keyed font format was designed by Adobe Systems for fonts with large character sets. A CID-keyed font, or CIDFont for short, contains a collection of glyphs indexed by character ID (CID).

Adobe make some sample CIDFonts and a complete set of CMaps available from O'Reilly's FTP site.

In order to map such glyphs to meaningful indices, Adobe provide a set of CMap files. The PostScript name of a font generated from a CIDFont consists of the name of the CIDFont and the name of the CMap separated by two dashes. For example, the font generated from the CIDFont `Munhwa-Regular' using the CMap `UniKS-UCS2-H' is called

Munhwa-Regular--UniKS-UCS2-H

The CIDFont support in XFree86 requires a very rigid directory structure. The main directory must be called `CID' (its location defaults to `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID' but it may be located anywhere), and it should contain a subdirectory for every CID collection. Every subdirectory must contain subdirectories called CIDFont (containing the actual CIDFont files), CMap (containing all the needed CMaps), AFM (containing the font metric files) and CFM (initially empty). For example, in the case of the font Munhwa-Regular that uses the CID collection Adobe-Korea1-0, the directory structure should be as follows:

CID/Adobe-Korea1/CIDFont/Munhwa-Regular
CID/Adobe-Korea1/CMap/UniKS-UCS2-H
CID/Adobe-Korea1/AFM/Munhwa-Regular.afm
CID/Adobe-Korea1/CFM/
CID/fonts.dir
CID/fonts.scale

After creating this directory structure and copying the relevant files, you should create a <`tt/fonts.scale/' file. This file has the same format as in the case of (non-CID) scalable fonts, except that its first column contains PostScript font names with the extension `.cid' appended rather than actual filenames:

1
Adobe-Korea1/Munhwa-Regular--UniKS-UCS2-H.cid \
  -adobe-munhwa-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso10646-1

$ cd /usr/local/share/fonts/CID
$ mkfontdir

Finally, you should create the font metrics summary files in the directory `CFM' by running the command `mkcfm':

$ mkcfm /usr/local/share/fonts/CID

2.4. Setting the server's font path

The list of directories where the server looks for fonts is known as the font path. Informing the server of the existence of a new font directory consists in putting it on the font path.

The font path is an ordered list; if a client's request matches multiple fonts, the first one in the font path is the one that gets used. When matching fonts, the server makes two passes over the font path: during the first pass, it searches for an exact match; during the second, it searches for fonts suitable for scaling.

For best results, scalable fonts should appear in the font path before the bitmap fonts; this way, the server will prefer bitmap fonts to scalable fonts when an exact match is possible, but will avoid scaling bitmap fonts when a scalable font can be used. (The `:unscaled' hack, while still supported, should no longer be necessary in XFree86 4.0 and later.)

You may check the font path of the running server by typing the command

$ xset q

2.4.1. Temporary modification of the font path

The `xset' utility may be used to modify the font path for the current session. The font path is set with the command xset fp; a new element is added to the front with xset +fp, and added to the end with xset fp+. For example,

$ xset +fp /usr/local/fonts/Type1
$ xset fp+ /usr/local/fonts/bitmap

Conversely, an element may be removed from the front of the font path with `xset -fp', and removed from the end with `xset fp-'.

For more information, please consult the xset(1) manual page.

2.4.2. Permanent modification of the font path

The default font path (the one used just after server startup) is specified in the X server's `XF86Config' file. It is computed by appending all the directories mentioned in the `FontPath' entries of the `Files' section in the order in which they appear.

FontPath "/usr/local/fonts/Type1"
...
FontPath "/usr/local/fonts/bitmap"

For more information, please consult the `XF86Config'(5) manual page.

2.5. Troubleshooting

If you seem to be unable to use some of the fonts you have installed, the first thing to check is that the `fonts.dir' files are correct and that they are readable by the server. If this doesn't help, it is quite possible that you are trying to use a font in a format that is not supported by your server.

XFree86 supports the BDF, PCF, SNF, Type 1, Speedo, TrueType and CIDFont font formats. However, not all XFree86 servers come with all the font backends configured in.

On most platforms, the XFree86 servers are modular: the font backends are included in modules that are loaded at runtime. The modules to be loaded are specified in the `XF86Config' file using the `Load' directive:

Load "type1"

• "bitmap": bitmap fonts (`*.bdf', `*.pcf' and `*.snf');
• "type1": Type 1 fonts (`*.pfa' and `*.pfb') and CIDFonts;
• "speedo": Bitstream Speedo fonts (`*.spd');
• "freetype": TrueType fonts (`*.ttf' and `*.ttc');
• "xtt": alternate TrueType backend (`*.ttf' and `*.ttc').