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| Red Hat Linux 7.2: The Official Red Hat Linux Reference Guide |
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| Prev | Chapter 6. X Servers and Clients | Next |
Red Hat Linux uses xfs (X Font Server) to provide fonts to
the XFree86 server and the X client applications that connect to
it. While it is possible to not use xfs and place the
paths to font directories in your XF86Config and
XF86Config-4 configuration files,
xfs has several advantages:
It is easier to add and remove fonts, including editing
the font path. The font path is
a collection of paths in the filesystem where font files are
stored. The xfs service keeps the font path out
of the XFree86 configuration files, making it easier to edit.
Fonts may be stored on one machine acting as a networked
font server, and the fonts can be shared among muliple X servers
over the network. A common set of fonts can be
maintained in one place, and easily shared between all users.
More types of fonts are supported.
xfs can handle TrueType, Type1, and bitmap fonts.
The XFree86 configuration files know whether to use
xfs or hard coded font paths because of the
FontPath setting in their Files
sections. By default, the FontPath is set to
unix/:7100. This tells the XFree86 server to connect to
port 7100 using an inner-machine communication link. The
xfs server listening on this port and will respond
with font information when queried by the XFree86 server.
The xfs service must be running when X is started. If
it is not, you will be returned to a command prompt with an error
similar to failed to set default font path
'unix/:7100'. Check to see if xfs is
running using the ps aux | grep xfs command. By
default, xfs is set to start in runlevels 2, 3, 4,
and 5, covering all runlevels where you would run X. If
xfs is not running on your system, you can start it
as root using the service xfs start command. Use the
serviceconf or chkconfig utilities to
force it to start at the correct runlevels.
The /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfs script starts the
xfs server. Several options can be configured in
the /etc/X11/fs/config file:
alternate-servers — Sets a list of
alternate font servers to be used if this font server is not
available. A comma must separate every font server in the list.
catalogue — An ordered list of font paths
to use that contain the font files. A comma must follow every font
path before a new font path can be started in the list.
You can use the string :unscaled immediately
after the font path to make the unscaled fonts in that path load
first. Then, you can specify the entire path again, so that other
scaled fonts will also be loaded.
client-limit — Sets the number of clients
this font server will service before refusing to handle any
more. The default is 10.
clone-self — Decides if the font server
will clone a new version of itself when the
client-limit is hit. By default, this option is
on. Set it to off to disable
this feature.
default-point-size — Sets the default point
size for any font that does not specify this value. The value for
this option is set in decipoints. The default of
120 corresponds to 12 point fonts.
default-resolutions — Specifies a list of
resolutions supported by the XFree86 server. Each resolution in
the list must be separated by a comma.
deferglyphs — Tells xfs
whether to defer the loading of glyphs,
which is an image used to visually represent a font. You can
disable this feature (none), enable this feature
for all fonts (all), or turn this this feature on
only for 16-bit fonts (16), which are largely
used with Asian languages.
error-file — Allows you to specify the path
and file name of a locations where xfs errors
can be logged.
no-listen — Tells xfs
not to listen using a particular protocol. By default, this option
is set to tcp to prevent xfs
from listening on TCP ports, primarily for security reasons. If
you plan on using xfs to serve fonts to networked workstations
on a LAN, you need to remove the tcp from this
line.
port — Specifies the TCP port that
xfs will listen on if
no-listen does not exist or is commented out.
use-syslog — Tells xfs
to use the system error log if set to on.
When using xfs, adding fonts to your system is
rather straightforward. Use the chkfontpath --list
command to see the font paths currently configured on your system. To
add new fonts in a new directory, follow these instructions as the
root user:
Create a font directory, such as
/usr/share/fonts, and place the fonts inside
that directory. Be sure to set the permissions correctly; it is
only necessary that the files can be read, no other permissions
are necessary.
Type the chkfontpath --add
<font-directory-path>
command, where the
<font-directory-path>
is the full path to the directory holding the fonts. This will add
this font path to the xfs configuration file.
 | Note |
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| | You must have a fonts.dir file in your new
font directory for the chkfontpath command to
work correctly. The creation of the
fonts.dir file, as well as any other files
used by xfs with these fonts, is beyond the
scope of this document.
Many font collections available for Linux include these files
for you, it may not be necessary to create them by hand.
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Restart xfs using the service xfs
restart command. You will also need to restart your X
session.
Typing the chkfontpath --list command will show
the new font path. Any fonts you added are now available for use.
The Red Hat Support website contains more information on this subject,
see http://www.redhat.com/support
for additional help documents.
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Disclaimer: For authoritative source or latest update to this
documentation, please refer to http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/ |
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Quotes: Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead-that's where your future lies.
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