man > update-fonts-dir(8)

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 invoking 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 in‐
       voked 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’), update-fonts-dir will generate either
       /usr/lib/X11/fonts/directory/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 package'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 en‐
       sure that the fonts.dir file in that directory contains information about the font files pro‐
       vided 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 argument.  Use only  the  op‐
              tions 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 component of the X font di‐
              rectory 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) command.

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

SEE ALSO
       mkfontdir(1x)

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