man > update-fonts-scale(8)

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

NAME
       update-fonts-scale - generate fonts.scale files

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

DESCRIPTION
       update-fonts-scale  assembles  a  fonts.scale  file  in an X font directory using one or more
       scale files found in a subdirectory of /etc/X11/fonts/.  It is typically  invoked  only  from
       the  post-installation and post-removal scripts of a package containing scalable fonts usable
       by the X Window System whose X LFD font names are not in the font files themselves,  but  may
       be invoked at any time to reconstruct fonts.scale files.  For each directory, which is either
       an absolute path to an X font directory or (preferably) simply the last component of its path
       (such  as  ‘75dpi’ or ‘misc’), update-fonts-scale will assemble either /usr/lib/X11/fonts/di‐
       rectory/fonts.scale or /usr/share/fonts/X11/directory/fonts.scale from the index files  found
       at  /etc/X11/fonts/directory/package.scale,  where  package  is  the  name of the package in‐
       stalling the fonts.

       This enables multiple packages to provide names for fonts in the  same  directory.   No  font
       package actually provides the fonts.scale 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-scalable’ (real) and ‘xfonts-nifty’ (hypothetical) may
       both  install  fonts  into  the  directory  /usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1.   They each place their
       fonts.scale       files       in        /etc/X11/fonts/Type1/xfonts-scalable.scale        and
       /etc/X11/fonts/Type1/xfonts-nifty.scale   (respectively).    update-fonts-scale  concatenates
       these two files  (as  well  as  any  others  that  match  /etc/X11/fonts/Type1/*.scale)  into
       /usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/fonts.scale.

       The format for fonts.scale files is given in the mkfontdir(1x) manual page.

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

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

OPERANDS
       update-fonts-scale 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-scale 75dpi
       is correct, while ‘update-fonts-scale /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi’ and ‘update-fonts-scale
       /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.

       DEBUG  determines whether low-level diagnostic messages are issued to standard error  output.
              A  null (empty) or unset value indicates that they are not, and a non-null value indi‐
              cates that they are.

DIAGNOSTICS
   Errors
       usage error: one or more font directories must be provided
              update-fonts-scale was invoked without operands.  Supply one or more X font  directory
              names to operate on.

       usage error: unrecognized option
              update-fonts-scale 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-scale skipped it.

   Notes
       Notes are only displayed under special circumstances; see “ENVIRONMENT”.  above.

       note: index references nonexistent font file filename
              The index file /etc/X11/fonts/directory/package.scale, refers to  a  nonexistent  font
              file, filename.  This is normal when package has been removed, but not purged from the
              system.  In other circumstances, it likely indicates an error in package.

EXIT STATUS
       0      update-fonts-scale ran successfully.

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

       2      update-fonts-scale 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-scale, please see /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the
       reportbug(1) command.

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

SEE ALSO
       mkfontdir(1x)

Debian Project                               2004-11-12                        update-fonts-scale(8)