- Fonts in X11R6.8
+ Fonts in X11R6.9
Juliusz Chroboczek, <jch@pps.jussieu.fr>
1. Introduction
-This document describes the support for fonts in X11R6.8. Installing fonts
+This document describes the support for fonts in X11R6.9. Installing fonts
(section 2., page 1) is aimed at the casual user wishing to install fonts in
-X11R6.8 the rest of the document describes the font support in more detail.
+X11R6.9 the rest of the document describes the font support in more detail.
We assume some familiarity with digital fonts. If anything is not clear to
you, please consult Appendix: Background (section 5., page 1) at the end of
X includes two font systems: the original core X11 fonts system, which is
present in all implementations of X11, and the Xft fonts system, which may
-not be distributed with implementations of X11 that are not based on X11R6.8
+not be distributed with implementations of X11 that are not based on X11R6.9
but will hopefully be included by them in the future
The core X11 fonts system is directly derived from the fonts system included
Xft has no configuration mechanism itself, rather it relies upon the fontcon-
fig library to configure and customize fonts. That library is not specific
-to X11R6.8 or indeed on any particular font output mechanism. This discus-
+to X11R6.9 or indeed on any particular font output mechanism. This discus-
sion describes how fontconfig, rather than Xft, works.
2.1.1 Installing fonts in Xft
Fontconfig looks for fonts in a set of well-known directories that include
-all of X11R6.8's standard font directories (`/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/lib/fonts/*')
+all of X11R6.9's standard font directories (`/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/lib/fonts/*')
by default) as well as a directory called `.fonts/' in the user's home direc-
tory. Installing a font for use by Xft applications is as simple as copying
a font file into one of these directories.
</edit>
</match>
-Xft supports sub-pixel rasterisation on LCD displays. X11R6.8 should auto-
+Xft supports sub-pixel rasterisation on LCD displays. X11R6.9 should auto-
matically enable this feature on laptops and when using an LCD monitor con-
nected with a DVI cable; you can check whether this was done by typing
2.2.1 Installing bitmap fonts
-The X11R6.8 server can use bitmap fonts in both the cross-platform BDF format
-and the somewhat more efficient binary PCF format. (X11R6.8 also supports
+The X11R6.9 server can use bitmap fonts in both the cross-platform BDF format
+and the somewhat more efficient binary PCF format. (X11R6.9 also supports
the obsolete SNF format.)
Bitmap fonts are normally distributed in the BDF format. Before installing
2.2.2 Installing scalable fonts
-The X11R6.8 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 Installing CIDFonts (section 2.2.3, page
-1) later in this document.
+The X11R6.9 server supports scalable fonts in three formats: Type 1, TrueType
+and CIDFont. This section only applies to the first two; for information on
+CIDFonts, please see Installing CIDFonts (section 2.2.3, page 1) later in
+this document. Previous versions also included support for the Speedo scal-
+able font format, but that is disabled in the default builds of X11R6.9 and
+not included in X11R7.0 and later releases.
Installing scalable fonts is very similar to installing bitmap fonts: you
create a directory with the font files, and run `mkfontdir' to create an
Munhwa-Regular--UniKS-UCS2-H
-The CIDFont code in X11R6.8 requires a very rigid directory structure. The
+The CIDFont code in X11R6.9 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
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 X11R6.8.)
+should no longer be necessary in X11R6.9.)
You may check the font path of the running server by typing the command
you are trying to use a font in a format that is not supported by your
server.
-X11R6.8 supports the BDF, PCF, SNF, Type 1, Speedo, TrueType, OpenType and
-CIDFont font formats. However, not all X11R6.8 servers come with all the
-font backends configured in.
+X11R6.9 supports the BDF, PCF, SNF, Type 1, TrueType, OpenType and CIDFont
+font formats. However, not all X11R6.9 servers come with all the font back-
+ends configured in.
-On most platforms, the X11R6.8 servers are modular: the font backends are
+On most platforms, the X11R6.9 servers are modular: the font backends are
included in modules that are loaded at runtime. The modules to be loaded are
specified in the `xorg.conf' file using the `Load' directive:
If you have trouble installing fonts in a specific format, you may want to
check the server's log file in order to see whether the relevant modules are
-properly loaded. The list of font modules distributed with X11R6.8 is as
+properly loaded. The list of font modules distributed with X11R6.9 is as
follows:
o "bitmap": bitmap fonts (`*.bdf', `*.pcf' and `*.snf');
o "type1": alternate Type 1 backend (`*.pfa' and `*.pfb') and CIDFont
backend;
- o "xtt": alternate TrueType backend (`*.ttf' and `*.ttc');
-
- o "speedo": Bitstream Speedo fonts (`*.spd').
+ o "xtt": alternate TrueType backend (`*.ttf' and `*.ttc').
Please note that the argument of the `Load' directive is case-sensitive.
-3. Fonts included with X11R6.8
+3. Fonts included with X11R6.9
3.1 Standard bitmap fonts
Helvetica and some members of the Lucida family. In the SI, these fonts are
provided in the ISO 8859-1 encoding (ISO Latin Western-European).
-In X11R6.8, a number of these fonts are provided in Unicode-encoded font
+In X11R6.9, a number of these fonts are provided in Unicode-encoded font
files instead. At build time, these fonts are split into font files encoded
according to legacy encodings, a process which allows us to provide the stan-
dard fonts in a number of regional encodings with no duplication of work.
3.3 Standard scalable fonts
-X11R6.8 includes all the scalable fonts distributed with X11R6.
+X11R6.9 includes all the scalable fonts distributed with X11R6.
3.3.1 Standard Type 1 fonts
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/UT*.pfa
-Finally, X11R6.8 also comes with Type 1 versions of Bitstream Courier and
+Finally, X11R6.9 also comes with Type 1 versions of Bitstream Courier and
Charter. These fonts have XLFD
-bitstream-courier-*-*-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/c*bt_.pfb
-3.3.2 Standard Speedo fonts
-
-X11R6.8 includes Speedo versions of the Bitstream Courier and Charter fonts.
-In order to use these fonts, you should ensure that your X server is loading
-the `Speedo' font backend; see Troubleshooting (section 2.2.5, page 1).
-
-These fonts cover all of ISO 8859-1 and almost all of ISO 8859-2. They have
-XLFD name
-
- -bitstream-courier-*-*-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-*-*
- -bitstream-charter-*-*-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-*-*
-
-and reside in the font files
-
- /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/font*.spd
-
3.4 The Bigelow & Holmes Luxi family
-X11R6.8 includes the Luxi family of scalable fonts, in both TrueType and
+X11R6.9 includes the Luxi family of scalable fonts, in both TrueType and
Type 1 format. This family consists of the fonts Luxi Serif, with XLFD
-b&h-luxi serif-medium-*-normal--*-*-*-*-p-*-*-*
An earlier version of the Luxi fonts was made available under the name
Lucidux. This name should no longer be used due to trademark uncertainties,
-and all traces of the Lucidux name have been removed from X11R6.8.
+and all traces of the Lucidux name have been removed from X11R6.9.
4. More about core fonts
-This section describes X11R6.8-specific enhancements to the core X11 fonts
+This section describes X11R6.9-specific enhancements to the core X11 fonts
system.
4.1 Core fonts and internationalisation
-The scalable font backends (Type 1, Speedo and TrueType) can automatically
-re-encode fonts to the encoding specified in the XLFD in `fonts.dir'. For
-example, a `fonts.dir' file can contain entries for the Type 1 Courier font
-such as
+The scalable font backends (Type 1 and TrueType) can automatically re-encode
+fonts to the encoding specified in the XLFD in `fonts.dir'. For example, a
+`fonts.dir' file can contain entries for the Type 1 Courier font such as
cour.pfa -adobe-courier-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
cour.pfa -adobe-courier-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-2
4.1.1 The fontenc layer
-Three of the scalable backends (Type 1, Speedo, and the FreeType TrueType
-backend) use a common fontenc layer for font re-encoding. This allows these
-backends to share their encoding data, and allows simple configuration of new
-locales independently of font type.
+Two of the scalable backends (Type 1 and the FreeType TrueType backend) use a
+common fontenc layer for font re-encoding. This allows these backends to
+share their encoding data, and allows simple configuration of new locales
+independently of font type.
-Please note: the X-TrueType (X-TT) backend is not included in X11R6.8. That
+Please note: the X-TrueType (X-TT) backend is not included in X11R6.9. That
functionality has been merged into the FreeType backend.>
In the fontenc layer, an encoding is defined by a name (such as iso8859-1),
used to automatically build `encodings.dir' files. Please see the mkfont-
dir(1) manual page for more details.
-A number of encoding files for common encodings are included with X11R6.8.
+A number of encoding files for common encodings are included with X11R6.9.
Information on writing new encoding files can be found in Format of encodings
directory files (section 4.1.3, page 1) and Format of encoding files (section
4.1.4, page 1) later in this document.
The Type 1 backend behaves similarly to the FreeType backend with Type 1
fonts, except that it limits all encodings to 8-bit codes.
-4.1.2.3 Speedo
-
-The Speedo backend searches for a mapping with a target of Unicode, and uses
-it if found. If none is found, the backend defaults to ISO 8859-1.
-
-The Speedo backend limits all encodings to 8-bit codes.
-
4.1.3 Format of encoding directory files
In order to use a font in an encoding that the font backend does not know
Since the functionalities for CJKV support introduced by X-TT have been
merged into the new FreeType backend, the X-TT backend will be removed from
-X11R6.8's tree near the future. Therefore, the use of FreeType backend is
+X11R6.9's tree near the future. Therefore, the use of FreeType backend is
preferred over the X-TT backend.
General information on X-TrueType may be found at the After X-TT Project page
bitmap fonts. They may also consist of a mathematical description of glyph
shapes, in which case they are said to be scalable fonts. Common formats for
scalable font files are Type 1 (sometimes incorrectly called ATM fonts or
-PostScript fonts), TrueType and Speedo.
+PostScript fonts), TrueType and OpenType.
The glyph data in a digital font needs to be indexed somehow. How this is
done depends on the font file format. In the case of Type 1 fonts, glyphs
6. References
-X11R6.8 comes with extensive documentation in the form of manual pages and
+X11R6.9 comes with extensive documentation in the form of manual pages and
typeset documents. Before installing fonts, you really should read the font-
config(3) and mkfontdir(1) manual pages; other manual pages of interest
include X(7), Xserver(1), xset(1), Xft(3), xlsfonts(1) and showfont(1). In
addition, you may want to read the X Logical Font Description document, by
Jim Flowers, which is provided in the file `xc/doc/xlfd.PS.Z'.
-The latest released version of the X11R6.8 documentation (including this doc-
-ument and all manual pages) can be found from current X11R6.8 documentation
+The latest released version of the X11R6.9 documentation (including this doc-
+ument and all manual pages) can be found from current X11R6.9 documentation
<URL:http://wiki.x.org/>.
The comp.fonts FAQ <URL:http://www.netmeg.net/faq/computers/fonts/>, which is
projects / platform / upstream / xorg-server.git / commitdiff