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

NAME

       update-fonts-alias - compile fonts.alias files

SYNOPSIS

       update-fonts-alias [OPTION] directory ...

DESCRIPTION

       update-fonts-alias  assembles  a  fonts.alias  file  in	an  X  font  directory	using  one  or more alias 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 X Window  System
       fonts  that  provide  aliases  for  their XLFD names, but may be invoked at any time to reconstruct fonts.alias files.  For each directory,
       which  is  simply  the  last  component	of  its  path  (such  as   '75dpi'   or   'misc'),   update-fonts-alias   will	 assemble   either
       /usr/lib/X11/fonts/directory/fonts.alias  or  /usr/share/fonts/X11/directory/fonts.alias  from  the  files  found  in /etc/X11/fonts/direc-
       tory/package.alias.

       This enables multiple packages to provide aliases for fonts in the same directory.  No font package actually provides the fonts.alias  file
       in the X font directory itself, so there is no danger of overwriting one package's aliases with those of another.

       For   instance,	 the   two   packages	'xfonts-base'	and   'xfonts-base-transcoded'	 may   both   install  fonts  into  the  directory
       /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc.     They    each    place    their    fonts.alias    files    in     /etc/X11/fonts/misc/xfonts-base.alias     and
       /etc/X11/fonts/misc/xfonts-base-transcoded.alias  (respectively).   update-fonts-alias  concatenates these two files (as well as any others
       that match /etc/X11/fonts/misc/*.alias) into /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/fonts.alias.

       The format of fonts.alias files is described in the mkfontdir(1x) manual page.

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

OPTIONS

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

OPERANDS

       update-fonts-alias 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-alias 75dpi
       is correct, while 'update-fonts-alias /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi' and 'update-fonts-alias /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-alias was invoked without operands.	Supply one or more X font directory names to operate on.

       usage error: unrecognized option
	      update-fonts-alias was invoked with an unrecognized option argument.  Use only the options 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 directory name for directory.

       warning: directory does not exist or is not a directory
	      The supplied directory was invalid.  update-fonts-alias skipped it.

EXIT STATUS

       0      update-fonts-alias ran successfully.

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

       2      update-fonts-alias was invoked with invalid arguments.

BUGS

       See the Debian Bug Tracking System <http://bugs.debian.org/xfonts-utils>.  If you wish to report a bug in  update-fonts-alias,  please  see
       /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt or the reportbug(1) command.

AUTHOR

       update-fonts-alias was written by Branden Robinson.

SEE ALSO

       mkfontdir(1x)

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