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  invoked
       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  ensure that the fonts.dir file in that directory contains information about the font
       files provided 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 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-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 <http://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)