xfree86 man page for mkcfm

MKCFM(1)						      General Commands Manual							  MKCFM(1)

NAME
       mkcfm - create summaries of font metric files in CID font directories

SYNOPSIS
       mkcfm [CID-font-directory-name]

DESCRIPTION
       There  is  usually only one CID font directory on the X font path. It is usually called /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID. If you do not specify
       an argument, mkcfm will try to go through the subdirectories of that directory, and create one summary of font metric files for	each  CID-
       Font (character descriptions) file and each CMap (Character Maps) file it finds. The summaries of font metric files are put in the existing
       CFM subdirectory. The CFM subdirectories are created when CID-keyed fonts are installed.

       If you specify a CID font directory as an argument, mkcfm will try to go through the subdirectories of that directory, and create one  sum-
       mary  of  font metric files for each CIDFont file and each CMap file it finds.  mkcfm will calculate the summaries of the font metric files
       stored in AFM subdirectories of the CID font directory.

       Those summaries are needed by the rasterizer of CID-keyed fonts to speed up the response to X font calls. If those files do not exist,  CID
       rasterizer  will  have  to go through usually large font metric files, and calculate the summaries itself each time the font is called. You
       will notice a substantial wait on a call to a large CID-keyed font.

FILES
       .afm files     Each CID-keyed font file is supposed to have a font metric file (.afm file). mkcfm creates summary  files  (.cfm	files)	of
		      those  font metric files. mkcfm should be run whenever a change is made to the files stored in the subdirectories of the CID
		      font directory. For example, it should be run when new CID fonts are installed.

       .cfm files     Summaries of font metric (.afm) files created by mkcfm.

SEE ALSO
       The rasterizer for CID-keyed fonts in the directory xc/lib/font/Type1.

CID Fonts Version 1.0						    Release 1.0 							  MKCFM(1)