[RFC] Better font filetype and metadata file detection for xfs initscript

[Thomas Dodd]

Mike A. Harris wrote:
> xfs is "deprecated" in the sense that all new applications will 
> be using the new Xft/fontconfig infrastructure, and I had this 

I'm curious about that. With out xfs, how do I share fonts between 
machines? I currently have fon't from 3 systems (Linux, Solaris, and 
HP-UX) shared using xfs so I don't have to keep multiple copies.
There are also potential legal issues in coping the files form one OS to 
another.

> As for a special macro to handle font installation, that is IMHO 
> a double edged sword.  If it was part of a particular package, 
> then it wouldn't be centralized and thus would have to be 
> duplicated in all packages, which isn't much different from what 
> we have now.  If it was centralized, it would have to be part of 
> rpm's default macro set, thus imposing a dependancy on a 
> particular version of rpm in order for those font packages to be 
> useable.  In a case like that for example, my XFree86 4.3.0 
> packages couldn't easily be recompiled for Red Hat Linux 8.0 and 
> expected to work.  Another option is a font installation script, 
> but that suffers from the last problem I described also.

External package is needed. Be it a script or a C program.
When you make the decision to create it, make version fro the systems 
you plan to continue supporting. So there's the RHL8, RHL9, and FC-x 
versions, that understand the differences in each setup. Using 
nonstandard X,GNOME, and such on those systems are unsupportable any 
way, so If I update my RHL8 system to act like FC1, it's up to me to fix 
the font installation program. Since the support of older systems is 
based on your kindness, you set the rules of such support.

> I admit that fonts and font related problems in general are a 
> huge mess, however it isn't limited to our distribution, but is a 
> result more of XFree86 having archaic font technology for so many 
> years.  It'll take a few more years to shake the uglies out of 
> the font infrastructure.

How exactly did X get such a screwed up system?
Why was it never corrected?
How do other systems, especially OS-X handle it?

	-Thomas