RFC: Making the xfs font server optional in Fedora Core and its derivatives.

[Mike Chambers]

On Mon, 2006-05-22 at 15:29 -0400, Mike A. Harris wrote:

> - Run ntsysv (or equivalent) and disable the xfs service from
>    starting at boot time.
> 
> - Run "service xfs stop" to shut down xfs
> 
> - Edit xorg.conf and comment out the unix:/7100 font path.
>    Add a FontPath that points to the "misc" font directory.
> 
> - Start the X server.  It should start correctly as long as you
>    have properly configured the misc font path, as it will then
>    still be able to find "fixed" and "cursor".

So far so good for the test run.  Disabled xfs from starting, and
changed unix/:7100 (err, commented it out) and
added /usr/share/fonts/misc as the FontPatch in xorg.conf.  Rebooted and
all is well so far.

> You may or may not have errors or application failures during
> your desktop's startup, depending on wether you're using GNOME,
> KDE, or some other setup.  If your setup uses apps that use
> core fonts, they may or may not start depending on how picky
> they are about finding specific fonts.

gdm started up OK (thought it might hicup like it has been doing this
last week or so).  Gnome also started up OK, and no errors as of yet.
Evolution and Firefox both seem to run just fine up to this point.  And
so far all the programs that are set to run on login (like weather,
network-status, sound, clock, gaim).  Anyway, basic gnome desktop and
startup programs seem be working just fine.

> Once your desktop is started, open a terminal and run various
> non-GNOME, non-GTK2, non-KDE, non-Qt applications.  For example,
> run Xt, Xaw, Motif, and other such apps, and see if they work
> properly, or if they fail miserably.  If any apps fail and
> report an error about a missing font or other font related
> problem, make note of it.

Not sure what runs on the systems above, so might need to give a few
hints on what to test.  Mplayer does seem to work if that is one of
them.  As does K3b.

More to come later as I can test more.

-- 
Mike Chambers
Madisonville, KY

"Sex is like air, it's not important unless you're not getting any!"