questions about xset

[Nigel Wade]

On 26/10/11 14:54, Doll, Margaret Ann wrote:
> On my Mac
>   mkfontdir .fonts
> ln -s /usr/local/Mathematica/7.0/SystemFiles/Fonts .fonts
> ls -sal .fonts
> 8 lrwxr-xr-x  1 mad  staff  44 Oct 25 15:16 .fonts ->
> /usr/local/Mathematica/7.0/SystemFiles/Fonts
> gc166-mad:~ mad$ ls -sal /usr/local/Mathematica/7.0/SystemFiles/Fonts
> total 0
> 0 drwxr-xr-x    7 root  wheel    238 Oct 21 09:20 .
> 0 drwxr-xr-x    4 root  wheel    136 Oct 25 15:15 ..
> 0 drwxr-xr-x   66 root  wheel   2244 Oct 25 13:25 AFM
> 0 drwxr-xr-x  655 root  wheel  22270 Oct 25 13:25 BDF
> 0 drwxr-xr-x   30 root  wheel   1020 Oct 21 09:20 SVG
> 0 drwxr-xr-x   40 root  wheel   1360 Oct 21 09:20 TTF
> 0 drwxr-xr-x   78 root  wheel   2652 Oct 25 13:25 Type1
>
>   xset +fp .fonts
> xset:  bad font path element (#1149), possible causes are:
>      Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
>      Directory missing fonts.dir
>      Incorrect font server address or syntax
> gc166-mad:~ mad$ xset +fp .fonts/BDF
> xset:  bad font path element (#1149), possible causes are:
>      Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
>      Directory missing fonts.dir
>      Incorrect font server address or syntax
> gc166-mad:~ mad$ xset +fp .fonts/BDF/font.dir
> xset:  bad font path element (#1149), possible causes are:
>      Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
>      Directory missing fonts.dir
>      Incorrect font server address or syntax
>
> This is the same problem that I have on the head node:
>
>
> ls -sal /share/apps/Mathematica7.0/SystemFiles/Fonts
> total 60
>   4 drwxr-xr-x  7 root root  4096 Oct 21 09:20 .
>   4 drwxr-xr-x 18 root root  4096 Oct 25 15:10 ..
>   4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Oct 25 13:25 AFM
> 36 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 36864 Oct 25 13:25 BDF
>   4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Oct 21 09:20 SVG
>   4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Oct 21 09:20 TTF
>   4 drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Oct 25 13:25 Type1
>
> [root at ted Fonts]# xset +fp /share/apps/Mathematica7.0/SystemFiles/Fonts/BDF
> xset:  bad font path element (#1149), possible causes are:
>      Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
>      Directory missing fonts.dir
>      Incorrect font server address or syntax
>
> Although xfs is running on the head node:
> xfs       5359     1  0 Oct25 ?        00:00:00 xfs -droppriv -daemon
>
> It was not running on the mac.  I started the process on the mac and tried
> the xset again.
>
>   sudo /usr/X11/bin/xfs&
> [1] 7770
> gc166-mad:~ mad$ xset +fp .fonts/BDF
> xset:  bad font path element (#1149), possible causes are:
>      Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
>      Directory missing fonts.dir
>      Incorrect font server address or syntax
>
>
>

The font server (xfs) is used to supply fonts from one machine to 
another, to save you the hassle of installing them on every client. You 
should only require one font server instance, on a machine which 
actually has the fonts installed locally.

Any client machine (with local X server) which requires those fonts can 
access them by having the font server added to its font path. The syntax 
to add a font server to the font path is:

xset +fp fontserver:tcp/7100

where "fontserver" is the hostname/IP of the font server.

After doing this you should verify it's been added to the font path 
using "xset q", and that the fonts are available by "xlsfonts".

Don't forget that if you run xlsfonts whilst logged into a remote system 
you will not see the fonts which are installed on that remote system. 
You will see the fonts which your local X server has available (the X 
server which any X client will display to). xlsfonts is an X client, 
just as xterm, xclock etc. and shows information about your local X 
server, not the remote system.

-- 
Nigel Wade, System Administrator, Space Plasma Physics Group,
             University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
E-mail :    nmw at ion.le.ac.uk
Phone :     +44 (0)116 2523548, Fax : +44 (0)116 2523555