fs(X)

fs -- X font server

Syntax

fs [{-cf | -config} config-file] [-ls listen-socket] [-port tcp_port]

Description

fs is the X Window System font server. It supplies fonts to X Window System display servers.

Options

-config config-file: specifies the font server configuration file. The default file is /usr/lib/X11/fs/config.
-ls listen-socket: specifies a file descriptor that is already set up to be used as the listen socket. This option is only intended to be used by the font server itself when automatically spawning another copy of itself to handle additional connections.
-port tcp_port: specifies the TCP port number on which the server will listen for connections. The default font server port number is 7000.

Files

/usr/lib/X11/fs/config: default font configuration file

Keywords

The configuration language is a list of keyword and value pairs. Each keyword is followed by an equal sign ``='' and then the desired value.

Recognized keywords include:

alternate-servers (list of string): list of alternate servers for this font server.
catalogue (list of string): ordered list of font path element names.
client-limit (cardinal): number of clients this font server will support before refusing service. This is useful for tuning the load on each individual font server. The default client limit is 20.
clone-self (boolean): toggles whether this font server should attempt to clone itself when it reaches the client-limit. The default setting is ``on''.
default-point-size (cardinal): default point-size (in decipoints) for fonts that do not specify the point-size. The default point-size is 120.
default-resolutions (list of resolutions): resolutions the server supports by default. This information may be used as a hint for pre-rendering, and substituted for scaled fonts which do not specify a resolution. The default resolutions are 75x75 and 100x100.
error-file (string): filename of the error file. All warnings and errors will be logged here. The default error filename is /usr/lib/Xqq/fs/fs-errors.
port (cardinal): TCP port on which the server will listen for connections The default port number is 7000.
use-syslog (boolean): toggles whether syslog(3) (on supported systems) is to be used for errors. The default is ``off''.

Starting the server

The server is usually run by a system administrator, and started via boot files such as /etc/rc2.d. Users may also wish to start private font servers for specific sets of fonts.

Font server names

One of the following forms can be used to name a font server that accepts TCP connections:

tcp/hostname:port
tcp/hostname:port/cataloguelist

The hostname specifies the name (or decimal numeric address) of the machine on which the font server is running. The port is the decimal TCP port on which the font server is listening for connections. The cataloguelist specifies a list of catalogue names, with ``+'' as a separator.

Examples:

tcp/expo.lcs.mit.edu:7000
tcp/18.30.0.212:7001/all

Example

# # sample font server configuration file #

# allow a max of 10 clients to connect to this font server client-limit = 10

# when a font server reaches its limit, start up a new one clone-self = on

# alternate font servers for clients to use alternate-servers = hansen:7001,hansen:7002

# where to look for fonts # the first is a set of Speedo outlines, the second is a set of # misc bitmaps and the last is a set of 100dpi bitmaps # catalogue = /usr/lib/fonts/speedo, /usr/lib/X11/ncd/fonts/misc, /usr/lib/X11/ncd/fonts/100dpi/

# in 12 points, decipoints default-point-size = 120

# 100 x 100 and 75 x 75 default-resolutions = 100,100,75,75

Diagnostics

SIGTERM: causes the font server to exit cleanly.
SIGUSR1: causes the server to re-read its configuration file.
SIGUSR2: causes the server to flush any cached data.
SIGHUP: causes the server to reset, closing all active connections and re-reading the configuration file.

Known limitations

Multiple catalogues should be supported.