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NAME

       update-fonts-scale - generate fonts.scale files

SYNOPSIS

       update-fonts-scale [OPTION] directory ...

DESCRIPTION

       update-fonts-scale  assembles a fonts.scale file in an X font directory
       using  one  or  more  scale  files   found   in   a   subdirectory   of
       /etc/X11/fonts/.     It    is   typically   invoked   only   from   the
       post-installation and post-removal  scripts  of  a  package  containing
       scalable fonts usable by the X Window System whose X LFD font names are
       not in the font files themselves, but may be invoked  at  any  time  to
       reconstruct  fonts.scale files.  For each directory, which is either an
       absolute path to an X font directory or (preferably)  simply  the  last
       component  of  its path (such as ‘75dpi’ or ‘misc’), update-fonts-scale
       will  assemble   either   /usr/lib/X11/fonts/directory/fonts.scale   or
       /usr/share/fonts/X11/directory/fonts.scale  from  the index files found
       at /etc/X11/fonts/directory/package.scale, where package is the name of
       the package installing the fonts.

       This  enables  multiple packages to provide names for fonts in the same
       directory.  No font package actually provides the fonts.scale  file  in
       the  X  font directory itself, so there is no danger of overwriting one
       package’s font names with those of another.

       For  instance,  the   two   packages   ‘xfonts-scalable’   (real)   and
       ‘xfonts-nifty’ (hypothetical) may both install fonts into the directory
       /usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1.  They each place their fonts.scale  files  in
       /etc/X11/fonts/Type1/xfonts-scalable.scale                          and
       /etc/X11/fonts/Type1/xfonts-nifty.scale                 (respectively).
       update-fonts-scale  concatenates these two files (as well as any others
       that         match          /etc/X11/fonts/Type1/*.scale)          into
       /usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/fonts.scale.

       The  format  for fonts.scale files is given in the mkfontdir(1x) manual
       page.

       An example of how  to  use  update-fonts-scale  in  package  maintainer
       scripts is provided in the Debian Policy Manual.

OPTIONS

       -h, --help displays a brief usage message and exits.

OPERANDS

       update-fonts-scale  takes one or more X font directory names to operate
       on as operands.  Only the final path component of  the  directory  name
       should be specified; e.g.,
              update-fonts-scale 75dpi
       is  correct,  while ‘update-fonts-scale /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi’
       and ‘update-fonts-scale /usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi’ are not.

ENVIRONMENT

       COLUMNS
              indicates the width of the terminal device in  character  cells.
              This  value  is used for formatting diagnostic messages.  If not
              set, the terminal is queried  using  stty(1)  to  determine  its
              width.  If that fails, a value of ‘80’ is assumed.

       DEBUG  determines  whether  low-level diagnostic messages are issued to
              standard error output.  A null (empty) or unset value  indicates
              that they are not, and a non-null value indicates that they are.

DIAGNOSTICS

   Errors
       usage error: one or more font directories must be provided
              update-fonts-scale was invoked without operands.  Supply one  or
              more X font directory names to operate on.

       usage error: unrecognized option
              update-fonts-scale  was  invoked  with  an  unrecognized  option
              argument.  Use only the options documented in “OPTIONS”,  above.

       fatal error: path to X font directory must be used
              A  directory  name was supplied that was not an X font directory
              name.  Supply X font directory names only.

   Warnings
       warning: absolute path directory was provided
              Usage of absolute paths  is  deprecated.   Use  only  the  final
              component of the X font directory name for directory.

       warning: directory does not exist or is not a directory
              The  supplied directory was invalid.  update-fonts-scale skipped
              it.

   Notes
       Notes   are   only   displayed   under   special   circumstances;   see
       “ENVIRONMENT”.  above.

       note: index references nonexistent font file filename
              The index file /etc/X11/fonts/directory/package.scale, refers to
              a nonexistent font file, filename.  This is normal when  package
              has  been  removed,  but  not  purged from the system.  In other
              circumstances, it likely indicates an error in package.

EXIT STATUS

       0      update-fonts-scale ran successfully.

       1      update-fonts-scale experienced a fatal error; see the section on
              diagnostic messages above.

       2      update-fonts-scale was invoked with invalid arguments.

BUGS

       See         the         Debian        Bug        Tracking        System
       〈http://bugs.debian.org/xfonts-utils〉.  If you wish to report a bug  in
       update-fonts-scale,  please see /usr/share/doc/debian/bug-reporting.txt
       or the reportbug(1) command.

AUTHOR

       update-fonts-scale was written by Branden Robinson.

SEE ALSO

       mkfontdir(1x)