planetILUG

Join the
ILUG
on FaceBook

Join the
ILUG
on LinkedIn

Join the
ILUG SETI
Group

Ok, if you run gimp on a redhat system, and you do one of the logo script-fu's you'll no doubt get a warning: can't find font.

bummer.

So, if you do an rpm -qi gimp you'll find that it lists where to get them. the relevant lines being:
Get ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/fonts/freefonts-0.10.tar.gz and ftp://ftp.gimp.org/pub/gimp/fonts/sharefonts-0.10.tar.gz if you are so inclined. Alternatively, choose fonts which exist on your system before running the scripts.

You can ignore the last bit - normal x fonts just aren't as fun. :) Snarf the files and then in /usr/lib/X11/fonts do the following as root:
# tar zxf /path/snarfed/to/freefonts-0.10.tar.gz
# tar zxf sharefonts-0.10.tar.gz

Now, *leave the untarred dirs alone*!!! don't be a moron and delete the fonts.dir files - mkfontdir won't make it again. Not that I'm bitter.

There's a chkfontpath utility on redhat systems, but befriend your friendly neighborhood text editor with a visit to /etc/X11/fs/config. This is the x font server config file for those of you who think the file name is too cryptic. (You're wrong by the way, but I digress) just add the /usr/lib/X11/fonts/freefont and the other one to the file (it's the catalogue section with all the comma delimitted directories, this isn't rocket science).

Still as root you'll need to restart the x font server. on a redhat you would type:
# /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfs restart

Now you're done. But if you want some truetype fonts, read on! (No, I never sold ginsu knives for a living, why do you ask?)

Go download the xfstt-0.9.99-2.i386.rpm package from rcontrib.redhat.com (or a mirror since it's always full). Install it. If you're running x you'll need to do this after starting the xfstt server:
% xset fp+ inet/127.0.0.1:7101
% xset fp rehash
But it should work automatically from then on since it gets added to your XF86Config file.

Toss all your .ttf files into /usr/share/fonts/truetype. Stop and start the server with:
# /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfstt stop
# /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfstt start And then refresh your x server with:
xset fp rehash
And you're golden. Remember, it's free software, version numbers change. You might be able to cut and paste package names out of this, but you might not.

USERS COMMENTS