fs(1)


fs -- UnixWare X font server

Synopsis

   fs [-config configuration_file] [-port tcp_port] 

Description

fs is the X Window System font server. It supplies fonts to X Window System display servers, using the X font protocol. The font server is usually run by a system administrator and started via boot files like /etc/rc.local; users may also wish to start private font servers for specific sets of fonts. In the UnixWare system, the font server is started automatically when the system is booted.

Options

-config configuration_file
Specifies the configuration file the font server will use. Defaults to /usr/X/lib/fs/config.

-port tcp_port
Specifies the TCP port number on which the server will listen for connections. The default value for port is 7000.

Signals

SIGTERM
This causes the font server to exit cleanly.

SIGUSR1
This signal is used to cause the server to re-read its configuration file. This is needed, for example, if the font directories defined in the configuration file have been updated (additional or removed fonts) since the last time that the font server process was started. See fsfpreset(1M).

SIGUSR2
This signal is used to cause the server to flush any cached data it may have.

SIGHUP
This signal is used to cause the server to reset, closing all active connections and re-reading the configuration file.

Usage

Configuration file

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

Recognized keywords include:

catalogue = list_of_string
Ordered list of font path element names. These elements can be directories containing bitmapped or scalable outline fonts. For the UnixWare Desktop, this defaults to 3 directories: the directory containing Type 1 outline fonts, /usr/X/lib/fonts/type1, and the 2 standard X11R5 bitmapped directories, 75dpi and 100dpi.

alternate-servers = list_of_string
List of alternate servers for this font server.

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.

clone-self = boolean
Whether this font server should attempt to clone itself when it reaches the client-limit.

default-point-size = cardinal
The default pointsize (in decipoints) for fonts that don't specify.

default-resolutions = list_of_resolutions
Resolutions the server supports by default. This information may be used as a hint for pre-rendering and substituted when scaled fonts are requested without a resolution.

error-file = string
Filename of the error file. All warnings and errors will be logged here.

port = cardinal
TCP port on which the server will listen for connections.

use-syslog = boolean
Whether syslog(3G) (on supported systems) is to be used for errors.

Configuration file examples

#
# 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 directory specified here contains Type 1 PostScript fonts installed
# from DOS diskettes by users of the UnixWare Desktop as well as
# those Type 1 fonts installed as a feature of UnixWare installation.

catalogue = /usr/X/lib/fonts/type1

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

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

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

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

   decnet/nodename::font$objname 
   decnet/nodename::font$objname/cataloguelist 

The nodename specifies the name (or decimal numeric address) of the machine on which the font server is running. The objname is a normal, case-insensitive DECnet object name. The cataloguelist specifies a list of catalogue names, with ``+'' as a separator.

Examples:

   DECnet/SRVNOD::FONT$DEFAULT 
   decnet/44.70::font$special/symbols 

Startup of the font server

In the UnixWare Desktop, the font server is started automatically when the system is first booted; it continues to run even when no users are logged in and is available for use from session to session.

The default value of the catalogue keyword in the configuration file specifies the Type 1 scalable font directory available on the system, as well as the 75dpi and 100dpi bitmapped font directories. If the Adobe Type Manager(TM) package is installed, then ATM(TM) works from a library within the font server to provide scalable fonts to the X server on the desktop.


NOTE: The font server, when the type1 directory is first in the catalogue, will supply a bitmapped font instead of a scaled outline font, if a font of the requested family, weight, and style is available as both an outline and a bitmapped font for the needed size.

The font server font path element name for the local machine (see section below) is added to the font path of the X server, initially defined in the X server configuration file, when the X server is started automatically by the graphical login process, or when the Desktop is started with desktop(1) when the graphical login has been disabled.

Resetting the font server after installation of type 1 fonts

When it starts, the font server obtains information about the fonts available to it by reading the fonts.dir file in each of the font directories defined in the catalogue keyword of the font server configuration file. If the contents of these directories are changed at anytime after the font server is started, the font server will not know about the changes unless it is told to re-read its configuration files; this requires a SIGUSR1 signal.

The Font application in the Preferences folder of the UnixWare Desktop allows users to install Type 1 fonts from DOS diskettes widely available in the retail market and updates the font information in the system's Type 1 font directories. To let the font server know that it needs to update its information on available fonts, the Font Setup application uses the utility fsfpreset(1M) to send this required signal to the font server, making the installed fonts immediately usable on the desktop.

X server recovery on loss of font server

In the UnixWare Desktop, the system will ensure that the font server name is removed from the local X server's font path when the font server dies or the network connection is lost. This removal occurs soon after the condition is detected and prevents the X server from waiting for a response from the font server that it would never get.

Support for ISO8859 codesets in adobe type manager

If the Adobe Type Manager package is installed, character encoding files are installed that allow ATM, from the font server, to render Type 1 outline fonts containing characters from any of the ISO8859 standard character sets (ISO8859-1 through ISO8859-9). Note, however, that such Type 1 fonts supporting character sets other than ISO8859-1 (e.g., fonts for Eastern European, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and other languages) must typically be provided from a specialty font retailer; most existing Type 1 fonts only support the ISO8859-1 (known as ``Latin-1'') and the Adobe Standard character sets.

The encoding configuration files are located in the font directory /usr/X/lib/fonts/type1/type1Encodings. The encodings.def file contains a count of the number of supported encodings and the filenames of the files defining each glyph in the character set for that encoding, for example:

   7 
   AdobeStdEncoding 
   ISOLatin1Encoding 
   ISOLatin2Encoding 
   ISOLatin3Encoding 
   ISOLatin4Encoding 
   ISOLatin5Encoding 
   ISOLatin9Encoding 

Encoding files are included in UnixWare for the ISO8859-1 through -5, and -9, character sets.

Each encoding file contains a line giving the number of the ISO8859 encoding used (``3'' for the ISO8859-3 encoding) followed by 256 lines, in order, containing the glyph name for that position in the code set. For example, positions 34-36 of the ``ISOLatin1Encoding'' file contain:

   exclam 
   quotedbl 
   numbersign 

which are the glyph names that ATM expects for the characters ``!'', ``"'', and ``@'', which occupy positions 34-36 in the ISO8859-1 codeset. For further information, see the book PostScript Language Reference Manual, 2nd Edition, Adobe Systems Inc., Addison-Wesley, 1990.

Files

   /usr/X/lib/fs/config 
   /usr/X/lib/fs/fs-errors 
   /usr/X/lib/fonts/type1 
   /usr/X/lib/fonts/type1/type1Encodings 
   /usr/X/adm/fsfpreset 
   /usr/X/defaults/Xwinconfig 
   /etc/init.d/fs 
   /etc/rc2.d/S68fs 

References

fsfpreset(1M), showfont(X1M), X(X1M), xlsfonts(X1), xset(X1M)

Notices

Portions of this page are derived from material for which the copyright owner is Network Computing Devices, Inc. and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. See copyright page for a full statement of rights and permissions.


30 January 1998
© 1998 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All rights reserved.