NAME
xfs - X font server

SYNOPSIS
xfs [-config configuration_file] [-port tcp_port]

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

STARTING THE SERVER
The 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.

OPTIONS
-config configuration_file
Specifies the configuration file the font server
will use.

-ls listen-socket
Specifies a file descriptor which 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.

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.

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.

CONFIGURATION
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. Use of the
keyword "catalogue" is very misleading at present, the
current implementation only supports a single catalogue
("all"), containing all of the specified fonts.

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 reachs the client-limit.

default-point-size (cardinal)
The default pointsize (in decipoints) for fonts that
don’t specify. The default 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. A resolution is a comma-separated pair of
x and y resolutions in pixels per inch. Multiple reso-
lutions are separated by commas.

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 connec-
tions.

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

deferglyphs (string)
Set the mode for delayed fetching and caching of
glyphs. Value is "none", meaning deferred glyphs is
disabled, "all", meaning it is enabled for all fonts,
and "16", meaning it is enabled only for 16-bits fonts.

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:7101,hansen:7102

# 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/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/speedo,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/

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

# 100 x 100 and 75 x 75
default-resolutions = 100,100,75,75
use-syslog = off

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/fs.x.org:7100, tcp/18.30.0.212:7101/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.

SEE ALSO
X(1), Font server implementation overview

BUGS
Multiple catalogues should be supported.

AUTHORS
Dave Lemke, Network Computing Devices, Inc
Keith Packard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology