XLFD-based programs (like xfontsel) don't show installed fonts

TheDcoder · 2020-11-26 08:48:55

Hi,

I am having a weird issue where programs which use the "X Logical Font Description" system don't identify the fonts that I have installed. I have both the Noto and DejaVu font families installed but they don't show up in programs like xfontsel and xlsfonts:

TheDcoder@arch ~> pacman -Qs ttf
local/noto-fonts 20190926-4
    Google Noto TTF fonts
local/ttf-dejavu 2.37+18+g9b5d1b2f-2
    Font family based on the Bitstream Vera Fonts with a wider range of
    characters
local/ttf-hack 3.003-3
    A hand groomed and optically balanced typeface based on Bitstream Vera Mono.
local/ttf-liberation 2.1.1-1
    Red Hats Liberation fonts
TheDcoder@arch ~> xlsfonts
-misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--0-0-75-75-c-0-iso8859-1
-misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--13-100-100-100-c-60-iso8859-1
-misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--13-120-75-75-c-60-iso8859-1
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ascii-0
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp850
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp852
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp866
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso10646-1
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-10
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-13
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-15
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-16
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-2
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-3
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-4
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-5
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-7
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-9
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-e
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-r
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-ru
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-u
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-uni
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-microsoft-cp1252
-misc-hack-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-suneu-greek
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ascii-0
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp850
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp852
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso10646-1
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-10
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-13
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-15
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-16
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-2
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-3
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-4
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-5
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-7
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-9
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-e
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-r
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-ru
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-u
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-uni
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-microsoft-cp1252
-misc-hack-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-suneu-greek
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ascii-0
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp850
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp852
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp866
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso10646-1
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-10
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-13
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-15
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-16
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-2
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-3
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-4
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-5
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-7
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-9
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-e
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-r
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-ru
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-u
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-uni
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-microsoft-cp1252
-misc-hack-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-suneu-greek
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ascii-0
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp850
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp852
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-ibm-cp866
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso10646-1
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-10
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-13
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-15
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-16
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-2
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-3
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-4
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-5
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-7
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-9
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-e
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-r
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-ru
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-u
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-koi8-uni
-misc-hack-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-microsoft-cp1252
6x13
cursor
fixed

Only "hack" shows up on the list with a few others, why aren't the others there?

The reason behind using XLFD is because I want to use Data Display Debugger (DDD) which is old software and uses Motif, currently the fonts look very bad: https://i.imgur.com/wcjImbe.png

Thanks for the help in advance!

progandy · 2020-11-26 08:55:21

I believe you'll have to first find the directory the fonts you want to use are stored in and add it to the xorg font path with "xset +fp /your/path" and "xset fp rehash".

You might also have create the xorg font listings with mkfontscale and mkfontdir in the directory, but that should be done automatically for all subdirectories of /usr/share/fonts.

ttf-hack installs its font in a common directory that is part of the xorg font path by default.

Last edited by progandy (2020-11-26 08:58:50)

TheDcoder · 2020-11-26 09:16:04

You were spot on with the answer, I discovered this myself too when experimenting and reading the wiki, I could see the DejaVu fonts after running `xset fp rehash` (I think ttf-dejavu also installs the fonts in the common directory).

My fonts still look pretty bad (slightly better than the picture I submitted in the first post), maybe I need to do some scaling stuff.

P.S Shout out from a member of the AutoIt forum!!!

Edit: I created a new topic for the font display issue: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1939889

Last edited by TheDcoder (2020-11-26 09:55:42)

Arch Linux

#1 2020-11-26 08:48:55

XLFD-based programs (like xfontsel) don't show installed fonts

#2 2020-11-26 08:55:21

Re: XLFD-based programs (like xfontsel) don't show installed fonts

#3 2020-11-26 09:16:04

Re: XLFD-based programs (like xfontsel) don't show installed fonts

Board footer