Chapter 4 Font Support
This chapter provides information on font support in the Solaris X server. The chapter includes information on the following topics:
-
X font server
-
Available font formats
-
Outline and bitmap fonts
-
Location of fonts
Font Support in the Solaris X Server
The Solaris X Window System provides font support in both the X11 server and the Display PostScript (DPS) extension. Font formats from numerous vendors can be used to display text in English or foreign languages, including Asian languages. Symbol fonts can be used to display mathematical equations. The Solaris environment provides 55 Latin fonts for west European text and two symbol fonts. Other fonts can also be added to the system using the Font Administrator GUI or command line tools distributed with Solaris.
X Font Server
The Solaris X server can be a client of the X font server xfs. The X font server renders fonts for the X server. The Solaris X font server supports the same fonts as the standard X font server, plus TrueType fonts from Sun. It does not support Sun's proprietary F3 font format. Support for Type 1 fonts is provided via the Type 1 interpreter donated to the X Consortium.
xfs can be started manually or automatically. For more information on this command, see the xfs(1) man page.
Available Font Formats
Fonts from different vendors come in different formats. Table 4–1 and Table 4–2 list the various font formats, their vendors, and the associated file types supported by the Solaris environment. Table 4–1 lists outline fonts; Table 4–2 lists bitmap fonts.
Table 4–1 Outline Font Formats|
Font Format |
Vendor |
File Type |
|---|---|---|
|
TrueType |
Various foundries |
.ttf |
|
Type1 (ASCII) |
Adobe and various foundries |
.pfa |
|
Type1 (binary) |
Adobe and various foundries |
.pfb |
|
Type 3 |
Adobe and various foundries |
.ps |
|
Speedo |
Bitstream |
.spd |
|
F3 |
SunSoft |
.f3b |
Table 4–2 Bitmap Font Formats
|
Font Format |
Vendor |
File Type |
|---|---|---|
|
Portable compiled format |
MIT |
.pcf |
|
Bitmap distribution format |
Adobe |
.bdf |
|
Big Endian prebuilt format |
Adobe (for sparc) |
.bepf |
|
Little Endian prebuilt format |
Adobe (for IA and ppc) |
.lepf |
The fonts provided by the Solaris X server are located in the /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts directory. For more information on the directory structure, see Locating Fonts.
The Solaris environment is configured so that most X11 fonts are also available in DPS (see Table 4–3). DPS supports a slightly different set of fonts than those supported by X11.
Table 4–3 Font File Availability
|
Font Format |
Available in X11 |
Available in DPS |
|---|---|---|
|
TrueType |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Type1 outline fonts-ASCII |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Type1 outline fonts-binary |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Type 3 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Speedo |
Yes |
No |
|
F3 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Portable compiled format |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Bitmap distribution format |
Yes |
No |
|
Big Endian prebuilt format |
No |
Yes |
|
Little Endian prebuilt format |
No |
Optional Font Package
Fonts needed by end-user applications are installed with the End-User Cluster. However, some unusual applications may need fonts in the Developer Cluster. For these applications, the package to add is the SUNWxwoft package. It is not necessary to install the entire Developer Cluster.
Associated Files
The Solaris environment provides files with these extensions. They are not intended to be edited.
-
.afm Adobe Font Metrics files read by client for kerning information
-
.ps PostScript Files for composite font and PostScript resource construction
Outline and Bitmap Fonts
Solaris supports two types of font representation: outline fonts and bitmap fonts. To display a letter from an outline font, the server scales and rotates only the outline of the character. This repositioned outline is then rendered into pixel form (bitmap) for display on the screen. This rendered bitmap is also stored in the glyph cache for reuse.
Because certain font sizes occur frequently, they are also kept in separate files in pre-rendered bitmap form. This saves the server from having to scale and render them. However, the resulting bitmap fonts can be displayed in only one size and orientation. Some of the fonts have also been hand-tuned to look better and be more readable. As they are encountered, these bitmaps are also placed in the glyph cache. The recommended bitmap format is the portable compiled format (.pcf).
The /usr/openwin/bin directory contains the following tools to convert fonts between the outline and bitmap font representation, as well as between various bitmap formats. See the corresponding man pages for more detailed information.
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makebdf Creates bitmap distribution format files (.bdf) from F3 outline font files (.f3b)
-
bdftopcf Converts a font from .bdf format to portable compiled format (.pcf)
As illustrated in Table 4–4, many bitmap font file formats are architecture-dependent binary files. They cannot be shared between machines of different architectures (for example, between SPARC and IA).
Table 4–4 Bitmap Font Binaries|
Font Format |
Binary |
Architecture-Specific |
|---|---|---|
|
Bitmap distribution format |
No |
No |
|
Portable compiled format |
Yes |
No |
|
Little Endian prebuilt format |
Yes |
Yes (IA and ppc) |
|
Big Endian prebuilt format |
Yes |
Yes (SPARC) |
The Solaris environment contains compressed .pcf files (files with .pcf.Z extensions). You can uncompress these if you want. If you add fonts to your system, you can either compress the files or not. Use uncompressed files if you want the fonts to display somewhat faster. Leave the files compressed if you want to conserve disk space. For more information, see the compress(1) man page.
Replacing Outline Fonts With Bitmap Fonts
The Solaris environment automatically replaces some outline fonts with bitmap fonts when the size is appropriate. This improves performance, and in some cases improves the aesthetics and readability of the text. There may be several sizes at which replacement occurs for a given outline font.
Replacement Conditions
Currently in DPS, the .pcf bitmap format is substituted for F3 outline fonts, Type1 and TrueType fonts. Substitution occurs when there is no rotation, the requested pixel size is within one half of a pixel of the .pcf font size, and the .pcf font is a resource in a .upr (PostScript resource) file. The .pcf format can be substituted for all scalable versions of the fonts mentioned above.
Using TrueType and F3 Fonts in DPS
TrueType and F3 fonts behave exactly like Type1 fonts, except /FontType returns 42 for TrueType and 7 for F3 fonts. For example, the following PostScript code works the same regardless of the kind of font.
/Helvetica findfont 50 scalefont setfont 10 10 moveto (ABC) show
But the following code yields 42 for a TrueType font, 7 for an F3 font, and 1 for a Type1 font.
currentfont /FontType get ==
The kind of font returned depends on the current DPS internal resource path.
Locating Fonts
By default, the Solaris server looks for fonts in directories under the /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts directory. Table 4–5 shows the complete font directory structure. The directory names are preceded by /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts.
Table 4–5 Font Directory Structure|
Directory |
Subdirectory |
File Suffixes |
Contents |
|---|---|---|---|
|
/TrueType |
|
.ttf |
TrueType fonts |
|
/TrueType |
/ttmap |
.ttmap |
TrueType character set specifications |
|
/TTbitmaps |
|
.pcf |
Bitmap fonts |
|
/100dpi |
|
.pcf |
Bitmap fonts |
|
/75dpi |
|
.pcf |
Bitmap fonts |
|
/F3 |
/afm |
.f3b |
F3 format outline fonts |
|
|
/map |
.map |
F3 character set specifications |
|
/F3bitmaps |
|
.pcf |
Bitmap fonts |
|
/Speedo |
|
.spd |
Bitstream Speedo format outline fonts |
|
/Type1 |
|
.pfa, .pfb |
Type1 outline fonts |
|
|
/afm |
.afm |
Adobe font metrics |
|
|
/outline |
.pfa, .pfb |
Type1 outline fonts |
|
|
/prebuilt |
.bepf, .lepf |
Bitmaps for SPARC Solaris and IA |
|
/Xt+ |
|
.pcf |
Bitmap fonts |
|
/Type3 |
|
.ps |
PostScript outline fonts |
|
/encodings |
|
.enc |
Encodings |
|
/misc |
|
.pcf |
Bitmap fonts |
Changing the Default Font Path in X11
In X11, the default font path is:
/usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts/F3, /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts/F3bitmaps, /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts/Type1, /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo, /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts/misc, /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi, /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi
Note that the directory paths must be absolute.
To change the default font path, use the Font Administrator GUI or command-line tools included with Solaris. For information about Font Administrator, see the Font Administrator User's Guide.
Installing and Managing Fonts
To install, delete, and view fonts for a workstation or NeWSprint printer, or to edit font paths or font attributes, use the Font Administrator GUI or command-line tools included with Solaris. For information about Font Administrator, see the Font Administrator User's Guide.
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