XFS(1)XFS(1)NAMExfs - X font server
SYNOPSISxfs [-config configuration_file] [-daemon] [-droppriv]
[-ls listen_socket] [-nodaemon] [-port tcp_port] [-user
username]
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. If this parameter is not specified, the
default file, /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fs/config will be
used.
-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. The default port
number is 7100.
-daemon Instructs xfs to fork and go into the background
automatically at startup If this option is not
specified, xfs will run as a regular process
(unless xfs was built to daemonize by default).
-droppriv
If specified, xfs will attempt to run as user and
group xfs (unless the
-nodaemon
When xfs is built to daemonize (run in the back-
ground) by default, this prevents that and starts
xfs up as a regular process. -user option is
used). This has been implemented for security rea-
sons, as xfs may have undiscovered buffer over-
flows or other paths for possible exploit, both
local and remote. With this option, you may also
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wish to specify "no-listen = tcp" in the config
file, which ensures that xfs will not to use a TCP
port at all.
-user username
This is equivalent to -droppriv except that xfs
will run as user username.
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 pre-
sent, 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
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information may be used as a hint for pre-render-
ing, and substituted for scaled fonts which do not
specify a resolution. A resolution is a comma-sep-
arated pair of x and y resolutions in pixels per
inch. Multiple resolutions are separated by com-
mas.
error-file (string)
Filename of the error file. All warnings and
errors will be logged here.
no-listen (trans-type)
Disable a transport type. For example, TCP/IP con-
nections can be disabled with no-listen tcp
port (cardinal)
TCP port on which the server will listen for con-
nections.
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
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# 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 run-
ning. 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 separa-
tor.
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 run-
ning. The objname is a normal, case-insensitive DECnet
object name. The cataloguelist specifies a list of cata-
logue names, with '+' as a separator.
Examples: DECnet/SRVNOD::FONT$DEFAULT, dec-
net/44.70::font$special/symbols.
SEE ALSOX(1), The X Font Service Protocol,
Font server implementation overview
BUGS
Multiple catalogues should be supported.
AUTHORS
Dave Lemke, Network Computing Devices, Inc
Keith Packard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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