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XFS(1) XFS(1)
NAME
xfs - X font server
SYNOPSIS
xfs [-config configuration_file] [-daemon] [-droppriv] [-ls lis-
ten_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 -user option is used). This has been implemented
for security reasons, as xfs may have undiscovered buffer
overflows or other paths for possible exploit, both local and
remote. With this option, you may also wish to specify "no-
listen = tcp" in the config file, which ensures that xfs will
not to use a TCP port at all.
-nodaemon
When xfs is built to daemonize (run in the background) by
default, this prevents that and starts xfs up as a regular
process.
-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 config-
uration 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 imple-
mentation 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 resolutions are separated by commas.
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 connections can
be disabled with no-listen tcp
port (cardinal)
TCP port on which the server will listen for connections.
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 sepa-
rator.
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/sym-
bols.
SEE ALSO
X(7x), 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
XFS(1)
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