documentation/fonts.sgml

   1   <sect1 id="config-fonts-main">
   2     <title>Dealing with Fonts</title>
   3
   4     <sect2 id="config-windows-fonts">
   5       <title>Fonts</title>
   6
   7       <para>
   8         <note>
   9           <para>
  10             The <command>fnt2bdf</command> utility is included with
  11             Wine. It can be found in the <filename>tools</filename>
  12             directory. Links to the other tools mentioned in this
  13             document can be found in the Wine Developer's Guide:
  14             <ulink url="http://www.winehq.org/site/docs/wine-devel/index">http://www.winehq.org/site/docs/wine-devel/index</ulink>
  15           </para>
  16         </note>
  17       </para>
  18
  19       <sect3>
  20         <title>How To Convert Windows Fonts</title>
  21         <para>
  22           If you have access to a Windows installation you should use the
  23           <command>fnt2bdf</command> utility (found in the
  24           <filename>tools</filename> directory) to convert bitmap
  25           fonts (<filename>VGASYS.FON</filename>,
  26           <filename>SSERIFE.FON</filename>, and
  27           <filename>SERIFE.FON</filename>) into the format that the X
  28           Window System can recognize.
  29         </para>
  30
  31         <orderedlist>
  32           <listitem>
  33             <para>
  34               Extract bitmap fonts with <command>fnt2bdf</command>.
  35             </para>
  36           </listitem>
  37           <listitem>
  38             <para>
  39               Convert <filename>.bdf</filename> files produced by Step
  40               1 into <filename>.pcf</filename> files with
  41               <command>bdftopcf</command>.
  42             </para>
  43           </listitem>
  44           <listitem>
  45             <para>
  46               Copy <filename>.pcf</filename> files to the font server
  47               directory which is usually
  48               <filename>/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc</filename> (you will
  49               probably  need superuser privileges). If you want to
  50               create a new font directory you will need to add it to
  51               the font path.
  52             </para>
  53           </listitem>
  54           <listitem>
  55             <para>
  56               Run <command>mkfontdir</command> for the directory you
  57               copied fonts to. If you are already in X you should run
  58               <command>xset fp rehash</command> to make X server aware
  59               of the new fonts. You may also or instead have to restart
  60               the font server (using e.g.
  61               <command>/etc/init.d/xfs restart</command>
  62               under Red Hat 7.1)
  63             </para>
  64           </listitem>
  65           <listitem>
  66             <para>
  67               Edit the <filename>~/.wine/config</filename> file to remove
  68               aliases for the fonts you've just installed.
  69             </para>
  70           </listitem>
  71         </orderedlist>
  72         <para>
  73           Wine can get by without these fonts but 'the look and feel'
  74           may be quite different. Also, some applications try to load
  75           their custom fonts on the fly (WinWord 6.0) and since Wine
  76           does not implement this yet it instead prints out something
  77           like;
  78         </para>
  79         <screen>
  80 STUB: AddFontResource( SOMEFILE.FON )
  81         </screen>
  82         <para>
  83           You can convert this file too. Note that
  84           <filename>.FON</filename> file may not hold  any bitmap
  85           fonts and <command>fnt2bdf</command> will fail if this is
  86           the case. Also note that although the above message will not
  87           disappear Wine will work around the problem by using the
  88           font you extracted from the
  89           <filename>SOMEFILE.FON</filename>.
  90           <command>fnt2bdf</command> will only work for Windows 3.1
  91           fonts. It  will not work for TrueType fonts.
  92         </para>
  93         <para>
  94           What to do with TrueType fonts? There are several commercial
  95           font tools that can convert them to the Type1 format but the
  96           quality of the resulting fonts is far from stellar. The
  97           other way to use them is to get a font server capable of
  98           rendering  TrueType (Caldera has one, there also is the free
  99           <command>xfstt</command> in
 100           <filename>Linux/X11/fonts</filename> on sunsite and mirrors,
 101           if you're on FreeBSD you can use the port in
 102           <filename>/usr/ports/x11-servers/Xfstt</filename>.  And
 103           there is <command>xfsft</command> which uses the freetype
 104           library, see <link linkend="ttfont-server">freetype</link>
 105           description).
 106         </para>
 107         <para>
 108           However, there is a possibility of the native TrueType
 109           support via FreeType renderer in the future (hint, hint :-)
 110         </para>
 111       </sect3>
 112
 113       <sect3>
 114         <title>How To Add Font Aliases To <filename>~/.wine/config</filename></title>
 115         <para>
 116           Many Windows applications assume that fonts included in
 117           original Windows 3.1  distribution are always present. By
 118           default Wine creates a number of aliases that map them on
 119           the existing X fonts:
 120         </para>
 121
 122         <informaltable>
 123           <tgroup cols="3">
 124             <thead>
 125               <row>
 126                 <entry>Windows font</entry>
 127                 <entry>...is mapped to...</entry>
 128                 <entry>X font</entry>
 129               </row>
 130             </thead>
 131             <tbody>
 132               <row>
 133                 <entry>"MS Sans Serif"</entry>
 134                 <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 135                 <entry>"-adobe-helvetica-"</entry>
 136               </row>
 137               <row>
 138                 <entry>"MS Serif"</entry>
 139                 <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 140                 <entry>"-bitstream-charter-"</entry>
 141               </row>
 142               <row>
 143                 <entry>"Times New Roman"</entry>
 144                 <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 145                 <entry>"-adobe-times-"</entry>
 146               </row>
 147               <row>
 148                 <entry>"Arial"</entry>
 149                 <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 150                 <entry>"-adobe-helvetica-"</entry>
 151               </row>
 152             </tbody>
 153           </tgroup>
 154         </informaltable>
 155
 156         <para>
 157           There is no default alias for the "System" font. Also, no
 158           aliases are  created for the fonts that applications install
 159           at runtime. The recommended  way to deal with this problem
 160           is to convert the missing font (see above).  If it proves
 161           impossible, like in the case with TrueType fonts, you can
 162           force  the font mapper to choose a closely related X font by
 163           adding an alias to the  [fonts] section. Make sure that the
 164           X font actually exists (with <command>xfontsel</command>
 165           tool).
 166         </para>
 167         <screen>
 168 AliasN = [Windows font], [X font] &lt;, optional "mask X font" flag&gt;
 169         </screen>
 170         <para>
 171           Example:
 172         </para>
 173         <screen>
 174 Alias0 = System, --international-, subst
 175 Alias1 = ...
 176 ...
 177         </screen>
 178         <para>
 179           Comments:
 180         </para>
 181         <itemizedlist>
 182           <listitem>
 183             <para>
 184               There must be no gaps in the sequence <literal>{0, ...,
 185                 N}</literal> otherwise all aliases after the first gap
 186               won't be read.
 187             </para>
 188           </listitem>
 189           <listitem>
 190             <para>
 191               Usually font mapper translates X font names into font
 192               names visible to Windows programs in the following
 193               fashion:
 194             </para>
 195
 196             <informaltable>
 197               <tgroup cols="3">
 198                 <thead>
 199                   <row>
 200                     <entry>X font</entry>
 201                     <entry>...will show up as...</entry>
 202                     <entry>Extracted name</entry>
 203                   </row>
 204                 </thead>
 205                 <tbody>
 206                   <row>
 207                     <entry>--international-...</entry>
 208                     <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 209                     <entry>"International"</entry>
 210                   </row>
 211                   <row>
 212                     <entry>-adobe-helvetica-...</entry>
 213                     <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 214                     <entry>"Helvetica"</entry>
 215                   </row>
 216                   <row>
 217                     <entry>-adobe-utopia-...</entry>
 218                     <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 219                     <entry>"Utopia"</entry>
 220                   </row>
 221                   <row>
 222                     <entry>-misc-fixed-...</entry>
 223                     <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 224                     <entry>"Fixed"</entry>
 225                   </row>
 226                   <row>
 227                     <entry>-...</entry>
 228                     <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 229                     <entry></entry>
 230                   </row>
 231                   <row>
 232                     <entry>-sony-fixed-...</entry>
 233                     <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 234                     <entry>"Sony Fixed"</entry>
 235                   </row>
 236                   <row>
 237                     <entry>-...</entry>
 238                     <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 239                     <entry></entry>
 240                   </row>
 241                 </tbody>
 242               </tgroup>
 243             </informaltable>
 244
 245             <para>
 246               Note that since <literal>-misc-fixed-</literal> and
 247               <literal>-sony-fixed-</literal> are different fonts Wine
 248               modified the second extracted name to make sure Windows
 249               programs can distinguish them because only extracted
 250               names appear in the font selection dialogs.
 251             </para>
 252           </listitem>
 253           <listitem>
 254             <para>
 255               "Masking" alias replaces the original extracted name so
 256               that in the  example case we will have the following
 257               mapping:
 258             </para>
 259             <informaltable>
 260               <tgroup cols="3">
 261                 <thead>
 262                   <row>
 263                     <entry>X font</entry>
 264                     <entry>...is masked to...</entry>
 265                     <entry>Extracted name</entry>
 266                   </row>
 267                 </thead>
 268                 <tbody>
 269                   <row>
 270                     <entry>--international-...</entry>
 271                     <entry align="center">-&gt;</entry>
 272                     <entry>"System"</entry>
 273                   </row>
 274                 </tbody>
 275               </tgroup>
 276             </informaltable>
 277             <para>
 278               "Nonmasking" aliases are transparent to the user and
 279               they do not replace extracted names.
 280             </para>
 281             <para>
 282               Wine discards an alias when it sees that the native X
 283               font is available.
 284             </para>
 285           </listitem>
 286           <listitem>
 287             <para>
 288               If you do not have access to Windows fonts mentioned in
 289               the first  paragraph you should try to substitute the
 290               "System" font with  nonmasking alias. The
 291               <command>xfontsel</command> application will show you
 292               the fonts available to X.
 293             </para>
 294             <screen>
 295 Alias.. = System, ...bold font without serifs
 296             </screen>
 297           </listitem>
 298         </itemizedlist>
 299         <para>
 300           Also, some Windows applications request fonts without
 301           specifying the  typeface name of the font. Font table starts
 302           with Arial in most Windows  installations, however X font
 303           table starts with whatever is the first line  in the
 304           <filename>fonts.dir</filename>.  Therefore Wine uses the
 305           following entry to determine  which font to check first.
 306         </para>
 307         <para>
 308           Example:
 309         </para>
 310         <screen>
 311 Default = -adobe-times-
 312         </screen>
 313         <para>
 314           Comments:
 315         </para>
 316         <para>
 317           It is better to have a scalable font family (bolds and
 318           italics included)  as the default choice because mapper
 319           checks all available fonts until  requested height and other
 320           attributes match perfectly or the end of the  font table is
 321           reached. Typical X installations have scalable fonts in the
 322           <filename>../fonts/Type1</filename> and
 323           <filename>../fonts/Speedo</filename> directories.
 324         </para>
 325       </sect3>
 326
 327       <sect3>
 328         <title>How To Manage Cached Font Metrics</title>
 329         <para>
 330           Wine stores detailed information about available fonts in
 331           the <filename>~/.wine/cachedmetrics.[display]</filename> file. You
 332           can copy it elsewhere and add this entry to the [fonts]
 333           section  in your <filename>~/.wine/config</filename>:
 334         </para>
 335         <screen>
 336 FontMetrics = &lt;file with metrics&gt;
 337         </screen>
 338         <para>
 339           If Wine detects changes in the X font configuration it will
 340           rebuild font metrics from scratch and then it will overwrite
 341           <filename>~/.wine/cachedmetrics.[display]</filename> with  the new
 342           information. This process can take a while.
 343         </para>
 344       </sect3>
 345
 346       <sect3>
 347         <title>Too Small Or Too Large Fonts</title>
 348         <para>
 349           Windows programs may ask Wine to render a font with the
 350           height specified in points. However, point-to-pixel ratio
 351           depends on the real physical size  of your display (15",
 352           17", etc...). X tries to provide an estimate of that  but it
 353           can be quite different from the actual size. You can change
 354           this ratio by adding the following entry to the [fonts]
 355           section:
 356         </para>
 357         <screen>
 358 Resolution = &lt;integer value&gt;
 359         </screen>
 360         <para>
 361           In general, higher numbers give you larger fonts. Try to
 362           experiment with values in the 60 - 120 range. 96 is a good
 363           starting point.
 364         </para>
 365       </sect3>
 366
 367       <sect3>
 368         <title>"FONT_Init: failed to load ..." Messages On Startup</title>
 369         <para>
 370           The most likely cause is a broken
 371           <filename>fonts.dir</filename> file in one of your font
 372           directories. You need to rerun <command>mkfontdir</command>
 373           to rebuild this file. Read its manpage for more information.
 374           If you can't run <command>mkfontdir</command> on this
 375           machine as you are not root, use <command>xset -fp
 376             xxx</command> to remove the broken font path.
 377         </para>
 378       </sect3>
 379     </sect2>
 380
 381     <sect2 id="ttfont-server">
 382     <title>Setting up a TrueType Font Server</title>
 383       <para>
 384         Follow these instructions to set up a TrueType font server on your system.
 385       </para>
 386
 387       <orderedlist>
 388         <listitem>
 389           <para>
 390             Get a freetype source archive (<filename>freetype-X.Y.tar.gz</filename> ?).
 391           </para>
 392         </listitem>
 393         <listitem>
 394           <para>
 395             Read docs, unpack, configure and install
 396           </para>
 397         </listitem>
 398         <listitem>
 399           <para>
 400             Test the library, e.g. <command>ftview 20 /dosc/win95/fonts/times</command>
 401           </para>
 402         </listitem>
 403         <listitem>
 404           <para>
 405             Get <filename>xfsft-beta1e.linux-i586</filename>
 406           </para>
 407         </listitem>
 408         <listitem>
 409           <para>
 410             Install it and start it when booting, e.g. in an
 411             rc-script.  The manpage for <command>xfs</command>
 412             applies.
 413           </para>
 414         </listitem>
 415         <listitem>
 416           <para>
 417             Follow the hints given by <email>williamc@dai.ed.ac.uk</email>
 418           </para>
 419         </listitem>
 420         <listitem>
 421           <para>
 422             I got <command>xfsft</command> from
 423             <ulink url="http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jec/progindex.html">http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jec/progindex.html</ulink>.
 424             I have it running all the time.  Here is
 425             <filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fs/config</filename>:
 426           </para>
 427           <programlisting>
 428 clone-self = on
 429 use-syslog = off
 430 catalogue = /c/windows/fonts
 431 error-file = /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fs/fs-errors
 432 default-point-size = 120
 433 default-resolutions = 75,75,100,100
 434           </programlisting>
 435           <para>
 436             Obviously <filename>/c/windows/fonts</filename> is where
 437             my Windows fonts on my Win95 <medialabel>C:</medialabel>
 438             drive live; could be e.g.
 439             <filename>/mnt/dosC/windows/system</filename> for Win31.
 440           </para>
 441           <para>
 442             In <filename>/c/windows/fonts/fonts.scale</filename> I
 443             have:
 444           </para>
 445           <programlisting>
 446 14
 447 arial.ttf -monotype-arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 448 arialbd.ttf -monotype-arial-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 449 arialbi.ttf -monotype-arial-bold-o-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 450 ariali.ttf -monotype-arial-medium-o-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 451 cour.ttf -monotype-courier-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 452 courbd.ttf -monotype-courier-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 453 courbi.ttf -monotype-courier-bold-o-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 454 couri.ttf -monotype-courier-medium-o-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 455 times.ttf -monotype-times-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 456 timesbd.ttf -monotype-times-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 457 timesbi.ttf -monotype-times-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 458 timesi.ttf -monotype-times-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
 459 symbol.ttf -monotype-symbol-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-microsoft-symbol
 460 wingding.ttf -microsoft-wingdings-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-microsoft-symbol
 461           </programlisting>
 462           <para>
 463             In <filename>/c/windows/fonts/fonts.dir</filename> I have
 464             exactly the same.
 465           </para>
 466           <para>
 467             In <filename>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config</filename> I have
 468           </para>
 469           <programlisting>
 470 FontPath "tcp/localhost:7100"
 471           </programlisting>
 472           <para>
 473             in front of the other <literal>FontPath</literal> lines.
 474             That's it!  As an interesting by-product of course, all
 475             those web pages which specify Arial come up in Arial in
 476             Netscape ...
 477           </para>
 478         </listitem>
 479         <listitem>
 480           <para>
 481             Shut down X and restart (and debug errors you did while
 482             setting up everything).
 483           </para>
 484         </listitem>
 485         <listitem>
 486           <para>
 487             Test with e.g. <command>xlsfont | grep arial</command>
 488           </para>
 489         </listitem>
 490       </orderedlist>
 491
 492   </sect2>
 493
 494 </sect1>
 495
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