Problems with XFree86 4.1.0-8: could not open default font 'fixed'
Hi,
My computer is running the latest Debian unstable, including XFree86
4.1.0-8.
Suddenly, X won't start up anymore. I have no idea how long this problem
exists, since my computer had been running continuously for a long time
before I encountered the problem and I have no idea how long the last X
session has lasted (some weeks, at least).
In /var/log/XFree86.0.log, I encountered these lines:
<quote>
Could not init font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi, removing from list!
Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'
</quote>
These are the FontPath lines in my /etc/X11/XF86Config-4:
<quote>
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server (xfs)
FontPath "unix/:7101" # local font server (xfstt)
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
</quote>
Since my font path includes xfs, I thought xfs should also be able to
serve a font 'fixed'. But xfs logs lines like these into the syslog every
time it starts:
<quote>
Oct 21 19:47:25 remco xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled (unreadable)
Oct 21 19:47:25 remco xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled (unreadable)
Oct 21 19:47:26 remco xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/ (unreadable)
Oct 21 19:47:26 remco xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID (unreadable)
Oct 21 19:47:26 remco xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/ (unreadable)
Oct 21 19:47:26 remco xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/ (unreadable)
</quote>
It seems that these font directories are somehow unreadable. I have
checked the permissions of all font directories and all font files.
Nothing seems to be wrong. I have run update-fonts-alias, update-fonts-dir
and update-fonts-scale on all font directories, but it doesn't help.
The strangest thing is, that this problem seems to have started without
any changes to configuration files.
Is this a bug anybody knows of? Have I done anything wrong I haven't
thought of yet? Please help, I'd like to have my X back.
Remco
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