Re: xset fp rehash is not run after installing X fonts ?

[Mark Montague <monty@gg.caltech.edu>]

Shaul Karl <shaulk@israsrv.net.il> writes:

> According to xset man,
> 
>  fp rehash
>         The rehash argument resets the font  path  to  its
>         current  value,  causing  the server to reread the
>         font databases in the current font path.  This  is
>         generally  only  used  when  adding new fonts to a
>         font directory (after running mkfontdir to  recre-
>         ate the font database).
> 
> Yet neither xfonts-intl-european postinst nor update-fonts-alias
> seems to do it.
> Am I missing something or is it a bug ?

It's a little funny, since it should be done for each xserver that's
using that font dir. With font servers, remote X sessions, multiple X
servers on different VCs, and whatnot, it's not clear what to do
exactly... it does seem like if $DISPLAY is set, running xset fp
rehash is unlikely to cause problems, and that's probably a good test
of whether someone is upgrading X when it's not running.

It's pretty minor, since the fonts are rehashed whenever the X server
is restarted (and probably when xdm and friends reset it). I haven't
messed with the font server enough to know its behavior, but I know HP
Xterminalss (e.g. 700RX) can get their fonts via NFS, and I can't
think of a way of determining that one of them is looking at the
debian font dirs, and getting permission and whatnot to rehash the
path.

Maybe it would also be good to print a message like "for X displays
other than $DISPLAY it will be necessary to run 'xset fp rehash' or to
restart X to use the new fonts."

			shrug

				- M

-- 
Mark "Monty" Montague | monty@gg.caltech.edu  | I don't do Windows(tm)
       Give me a perl pocket ref, and I'll give you the world.
If guns are outlawed, we'll have to kill each other with cryptography.
		      I'd give C++ about a D-...