Fontconfig

The Fontconfig font subsystem allows applications to directly access fonts on the system and use Xft or other rendering mechanisms to render Fontconfig fonts with advanced anti-aliasing. Graphical applications can use the Xft library with Fontconfig to draw text to the screen.

Over time, the Fontconfig/Xft font subsystem replaces the core X font subsystem.

The Fontconfig font subsystem does not yet work for OpenOffice.org, which uses its own font rendering technology.

It is important to note that Fontconfig uses the /etc/fonts/fonts.conf configuration file, which should not be edited by hand.

Due to the transition to the new font system, GTK+ 1.2 applications are not affected by any changes made via the Font Preferences dialog (accessed by selecting System (on the panel) > Preferences > Fonts). For these applications, a font can be configured by adding the following lines to the file ~/.gtkrc.mine:

style "user-font" {
 fontset = "<font-specification>"
}
widget_class "*" style "user-font"

Replace <font-specification> with a font specification in the style used by traditional X applications, such as -adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*. A full list of core fonts can be obtained by running xlsfonts or created interactively using the xfontsel command.

Adding Fonts to Fontconfig

Adding new fonts to the Fontconfig subsystem is a straightforward process.

To add fonts system-wide, copy the new fonts into the /usr/share/fonts/ directory. It is a good idea to create a new subdirectory, such as local/ or similar, to help distinguish between user-installed and default fonts.

To add fonts for an individual user, copy the new fonts into the .fonts/ directory in the user's home directory.

Use the fc-cache command to update the font information cache, as in the following example:
```
fc-cache <path-to-font-directory>
```
In this command, replace <path-to-font-directory> with the directory containing the new fonts (either /usr/share/fonts/local/ or /home/<user>/.fonts/).
Individual users may also install fonts graphically, by typing fonts:/// into the Nautilus address bar, and dragging the new font files there.
If the font file name ends with a .gz extension, it is compressed and cannot be used until uncompressed. To do this, use the gunzip command or double-click the file and drag the font to a directory in Nautilus.