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xfs

when using xfree86 3.x, a font server is the only way to use truetype fonts, as xfree86 3.x does not have built-in support for truetype fonts.

but even when using xfree86 > = 4.x, there are reasons why you might want to use a font server instead of rendering the fonts via the x-server.

advantages of using a font server:

prevents the freezing of the x-server while rendering fonts.
as the x server is not multi-threaded, it appears to hang while it renders fonts. this is especially noticeable when large fonts, e.g. asian fonts are rendered. during that time you can't do anything and having to wait several minutes until all the fonts in a asian web page are rendered can be extremely annoying. a font server helps here to improve interactive performance because
- it can handle multiple requests simultaneously whereas the x server cannot.
- only the application which requested the fonts appears appears to hang until the font server has finished the rendering. other x applications can still be used. for example you can continue to type in a terminal or an editor while your web browser has to wait for the fonts.
but note that using xft/fontconfig improves the interactive performance even better!
centralization of font files (but note that this can also be done with nfs).
cases where the x server doesn't have access to a file system.

disadvantages of using a font server:

more memory is used because all fonts are held twice, once in the font server and once in the x server.
it's possibly a security risk. don't use it on systems aiming for maximum security!
it may also cause stability problems for the x-window system. if you encounter frequent crashes, stop using it. with recent versions of xfree86 it seems to be fairly stable though.

check what is most important to you and then decide yourself whether you want to use a font server.

by default a font server is not used on suse linux, the default is to render fonts via the x server. if you want to use a font server you have to activate it as explained here:

suse linux already includes an init script /etc/init.d/xfd and a suitable configuration file /etc/x11/fs/config for the font server xfs.

editing the xfs configuration file /etc/x11/fs/config is probably not necessary, but in cannot hurt to have a quick look at this file. check whether catalogue variable contains the correct font paths.

now add

     fontpath   "unix/:7100"

into the section ``files'' of /etc/x11/xf86config, above all other fontpath entries. you may also remove or comment out all other fontpath entries if you want to use all fonts via the font server (if you do that, x11 won't start anymore unless xfs is running!).

to make the font server start automatically during booting, call

     insserv  /etc/init.d/xfs

as root or use the yast2 run-level-editor to make xfs start at the appropriate run levels.⁸

then run suseconfig. to start the font server immediately without rebooting, type

     ~$ /etc/init.d/xfs start

as user root.

if you install new fonts, uninstall fonts or make any changes to the configuration file /etc/x11/fs/config, please call

     ~$ /etc/init.d/xfs reload

to make xfs re-read it's configuration file.

footnotes

... levels.⁸: this description to make xfs start automatically is for suse linux > = 8.0. for suse linux < = 7.3 you must edit /etc/rc.config and set the variable start_xfs to "yes"

2005-03-09

Linux FAQ's & Manuals

xfs

footnotes