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Author Topic: Best directory for user fonts?  (Read 1847 times)

Offline PDP-8

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Best directory for user fonts?
« on: March 28, 2018, 02:02:14 PM »
I'm thinking of finally getting around to making a tcz for the Terminus bitmapped fonts.  I have manually installed them just fine locally into my /home/tc/.local/fonts directory.

But what I'm wondering is if I finally get around to making a cross-platform tcz, what would be the best *system* directory for them, rather than a local one.

Since the fonts are basically cross platform and cross architecture, I'd like to make them universally available and not have issues between say TC and PiCore or anything else down the road.

Suggestions on the best directory to place them before I delve into tcz making?


That's a UNIX book! - cool  -- Garth

Offline Misalf

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Re: Best directory for user fonts?
« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2018, 06:08:19 PM »
I use Terminus pretty much everywhere I can. TTY as well.
I have it at  /usr/local/share/consolefonts .
Some extra steps are needed to make it usable IIRC. I've added it to the initrd though. Can't quite remember what held me back from making an extension. I'll try to get back to this and give you some feedback if... something.
Download a copy and keep it handy: Core book ;)

Offline Juanito

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Re: Best directory for user fonts?
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2018, 09:21:17 PM »
Wouldn't it be better to have the fonts at /usr/local/share/fonts/terminus?

Offline PDP-8

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Re: Best directory for user fonts?
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2018, 09:23:54 PM »
No problem - these are just the X11 terminus fonts.  I popped them into /usr/share/local/fonts/terminus

Ah - ok, I'll change that directory to /usr/local/share/fonts/terminus ..

Having a blast with mksquashfs!  I'm freaking out because my tcz actually works!  Now I just have to tidy it up for submission, write the docs/info files yadda yadda.

I'll let you know when I actually submit!  My first tcz - so cool to make.  I guess it's the small things in TC that make me smile so much.. :)

That's a UNIX book! - cool  -- Garth

Offline Misalf

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Re: Best directory for user fonts?
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2018, 10:01:14 PM »
Uhm, yeah. Should be more than just  consolefonts  in my case as well.
Anyway, PDP-8, you might want to take a look at one or another font extension, since I believe a startup script is needed to populate the font cache.
Download a copy and keep it handy: Core book ;)

Offline PDP-8

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Re: Best directory for user fonts?
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2018, 10:34:06 PM »
I'm running the battery of submitqc checks now..  and cleaning up.  Nice utility.

I'm kind of foregoing any startup script, and leaving the edit of the .xsession and .Xdefaults to the user with some docs in the info file.  They have to run xlsfonts to get the names..

To fire these babies up, one has to do this temporarily from the cli:

Code: [Select]
aterm -fn terminus-18 &
Good way to practice using an alias. :)

Or edit their .Xdefaults and change the default Aterm font with a long name.

I know it's so um, 90's, but this is for those nut-n-bolt guys that still like twisting tools around..


That's a UNIX book! - cool  -- Garth

Offline PDP-8

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Re: Best directory for user fonts?
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2018, 01:11:47 AM »
terminus-fonts.tcz submitted.

I'm hoping I didn't make too much of a mess with it.  We'll see....
That's a UNIX book! - cool  -- Garth

Offline PDP-8

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Re: Best directory for user fonts?
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2018, 04:27:41 PM »
terminus-fonts.tcz got accepted into the repos!  Thanks guys. 

Ate my own dog food by deleting my own local tcz, and used only the distributed version - on both X86/64 and my ARM RPI boxes.

Misalf:  I was a bit leery about having the tcz automatically touch a users files, so I left install/usage instructions in the .info file.  I'm sure there's a better way to do it, so I'm looking for the next "he who touched it last owns it" victim! :)

Tip:  to make it smaller, one can always delete any fonts they don't actually use..

That was my first ever contribution back to the Linux community, other than just my usual talk.  Felt good!
That's a UNIX book! - cool  -- Garth