[Note: I would appreciate a personal CC on any replies since this will make it easier for me to find them. But don't bother if not convenient.]

Hi folks,

The other day I upgraded my unstable to get the new X.org packages. Most everything seems okay except that the fonts in many applications are different. Let's take gaim as an example. The font used throughout (buddy list, for example) is much smaller than the one I had before, and I don't like it.

Unfortunately I don't know exactly what font was being used before. I do have backups from a time when the "right" font was being used, but I don't know what I should look for as far as changes.

I did have to re-run dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg to get an xorg.conf file that worked with the new version. However the old and new fonts sections of those files seem to be equivalent. Here they are:

Old:
Section "Files"
        FontPath        "unix/:7100"                    # local font server
        # if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

New:
Section "Files"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
        # path to defoma fonts
        FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

There are three differences that I see:

1. I used to have "unix:/7100" listed for a font server. But I did not, and do not, have xfs installed, so this seems to have been an ancient remnant.

2. I used to have Speedo listed. I understand the Speedo fonts have gone and are not coming back. But also they "had very few users". Somehow I doubt that I would have been one of those few users without knowing it.

3. I now have /var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType listed, at the end. But I tried removing the x-ttcidfont-conf package, which removes the fonts from that directory, and that doesn't change things; the gaim font remains the wrong one.

Any suggestions on how to investigate further? General tips or references about how fonts in Debian are managed would be helpful as well. I've always had the impression that this is a very complicated system which works in large part by black magic, so any enlightenment would be much appreciated.

Also, if I ever do get back to the status quo, is there any good way to find out what font an application such as gaim is using? Then I could make a note for future reference. If I knew what the "good" font was, I might have a chance of figuring out why it isn't being used anymore.

Many thanks in advance.

Here is the output of "dpkg -l |grep font" in case there is some useful information there.

ii  console-data                     20060317                    Keymaps, 
fonts, charset maps, fallback tables for console-too
ii  console-tools                    0.2.3dbs-60                 Linux console 
and font utilities
rc  console-tools-libs               0.2.3dbs-32                 Shared 
libraries for Linux console and font manipulation
ii  defoma                           0.11.8-0.1                  Debian Font 
Manager -- automatic font configuration framework
rc  dfontmgr                         0.11.8-0.1                  GUI frontend 
for Defoma, DEbian FOnt MAnager
ii  fontconfig                       2.3.2-5.1                   generic font 
configuration library - support binaries
ii  fontconfig-config                2.3.2-5.1                   generic font 
configuration library - configuration
ii  gsfonts                          8.14+v8.11+urw-0.2          Fonts for the 
Ghostscript interpreter(s)
ii  gsfonts-x11                      0.19                        Make 
Ghostscript fonts available to X11
ii  libconsole                       0.2.3dbs-60                 Shared 
libraries for Linux console and font manipulation
ii  libfont-afm-perl                 1.19-1                      Font::AFM - 
Interface to Adobe Font Metrics files
ii  libfontconfig1                   2.3.2-5.1                   generic font 
configuration library - runtime
ii  libfontenc1                      1.0.1-5                     X11 font 
encoding library
ii  libfreetype6                     2.1.10-3                    FreeType 2 
font engine, shared library files
ii  libt1-5                          5.1.0-2                     Type 1 font 
rasterizer library - runtime
ii  libxfont1                        1.0.0-4                     X11 font 
rasterisation library
rc  libxft1                          4.3.0.dfsg.1-14             FreeType-based 
font drawing library for X (version 1)
ii  libxft2                          2.1.8.2-6                   FreeType-based 
font drawing library for X
rc  libxft2-dev                      2.1.1-2                     advanced font 
drawing library for X (development files)
ii  lmodern                          0.99.3-2                    scalable 
PostScript fonts based on Computer Modern
ii  mplayer-fonts                    3.5-2                       Fonts for 
mplayer
ii  msttcorefonts                    1.2                         Installer for 
Microsoft TrueType core fonts
ii  psfontmgr                        0.11.8-0.1                  PostScript 
font manager -- part of Defoma, Debian Font Manage
ii  t1-cyrillic                      4.8                         A basic set of 
free PostScript fonts
rc  texmacs                          1.0.5-2                     WYSIWYG 
emacs-ish mathematical text editor, using tex fonts
rc  texmacs-common                   1.0.5-2                     WYSIWYG 
emacs-ish mathematical text editor, using tex fonts
ii  ttf-freefont                     20060126b-3                 Freefont 
Serif, Sans and Mono Truetype fonts
ii  ttf-opensymbol                   2.0.2-2                     The OpenSymbol 
TrueType font
ii  ttf-thryomanes                   1.2-1                       A Unicode font 
covering Latin, Greek, Cyrillic and IPA
rc  x-ttcidfont-conf                 21                          Configure 
TrueType and CID fonts for X
ii  xfonts-100dpi                    1.0.0-2                     100 dpi fonts 
for X
ii  xfonts-75dpi                     1.0.0-2                     100 dpi fonts 
for X
ii  xfonts-base                      1.0.0-3                     standard fonts 
for X
ii  xfonts-dosemu                    1.2.2-3                     VGA font for 
the DOS Emulator
ii  xfonts-encodings                 1.0.0-2                     Encodings for 
X.Org fonts
ii  xfonts-scalable                  1.0.0-4                     scalable fonts 
for X
ii  xfonts-utils                     1.0.0-3                     X Window 
System font utility programs

--
Nate Eldredge
[EMAIL PROTECTED]


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