chkfont

Check a font file for formatting errors

$ chkfont [path/to/font.flf]

$ chkfont [path/to/fonts]/*.flf

chkfont [-q] [-s server] [-c cache_dir]

-q
    Quiet mode. Suppresses the printing of file and directory names being checked, only reporting errors.

-s server
    Specify server. Checks the font paths of a given font server, specified as `[host]:port`, instead of the locally running X server's configuration.

-c cache_dir
    Check cache directory. Verifies the integrity of `fonts.cache-1` files within the specified `cache_dir`.

chkfont is a utility designed to verify the correctness and integrity of font configurations within the X Window System. It primarily checks the font paths specified for an X server or a dedicated font server (xfs) to ensure they are valid directories and contain necessary font index files (fonts.dir).

Additionally, it can check the validity of fonts.cache-1 files which store font properties for faster access. This command helps diagnose issues related to missing or incorrectly configured fonts that prevent X applications from finding and rendering text correctly. It was a crucial tool for troubleshooting font issues in environments relying on traditional X11 font server setups.

chkfont is largely considered a legacy utility. Its relevance has significantly diminished in modern Linux distributions where font management is primarily handled by the fontconfig library and its associated tools (fc-cache, font-manager). It is not present in many contemporary systems and is primarily useful for troubleshooting X11 font server (xfs) setups or very old X.Org configurations.

Before fontconfig became standard, X applications often located fonts by querying the X server for its configured font paths. These paths pointed to directories containing font files and their associated fonts.dir index files. chkfont played a role in ensuring these explicit paths were correctly set up and accessible, vital for displaying text in graphical applications. The transition to fontconfig simplified font discovery by abstracting the underlying font locations and providing a more dynamic caching mechanism.

chkfont originated as part of the XFree86 project and was later integrated into the X.Org Foundation's distribution of the X Window System utilities. Its development and usage peaked during an era when X servers relied heavily on explicitly defined font paths and dedicated font servers (xfs). With the advent and widespread adoption of fontconfig (around early 2000s), which offers a more flexible and robust mechanism for font discovery and rendering, the direct reliance on and troubleshooting needs for chkfont have considerably declined. It represents an older paradigm of font management in Unix-like systems.

xset(1), xfs(1), mkfontdir(1), mkfontscale(1), fc-cache(1), fonts.conf(5)