---
name: "update-xfonts-traditional"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "xfonts-traditional"
version: "1.8.2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/update-xfonts-traditional"
---

# update-xfonts-traditional(8)

generate traditional ASCII fixed-with fonts

## NAME

update-xfonts-traditional - generate traditional ASCII fixed-with fonts

## SYNOPSIS

**update-xfonts-traditional --bdf-filter**

**update-xfonts-traditional --process-pcf *in.pcf.gz* *out.pcf.gz***

**update-xfonts-traditional --process-fontdirs *fontdir* ...**

**update-xfonts-traditional --process-fonttrees *fonttree* ...**

## DESCRIPTION

**update-xfonts-traditional** generates versions of X11 PCF fonts which have been edited to restore compatibility with traditional versions of US-ASCII, and to restore some of the glyphs to more traditional appearance.

## MODES

- **--bdf-filter**

  Takes a BDF on standard input and tries to generate an edited BDF on standard output.

- **--process-pcf**

  Takes to PCF filename arguments; the input PCF is uncompressed, decompiled to a BDF, processed, recompiled to a PCF and recompressed.

- **--process-fontdirs**

  In each *fontdir* all files *font***.pcf.gz** are processed, to generate where applicable corresponding **trad--***font***.pcf.gz** files.  The mtime, ctime and inode number of the input files are recorded so that reprocessing the same directory later will be fast.

- **--process-fonttrees**

  Each *fonttree* is searched for font directories which are processed as above.

- **--update**

  Each built in font tree location is searched for font directories which are processed as above.

## OPTIONS

- **-R**\|**--rules-path** *rulespath*

  Prepend *rulespath* to the path of directories from which to load glyph editing rules.

- **--share-dir** *share-dir*

  Use *share-dir* instead of **/usr\[/local\]/share/xfonts-traditional**.

- **--parallel**\|**-j** *cpus*

  Use up to *cpus* cores for processing fonts.  The default is all the cpus available.

- **--always-reprocess**

  **When scanning font directories, always reprocess all the fonts,** **regardless of whether we think they have been done already.**

- **--no-tolerate-bad-fonts**

  **Treat bad input fonts (eg, ones for which pcf2bdf crashes, or ones** **with other problems) as a fatal error.  Normally they just produce** **a warning.**

## FILES

- **xfonts-traditional.done**

  **In each font directory, records information about processed fonts, so** **as to optimise away unnecessary reprocessing.**

- **xfonts-traditional.log**

  **In each font directory, records a lot of which fonts were processed** **and to a certain extent if not why not.**

- **/usr/share/fonts/X11 /usr/local/share/fonts/X11**

  **Default font tree paths for --update.**

- **trad--***font***.pcf.gz**

  **In any font directory, our output files.  Any other files matching** **this pattern may be overwritten or deleted.**

## EXIT STATUS

- **0**

  **All went well and there were no warnings.**

- **2**

  **With** **--bdf-filter** **and** **--process-pcf** **only, indicates that the input font did not need to** **be edited, or was not suitable for editing, and has** **not** **been written out, so the output is incomplete, but this is not an** **error.**

- **any other**

  **There were problems.**

## BUGS

**Only the 6x13 font conventionally called**  **supported.  This package comes too late to rescue Unix from an** **incompatible change to its character set.**