TrueType Font Installation under XFree86 can sometimes seem a bit daunting. I have found the mkfontalias.py script by Roman Sulzhyk to be invaluble.

However, I quickly got tired of typing in the additional commands needed to make the fonts.alias, fonts.dir, and fonts.scale files, etc so I wrote "quickfont" in bash to do all that repetitive stuff for me :P

NOTE: The quickfont script is provided with no warranty **use at your own risk** and I do not provide support on it. Do not email, instant message, irc me for support. Thank you.

You will need two files to use my script.

* quickfont
* mkfontalias.py (you need python installed for this script)

Make sure that the mkfontalias.py script is in your $PATH before running my script (I keep it in /usr/bin).

You also must have: head, tail, and grep. Most systems come with these preinstalled.

To add fonts, either copy your new TT Fonts (fonts with an extension of .ttf -- note: i rename them from .TTF to .ttf for consistancy on my system before I run quickfont) to an existing font dir or make a new one. I keep my add-on TT Fonts in /opt/ttfonts/local. Ensure that the permissions are set appropriately so all the users can access them.

Lastly, run my script (example):
Code:
[ user@linuxbox ~ ] $ ./quickfont -d /opt/ttfonts/local
Starting font installation.
Created 9864 aliases
Wrote aliases to fonts.alias
Completed!

Your new fonts are installed and should appear in your X apps now.

NOTE: for Gnome and KDE, you may need to run additional
commands... refer to the appropriate documentation.

NOTE: With Gnome it is easiest to keep all you TT Fonts in one
place and make a symlink in your home directory to it named ~/.fonts

!!!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!!!
Unless you are just updating a pre-existing font directory,
you must add the following line to your /etc/X11/XF86Config
file in the "Section "Files"" or the next time you restart
X, the new fonts will not display.

FontPath "/opt/ttfonts/local"
For some reason the attachment feature won't work in this thread (even deleted and recreated it) so... the two scripts are available on my web site.

Feb 14, 13:50 MST : I have made some changes to make the script a bit more idiot-proof - bumped version to 0.3