[Fontconfig] confused about <alias> <prefer>

[Alan Chandler]

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On Wednesday 26 Feb 2003 9:48 pm, Keith Packard wrote:

> The generic names are often provided by the application and end up (by
> default) with strong binding.  Perhaps the problem here is an application
> using the "generic" name 'fixed' which in fact matches actual fonts.  The
> proper generic name is 'monospace', which won't match any fonts.
>
...

> I guess I'm still confused over what the actual problem is here.

Now you've explained it in that way - I see the problem can be seen from a 
different direction.  KDEs konsole has a mode in which it wants to use a 
"default" font as the font that is used.  It actually translates that as a 
"fixed" family request through qt and then fontconfig (strongly bound) and 
"monospace (weakly bound) (using QFont::Typewriter style hint). 

Because on Debian there is a strange font in the xfonts-base package (see my 
post earlier about the "Additional Style" field in an XLFD) which has family 
name "fixed" it is found by the fontconfig matching mechanism in preference 
to any other.  I can't remove that xfonts-base package because then the 
xserver complains it can't find the "fixed" font and won't start. 

A problem with no obvious way out - except by trying to get "fixed" 
overwridden when fontconfig does its matching.

I can get round the problem using the match pattern stuff in local.conf but I 
am also interested in the "correct" way of solving this issue.  


- -- 
Alan Chandler
alan at chandlerfamily.org.uk
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