[TriLUG] debugging fonts

[porter]

I have an X11 application that I use at $WORK that is almost impossible 
to read because of the poor choice of fonts.  The application runs on a 
server and the display is on my local desktop.  The X11 display is 
forwarded to my local desktop through my SSH session.

That is:
me at desk$ ssh -X me at server
me at server$ application &

I am trying to figure out how I can debug the fonts.  I've tried 
setting the FC_DEBUG environment variable to 1, but it did not emit any 
debug info.  I tried running the application under strace and then I 
looked for something font-related in the flood of output, but I am not 
sure what to look for.  I suspect this X11 app was written with ancient 
tools (motif?), and I know that these sorts of plumbing systems tend to 
change every few years, so that might throw a few more permutations into 
my debug mix.

Making matters a little more confusing, I am not sure if I should be 
concentrating on the server or on my local desktop machine.  I keep 
thinking there should be some way to find out which fonts the 
application is looking for, and I could create a file like 
$HOME/.fonts.conf (on the server) and change the bad font to a better 
one.

Ideas?

Alan