[TriLUG] debugging fonts

[Carl Schaefer]

a long, long time ago, porter wrote:
> 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.

an X protocol monitor might be useful for this; several are listed here:

http://www.x.org/wiki/guide/debugging/

xtruss is another that google told me about.  I can't vouch for any of
them...

Carl