Chapter 6. The X Window System

105

When the user finishes an X session on the default display (

:0

) and logs out, the

/etc/X11/xdm/TakeConsole

script runs and reassigns ownership of the console to the root user.

The original display manager, which continued running after the user logged in, takes control by

spawning a new display manager. This restarts the XFree86 server, displays a new login window, and

starts the entire process over again.

For more information about how display managers control user authentication, read the

xdm

man page.

6.5. Fonts

Red Hat Linux uses

xfs

(X Font Server) to provide fonts to the XFree86 server and the X client

applications that connect to it. While it is possible to not use

xfs

and place the paths to font directories

in your

XF86Config

configuration file,

xfs

has several advantages:

It is easier to add and remove fonts, including editing the font path. The font path is a collection of

paths in the file system where font files are stored. The

xfs

service keeps the font path out of the

XFree86 configuration files, making it easier to edit.

Fonts may be stored on one machine acting as a networked font server and can be shared among

multiple X servers over the network. A common set of fonts can be maintained in one place and

easily shared between all users.

More types of fonts are supported.

xfs

can handle TrueType, Type1, and bitmap fonts.

The XFree86 configuration files know whether to use

xfs

or hard coded font paths because of the

FontPath

setting in their

Files

sections. By default, the

FontPath

is set to

unix/:7100

. This

tells the XFree86 server to connect to port 7100 using an inner machine communication link. The

xfs

server listening on this port will respond with font information when queried by the XFree86

server.

The

xfs

service must be running when X is started. If it is not, you will be returned to a command

prompt with an error similar to

failed to set default font path 'unix/:7100'

. Check to

see if

xfs

is running using the

ps aux | grep xfs

command. By default,

xfs

is set to start in

runlevels 2, 3, 4, and 5, covering all runlevels where you would run X. If

xfs

is not running on

your system, you can start it as root using the

/sbin/service xfs start

command. Use the

/usr/sbin/ntsysv

,

serviceconf

, or

/sbin/chkconfig

utilities to force it to start at the cor 

rect runlevels. For more on configuring services for a particular runlevel, refer to the chapter titled

Controlling Access to Services in the Official Red Hat Linux Customization Guide

6.5.1.

xfs

Configuration

The

/etc/rc.d/init.d/xfs

script starts the

xfs

server. Several options can be configured in the

/etc/X11/fs/config

file:

  alternate servers

  Sets a list of alternate font servers to be used if this font server is not

available. A comma must separate every font server in the list.

  catalogue

  An ordered list of font paths to use that contain the font files. A comma must follow

every font path before a new font path can be started in the list.

You can use the string

:unscaled

immediately after the font path to make the unscaled fonts in

that path load first. Then, you can specify the entire path again, so that other scaled fonts will also

be loaded.

  client limit

  Sets the number of clients this font server will service before refusing to handle

any more. The default is

10

.