Schwicky.net - Missing fonts in GTK2 Applications

Where are my fonts?

You just upgraded to a new version of your favourite application which claims to be even more beautiful than the older version thanks to antialiased fonts. But unfortunately there are no more decent fonts. Your new gvim allows you only to choose between these strange fonts which might be good for writing a document in OpenOffice.org but certainly not editing source code in this wonderful editor? You just want your good old 'Fixed' font back?

The solution

It's because GTK2 is using a new font system called 'fontconfig' (along with the Xft-Library). All you need to do is to tell 'fontconfig' where it has to search for your old fonts so it can offer them for you to use.

Edit the configuration file which is probably /etc/fonts/local.conf (or /usr/etc/fonts/local.conf) and add the following line inside the <fontconfig> block:

<dir>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc</dir>

Additionaly you might also want the following lines:

<dir>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi</dir> <dir>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi</dir> <dir>/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo</dir>

And any additional directory you have fonts in.

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The Least Perceptive Literary Critic
The most important critic in our field of study is Lord Halifax. A
most individual judge of poetry, he once invited Alexander Pope round to
give a public reading of his latest poem.
Pope, the leading poet of his day, was greatly surprised when Lord
Halifax stopped him four or five times and said, "I beg your pardon, Mr.
Pope, but there is something in that passage that does not quite please me."
Pope was rendered speechless, as this fine critic suggested sizeable
and unwise emendations to his latest masterpiece. "Be so good as to mark
the place and consider at your leisure. I'm sure you can give it a better
turn."
After the reading, a good friend of Lord Halifax, a certain Dr.
Garth, took the stunned Pope to one side. "There is no need to touch the
lines," he said. "All you need do is leave them just as they are, call on
Lord Halifax two or three months hence, thank him for his kind observation
on those passages, and then read them to him as altered. I have known him
much longer than you have, and will be answerable for the event."
Pope took his advice, called on Lord Halifax and read the poem
exactly as it was before. His unique critical faculties had lost none of
their edge. "Ay", he commented, "now they are perfectly right. Nothing can
be better."
Stephen Pile, "The Book of Heroic Failures"