Fontconfig

Fontconfig is a library for configuring and customizing font access.

About Fontconfig

Fontconfig can:

  • discover new fonts when installed automatically, removing a common source of configuration problems.
  • perform font name substitution, so that appropriate alternative fonts can be selected if fonts are missing.
  • identify the set of fonts required to completely cover a set of languages.
  • have GUI configuration tools built as it uses an XML-based configuration file (though with autodiscovery, we believe this need is minimized).
  • efficiently and quickly find the fonts you need among the set of fonts you have installed, even if you have installed thousands of fonts, while minimzing memory usage.
  • be used in concert with the X Render Extension and FreeType to implement high quality, anti-aliased and subpixel rendered text on a display.

Fontconfig does not:

  • render the fonts themselves (this is left to FreeType or other rendering mechanisms)
  • depend on the X Window System in any fashion, so that printer only applications do not have such dependencies

Releases

  • The current stable series is 2.14.2. All releases are available in the release directory.

Documentation

Git Access

The fontconfig git repository is hosted at freedesktop.org.

Mailing Lists

The Fontconfig mailing list is used for all fontconfig related mail.

Bug report

If you have encountered any issues regarding to Fontconfig, please file a bug report at GitLab issue tracker

Web fonts

Microsoft has made the common web fonts available free of charge; please read the license before downloading them.

Redhat has made free fonts (GPL+exception) available: Sans (a substitute for Arial, Albany, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, and Bitstream Vera Sans), Serif (a substitute for Times New Roman, Thorndale, Nimbus Roman, and Bitstream Vera Serif) and Mono (a substitute for Courier New, Cumberland, Courier, Nimbus Mono L, and Bitstream Vera Sans Mono).