Mozilla mystery (partially solved)

[Collins]

On Thu, 26 Dec 2002 14:12:51 -0500 (EST) Net Llama!
<netllama at linux-sxs.org> wrote:
> On Thu, 26 Dec 2002, Net Llama! wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 26 Dec 2002, Collins wrote:
> > > On Thu, 26 Dec 2002 19:43:41 -0500 Klaus-Peter Schrage
> > > <kpschrage at gmx.de> wrote:
> > > > Net Llama! wrote:
> > > > > On Thu, 26 Dec 2002, Collins wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >>This is mozilla 1.2.1.  I didn't have strace, so I emerged
> > > > >it and ran>strace.  mozilla was segfaulting while handling
> > > > >fonts.>
> > > > >>A lengthy analysis of a good strace (collins) and a failure
> > > > >(new)>indicated differences in handling the ~/.fonts.cache-1
> > > > >file.  I tried>rm'ing the file and tried again, but no joy. 
> > > > >Next I copied over the>/home/collins/.fonts.cache-1 file, and
> > > > >now mozilla will start.>
> > > > >>This could be an XFree problem (?).  Now that a usable
> > > > >>~/.fonts-cache-1 file is present, the warning messages I got
> > > > >from xfce>have disappeared as well.  Does anyone know which
> > > > >packaged generates>the .fonts.cache-1 file so that I could
> > > > >investigate further?
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > No such file exists in Redhat.  Perhaps this is something
> > > > > specific to Gentoo?
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > The fonts-cache files are part of the new font handling in
> > > > Redhat 8.0, which BTW is not RH specific, but seem to be the
> > > > future font system in XFree (RH only are the first distro to
> > > > have it incorporated). This is all nicely outlined by Havoc
> > > > Pennington here:
> > > >
> > > > https://listman.redhat.com/pipermail/psyche-list/2002-October/002797.html
> > > >
> > >
> > > Unfortunately, the Pennington article is a bit too Red Hat
> > > specific to be of any use.  I have a non-RedHat system that has
> > > been XFree 4.2.1 since install, but I'm experiencing problems
> > > now with new users, and it all points to the same type of thing.
> > >  I've reported this to gentoo
> > > to see if they know anything else.
> >
> > Seems that some Mandrake folks are having problems too.  Do you
> > have a/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/fonts.cache-1 ?
> 
> Just found this:
> http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:Joi1d7A7wjUC:www.xfree86.org/pipermail/fonts/2002-September/002094.html++%22fonts.cache-1%22+group:*linux*&hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8
> 
> This kinda sounds like it might be the problem you're having?
> 

Putting this all together with a little googling that I did, I now
know the answer.  Unfortunately, this is typical linux-free software
catch-22: if you know what you are looking for, you can find it;
otherwise, massive amounts of rtfm may or may not lead you to the
solution.

I don't know where I (or any user) would be led to learn this, but it
appears that this is the case:

1. Under XFree4.2.1 the file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/fonts.cache-1 is
a program-generated configuration file that must be rebuilt when you
make any changes to the tt font configuration (I had added an extra tt
font directory a while back).

2. the program fc-cache rebuilds the above-mentioned file.

3. After rebuilding the file, I can add a new user, and xfce and
mozilla work normally.

The ironic fact is that most other X programs (ex. OpenOffice) can
access the tt fonts just fine even though the cache file is out of
sync.

You learn something new every day!

Thanks for all the help.

-- 
Collins Richey - Denver Area
Gentoo 1.4 sytem