Where do I find the missing fonts?

WAVE is an XView application, and requires the Open Look cursor font on the server. If your server doesn't have this font (`olcursor.snf' for X11R4 and earlier servers, `olcursor.pcf' for X11R5 and later servers), you must install it before WAVE will run. XView applications also use the `olgl??.snf' or `olgl??.pcf' glyph fonts; if these are missing, WAVE will run but certain standard Open Look graphical elements will not have the correct appearance. To install these fonts on your X server's system:

  1. Generate copies of `ol*.snf' or `ol*.pcf' for your X server system's architecture.

  2. Copy `ol*.snf' or `ol*.pcf' to a world-readable directory on the server machine.

  3. Update the font database on the server machine.

  4. Force the server to reread the font database.

You should be able to find `ol*.snf' or `ol*.pcf' files on the machine on which WAVE resides (probably in /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc). The `ol*.pcf' files are portable (although usually optimized for the architecture of the system on which they are installed). If you need to use `snf' fonts, however, and the server machine is not of the same architecture, it will be necessary to find `ol*.bdf' in the XView distribution and use `bdftosnf' to generate `.snf' files for your X server system's architecture (see the man page for `bdftosnf'; this step can be done trivially on the server machine, if `bdftosnf' is available there, or with a little more trouble on the remote machine). If the server machine runs UNIX, read the man pages for `mkfontdir' and `xset' to see how to update and reread the font database; otherwise, consult the documentation for your X server. Note that (under UNIX) you do not need to have write permission in the standard font directory in order to perform these steps; if you add your own font directory to the font path using `xset', however, remember that this setting lasts only until the server exits and will need to be repeated afterwards.

On some platforms, there are simpler ways to install the missing fonts. See the XView home page on PhysioNet for pointers.

George B. Moody (george@mit.edu)
2019-03-08