handyfloss

I reproduce here a new entry in the (pompously self named) GNU/Linux Troubleshooting subsection of the Linux Stuff section of my Home Page. The original entry can be directly accessed here.

Problem

I don’t have Mathematica installed on my PC, but I execute it remotely at a computer that does have it. However, I have found the following error when executing mathematica remotely:

xset:  bad font path element (#77), possible causes are:
    Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
    Directory missing fonts.dir
    Incorrect font server address or syntax
xset:  bad font path element (#77), possible causes are:
    Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
    Directory missing fonts.dir
    Incorrect font server address or syntax

It means that I don’t have some fonts installed in my computer, so I googled for the string ‘”Directory missing fonts.dir” mathematica’, and found this Wolfram Inc. support page. Read it, but don’t follow its instructions literally. Instead, do the following:

Solution

Download the corresponding tar.gz here (for GNU/Linux), which is the place referred to in the support link above, and untar it anywere. It contains a directory called Fonts/, which in turn contains AFM/, BDF/ and Type1/. You have to su to root and create the directory /usr/lib/X11/fonts/Mathematica/, and place the directories AFM/, BDF/ and Type1/ there. Actually, only BDF/ seemed necessary for me.

Next, the support page I mention above says you have to execute:

% xset fp+ /usr/lib/X11/fonts/Mathematica/Type1

and

% xset fp+ /usr/lib/X11/fonts/Mathematica/BDF

However, the first one (Type1), will faill again with the same message that caused all this trouble in the first place:

xset:  bad font path element (#77), possible causes are:
    Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
    Directory missing fonts.dir
    Incorrect font server address or syntax

You will be at a loss, but don’t despair: actually only the latter (BDF) is needed, and it won’t give you any error. After that, the remote execution of Mathematica should work fine.