How do I resolve certain font-related error messages when running Mathematica 4 on Linux?

We have received a number of reports from Mathematica users with different distributions of Linux reporting error messages such as the following.

xset:  bad font path element (#38), possible causes are:
       Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
       Directory missing fonts.dir
       Incorrect font server address or syntax

These problems generally occur when your system has more fonts installed than the default number of fonts as specified by the Specific.tr file.

1. First, verify that the following two font directories have been added to the end of the /etc/X11/fs/config file.

     /usr/local/mathematica/SystemFiles/Fonts/Type1
     /usr/local/mathematica/SystemFiles/Fonts/X
   

2. Restart the X font server. One way to do this would be to reboot your system.

   You can also restart the font server without rebooting. One way to do this is to issue the following command.

     /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfs restart
   

   If that fails to restart the fontserver, you may want to consider the following. For example, under RedHat 6.x, the font server is started by a boot script in /etc/rc.d/rc3.d. The name of the script is most likely named something like S90xfs. To restart the fontserver, you need to execute the script as root with the command line argument "restart"

3. After starting an X session, evaluate the following command, noting the output.

     xlsfonts | wc -l
   

4. Edit the /usr/local/mathematica/SystemFiles/FrontEnd/TextResources/X/Specific.tr file. Locate the line that reads @@resource maxForXListFonts. Change the number on the line that follows to a value that is greater than the number you received in Step 3. It may be a good idea to leave some margin for error. For example, it is recommended that you change this value to a number that is 5 - 10% greater than the value you received in Step 3.

5. Launch Mathematica to verify that it starts without error.

If you continue to experience problems with your fonts, please contact Technical Support.