I want to use a specific font in my Gambas app.

Is it possible to do so without "installing" it to /usr/share/fonts/ + $ sudo fc-cache -v -f

For example doesn't seem to work.

It's a font containing glyph icons. So it would not make sense to install for system wide use.

The Short answer is "Yes" a font needs to be installed, but not necessarily in the systems /usr/share/fonts/ dir

have you tried installing it to  ~/.local/share/fonts ?
~/.local/share/fonts will not require root privileges to install there and delete.
Possibly your program can install the font there on load, then use it, then remove it when quitting?

I just tried this and it works….

I also found i did not need to run fc-cache it works without it

With Ubuntu and Linux Mint you can also use the folder "<COLOR color="#800000">User.Home &/ ".fonts</COLOR>".

Reusing the example of BruceSteers:

BruceSteers said

The Short answer is "Yes" a font needs to be installed, but not necessarily in the systems /usr/share/fonts/ dir

have you tried installing it to  ~/.local/share/fonts ?
~/.local/share/fonts will not require root privileges to install there and delete.
Possibly your program can install the font there on load, then use it, then remove it when quitting?

I just tried this and it works….

Code (gambas)

1. ' Load font during _init() to ensure is loaded before other components
2. Static Public Sub _init()
3.   If Not Exist(User.Home &/ ".local/share/fonts") Then Mkdir User.Home &/ ".local/share/fonts"
4.   If Not Exist(User.Home &/ ".local/share/fonts/Autumn Wind.ttf") Then Copy "./Autumn Wind.ttf" To User.Home &/ ".local/share/fonts/Autumn Wind.ttf"
5. End
6. Public Sub Form_Open()
7.   Dim tb As TextBox = New TextBox(Me)
8.   tb.Text = "hello"
9.   tb.Height = 32
10.   tb.Font = Font["Autumn Wind, 16"]
11. End

Yeas I like this solution thank you. And thank you for reintroducing me to ~.local/share/fonts - I had forgot it completely. And a huge plus not having to run fc-cache to use fonts in this location!

PS: I think I will skip removing the font at the end for now. But if I decide to do it, I think I will maybe use the default ramdisk location /dev/shm/ as the temporary store for the font asset and make a link pointing to it from ~.local/share/fonts - To speed things up and preserve ssd wrtite cycles.

 I tried different ways to do it without installing but nothing worked. That's why I just install it.