The configuration file for fontconfig is fonts.conf. Generally you do not want to edit this file. To put a new font directory in the configuration, create a new file, local.conf with your local information. The default location of fonts in fontconfig is: /usr/share/fonts /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1 /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype ~/.fonts The fontconfig program will automatically search the above directories and all subdirectories for needed fonts. X also includes an internal (and older) version of fontconfig and unless it is explictly disabled when building XFree86, the internal version is created leaving two slightly incompatible libraries on your system. It is recommended that you only install one version.