Documentation: Installing Google Fonts on Linux

This guide provides systematic steps to download and install Google Fonts on a Linux system that are not included by default. This process involves downloading the fonts, extracting them, and moving them to the system fonts directory.

Prerequisites

• A Linux system (Ubuntu 20.04 or similar).

• Terminal access.

• unzip and fc-cache tools installed (these can be installed via the package manager if not already present).

Steps

1. Download the Google Fonts ZIP File

   • Navigate to the Google Fonts website.

   • Search for and select the desired font.

   • Click the download button to get the ZIP file containing the font files.

2. Extract the ZIP File

   • Open a terminal.

   • Navigate to the directory where the ZIP file was downloaded. For example, if the file is in Downloads:

       cd ~/Downloads
     

   • Extract the ZIP file using unzip:

       unzip <font-name>.zip -d <font-name>
     

     Replace <font-name> with the name of the downloaded ZIP file and extracted folder.

3. Move the Fonts to the System Directory

   • Navigate to the extracted folder containing the .ttf or .otf font files:

       cd <font-name>
     

   • Move the font files to the system-wide fonts directory. You will need superuser permissions:

       sudo mv *.ttf /usr/share/fonts/
       sudo mv *.otf /usr/share/fonts/
     

     If you have different types of font files, adjust the command accordingly.

4. Update the Font Cache

   • Refresh the font cache to ensure the new fonts are recognized by the system:

       sudo fc-cache -fv
     

5. Verify the Installation

   • Confirm that the fonts are installed correctly:

       fc-list | grep <font-name>
     

     Replace <font-name> with the name of the font to verify its installation.

Notes

• If you prefer to install fonts only for your user account, follow the same steps but move the fonts to ~/.local/share/fonts/ instead of /usr/share/fonts/. You don’t need superuser permissions in this case.

• Ensure that the directory structure and font file names are correct when performing the mv and unzip operations.

This guide helps you systematically install Google Fonts on a Linux system, ensuring they are available for use in all applications.