Consolefont warning message

Feedback Feature Request
1

could the console font be added to manjaro-tools?

2

What console font? Added how?

Please provide more information.

3

In mkinitcpio when building manjaro iso’s there is always the warning that “console font not found” until profiles are added after root and desktop packages has been applied. I do not really understand where the vconsole.conf comes from as the font is already in my etc and obviously in the profiles is there somewhere else it should be?

4

I recall a conversation about this once or twice before, and made some notes at the time, when I became a little pedantic about the warning message;

I trust this will help explain it.

Regards.

consolefont

The consolefont hook is enabled by default. If no console font is defined, a warning message is triggered.

While this warning can be safely ignored, it does serve as a reminder that further configuration is possible, otherwise, there is no real benefit in keeping the hook, unless you actually wish to specify a font.

The technically correct solution would be to remove the consolefont hook from /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. :eyes:

Otherwise, the only resolve is to ignore the warning (treat it as noise); or configure a console font.

What I did to change the default console font

In this instance I’ll simply fill in the blanks with sensible defaults (for me).

1. Provide a console font name in /etc/vconsole.conf:

cat /etc/vconsole.conf

# This was my initial output (not overly exciting)
KEYMAP=au
FONT=
FONT_MAP=

  • The virtual console typically uses CP437 by default (for reference only).

  • The console font name is taken from the list in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/.

    • List compatible terminal fonts:

      ls -l /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/ | grep -i ".psfu.gz"

  • The KEYMAP value was changed from au to us (defaults to us if left empty).

sudo nano /etc/vconsole.conf

# These are the changes made (my typical defaults)
KEYMAP=us
FONT=default8x16
FONT_MAP=UTF-8

2. Add setfont to the BINARIES array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf:

If the consolefont build hook is enabled and a console font is specified in /etc/vconsole.conf, then setfont must be added to the BINARIES array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf.

sudo nano /etc/mkinitcpio.conf

# Added setfont to the BINARIES array
BINARIES=(setfont)

3. Check that graphics the driver is referenced in

# Verify the graphic driver is set (AMD:amdgpu / radeon, Nvidia:nouveau, Intel:i915)
BINARIES=(radeon)

4. Check that locale is set properly in /etc/locale.conf:

LANG=en_AU.UTF-8

5. Finally, enable these changes and reboot:

sudo mkinitcpio -P

As far as I’m aware, simply removing the consolefont hook would cause the message to not show, and would otherwise do no real harm. Keep in mind, I didn’t perform an exhaustive search on this point.

Additionally, before changing the font globally, I’d recommend seeking advice on the better fonts to use for the purpose.

As you will see, the font I used (in my notes) was the default font, in any case. I did this in lieu of changing to another font at a later date (something I simply forgot about); but, at least the message was gone.

Simply removing the hook would still have done that. :eyes:

I hope this information is useful and that you can draw your own conclusions as to whether making any changes is worth your effort.

2 Likes
5

It does not appear to work now and amdgpu can not be added to binaries as mkinitcpio complains, it already was in MODULES.

6

What does not work ?

It is a file that is generated by the installer - and it is intended to be populated by the selections in GRUB which can be made by the user booting the ISO.

There is no vconsole.conf in the profie unless you add it

No.

The warning is just a message - it has no impact on the system.

With an encrypted system - a FONT_MAP= definition make sense, otherwise - as already stated - you can safely ignore the message.

7

I know all that but can we add the consolefont to Grub?

8

No — grub doesn’t have anything to do with the consolefont.

Either remove the consolefont hook from /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and rebuild your initramfs, or set a proper font in /etc/vconsole.conf, or comment out the FONT-related lines in that file.

9

No - this is a specific hook for mkinitcpio - has nothing to do with GRUB.

The buildiso is building an ISO for installation purpose - and in this case you must ignore the message.

If you add the file vconsole.conf to your desktop-overlay folder - I am fairly certain it will be overwritten by the installer.