→ Complete Installation & Usage Guide for Linux Users
Apr 13, 2026
$ man fontmatrix
NAME
fontmatrix — a font manager for Linux, *BSD, and other Unix-like systems
SYNOPSIS
fontmatrix [options] [font-directory...]
DESCRIPTION
Fontmatrix is a free, open-source font manager released under the GNU General Public License (GPL v2). It enables Linux users to preview, compare, organize, and activate fonts on their system with ease. Whether you're a designer, developer, or typography enthusiast, Fontmatrix provides the tools you need to manage your font library efficiently.
Features include font tagging and categorization, advanced preview with custom sample text, Panose classification support, font activation/deactivation, and integration with the fontconfig subsystem. Fontmatrix reads TrueType (.ttf), OpenType (.otf), and Type 1 (.pfb) fonts.
KEY FEATURES
- • Browse and preview all installed system fonts
- • Tag and categorize fonts with custom labels
- • Activate and deactivate fonts without installing/removing
- • Compare glyphs side-by-side across multiple fonts
- • Panose classification and font metadata inspection
- • Export font samples to PDF or image
- • Lightweight, fast, no heavy dependencies
SEE ALSO
fontmatrix-install(1), fontmatrix-about(7), fontmatrix-contact(5)
$ ls /usr/share/doc/fontmatrix/howto/
$ ls /usr/share/doc/fontmatrix/whats-the-font/
$ cat QUICKSTART.md
# Quick Install (Debian/Ubuntu) $ sudo apt-get install fontmatrix # Quick Install (Fedora/RHEL) $ sudo dnf install fontmatrix # Quick Install (Arch Linux) $ sudo pacman -S fontmatrix # Build from source $ git clone https://github.com/fontmatrix/fontmatrix.git $ cd fontmatrix $ mkdir build && cd build $ cmake .. $ make -j$(nproc) $ sudo make install # Run $ fontmatrix &