How can I bypass this fontconfig warning to edit grub successfully?

Question

I upgraded from 12.04 to 12.10 with no problem. I am trying to edit the grub file, but in the console I get the following message:

Fontconfig warning: "/etc/fonts/conf.d/50-user.conf", 
 line 9: reading configurations from ~/.fonts.conf is deprecated

As a result, I see nothing when the editor opens. Is there a fix for this? I can't find much information on Google.

Solution 1

Githlar's answer removes the warning, without responding to what the warning is telling you. It's actually saying that loading from ~/.fonts.conf will be removed in the future. Hence, Githlar's solution will ignore what will break in the future. The correct thing to do is to move ~/.fonts.conf to ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf . The easiest way to move this (hidden) file is using the terminal and doing

mkdir -p ~/.config/fontconfig/
mv -i ~/.fonts.conf ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf

There is actually a bug report filed against the vagueness of this warning.

Solution 2

To get rid of this message, edit the /etc/fonts/conf.d/50-user.conf file as root:

sudo nano /etc/fonts/conf.d/50-user.conf

or

sudo gedit /etc/fonts/conf.d/50-user.conf

Look for the line that says

<include ignore_missing="yes" deprecated="yes">~/.fonts.conf</include>

and change it to

<!-- <include ignore_missing="yes" deprecated="yes">~/.fonts.conf</include> -->

Doing so comments out the line. Notice that's its under a comment that says "The following elements will be removed in the future." Therefore, commenting out this line should not hurt anything.

Comments

[rft183]

The message you're getting is just a warning. It is just saying that you no longer need a ~/.fonts.conf file. That shouldn't be causing the problem. I think we need more information, such as the actual command you're typing into the terminal.

[rft183]

Personally, I use nano at the command line, so I would do sudo nano /etc/default/grub

[Chuck R]

"Use nano" is not a valid answer.

[Chuck R]

Scroll down the page a bit... it's been there since after I posted the comment.

[Sparhawk]

Re-reading the original question, I think both answers from @Githlar and myself are a bit off-topic anyway. Both our responses fix the warning, but the OP still cannot edit the file. We probably need more information, such as specifically how you are trying to edit the file. What's the command you are using?

[Chuck R]

You're right. Going purely off the error message, it is not clear where it expects to read the new configuration from. I guess I assumed wrong that the upgrade process would have done this for you. I was guessing that the referred to files were residual. Thanks for the tip, +1.

[Sparhawk]

@Githlar I suppose the devs didn't want to move your files themselves, but I agree it's a horribly vague error message. And it's probably not the best way to depreciate something. Cheers.

[CodeMedic]

Doing so comments out the line. Notice that's its under a comment that says "The following elements will be removed in the future." Therefore, commenting out this line should not hurt anything. ... bit of possible misrepresentation there; are you sure that the removal of the line is to reinstate the config reading from home dir or is it that the functionality will be removed so that the config is not needed anymore?!

[Nikos Alexandris]

I downvoted this answer since it doesn't seem to be the "right" thing to do. Upvoted askubuntu.com/a/231274/48282.

[Volker Siegel]

When doing this, I found that both files were present. I solved it by keeping the bigger file, on the assumption it contains more relevant configuration information (after taking a look).