My Problem
In a Linux distribution of one kind or another, when attempting to set a new console font in a TTY, you may received the following error:
# setfont -32 ter-u32n.bdf
bad input file size
My Solution
First, if you’re coming to this blog post because you’re attempting to install larger Terminus fonts for your TTY, you probably just want to search your distribution’s package manager for Terminus, specifically the console fonts package:
$ yum search terminus
== Name Matched: terminus ==
terminus-fonts.noarch : Clean fixed width font
terminus-fonts-grub2.noarch : Clean fixed width font (grub2 version)
terminus-fonts-console.noarch : Clean fixed width font (console version)
$ yum install terminus-fonts-console
However if you’re coming to this blog post for other reasons, then you’re probably attempting to setfont with a .bdf file or just something that isn’t a .psf file. You most likely need to follow the instructions for your font, in my case Terminus, to make the files into the proper .psf format.The Linux From Scratch project has a good quick primer on the topic that you can use to mine for search terms and further information.
With my specific font, what worked for me was:
$ sudo ./configure --psfdir=/usr/lib/kbd/consolefonts
$ sudo make -j8 psf
# Stuff happens here
$ sudo make install-psf
After that, I had the fonts installed into my /usr/lib/kbd/consolefonts directory and was able to setfont and further change my TTY font to my preferences.