How to install truetype or tamil fonts in linux

1. Uncompress the downloaded font archive to a directory and add it to the font path, a list of directories containing fonts:

2. Create a directory for new fonts

# mkdir /usr/share/fonts/truetype

3. Move the uncompressed font files to the new font directory

# mv *.ttf /usr/share/fonts/truetype

4. Navigate to the font directory

# cd /usr/share/fonts/truetype

5. Create fonts.scale and fonts.dir

# mkfontscale && mkfontdir
# fc-cache

6. Add the new font directory to the X11 font path

# chkfontpath --add /usr/share/fonts/truetype

7. Restart X font server

# /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfs restart

You can verify the successful addition of the new path by running chkfontpath command or by listing X font server's /etc/X11/XF86Config file.

If you do not have root access, copy the *.ttf to ~/.fonts directory instead.