BDF
Generated by scripts/gen-format-pages.py from docs/data/format-metadata/, FILE_FORMATS.csv and docs/formats-master.csv. Do not edit by hand: change the source, then run the script.
BDF Bitmap Font Preview.
At a glance
| Purpose | A Glyph Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF) font: a text bitmap font from the X11 era with per-glyph bitmaps in hex. |
| Extensions | .bdf |
| Poka parser | poka-font |
| Viewer | poka-font-viewer |
| Depth tier | Parser with a shared viewer (see Depth tiers) |
| Breadth tier | B4 Summary (see Breadth tiers) |
How much Poka reads
B4 Summary. The container and metadata are read and summarised (counts, properties, structure), but the main content is not rendered.
Confidence: medium (the reviewer read the code). Basis: Reviewed 2026-10-26: read parsers/poka-bdf/src/main.rs (473 lines) and plugin.json. Two unit tests; the corpus .bdf files (contact_model.bdf, nas_solid_bending.bdf and others) are Nastran bulk data, not fonts, and the crate refuses them with a message naming Nastran. Covers .bdf and .bdf-font. The tree shows the font name (XLFD), size and resolution, bounding box, glyph count and encoding range with a sample of glyphs, and the font properties. Judgement: B4: the font's metadata and glyph list are summarised, but no glyph is drawn.
What Poka does not read
- Glyph bitmaps are not drawn
- Per-glyph widths and bounding boxes are not shown; only a sample of glyphs is listed
- Only the first 100 properties are shown
- No real BDF font is in the corpus (the .bdf samples are Nastran models)
Libraries
Libraries Poka uses or has assessed for this format, with the status, licence and language the registry records.
- bdf (candidate; WTFPL; Rust; https://github.com/meh/rust-bdf) — X11 bitmap fonts — WTFPL is not in deny.toml's allow list
Software that uses it
- MSC Nastran
Sources
- parsers/poka-bdf/src/main.rs
- parsers/poka-bdf/plugin.json