Apps
fontconfig
Fontconfig stores a generated font discovery cache under %LocalAppData%/fontconfig/cache so applications can avoid rescanning every installed font file on each launch. Those cache files record font metadata such as family names, style, weight, language coverage, character maps, and file timestamps, and they can become stale after fonts are added, removed, replaced, or updated. Kudu removes only the generated fontconfig cache files so the font list can be rebuilt automatically without touching installed fonts, user documents, or application settings.
Why clean fontconfig?
- Stale font metadata after installing or removing fonts causes apps to show missing families or old font names until fontconfig rescans the system
- Cached paths that still point to moved or deleted font files lead to fallback fonts, tofu boxes, or the wrong typeface appearing in menus and documents
- Replaced font files with the same name but different glyph coverage can leave fontconfig serving outdated character map data, which shows up as missing symbols or incorrect fallback
- Corrupted cache entries make font enumeration slow or inconsistent, so font pickers may hang, open partially populated, or list different fonts between launches
- Outdated language and style metadata can cause bold, italic, condensed, or CJK variants to be misclassified, making applications choose the wrong face automatically
- Large caches built from old font sets waste local disk space and keep applications consulting entries that no longer reflect the current installation
- If the cache database becomes fragmented or internally inconsistent, a rebuild recreates a clean index from the installed fonts without deleting any font files or user data
What gets cleaned
Cache paths Kudu targets
Windows
%LocalAppData%/fontconfig/cache |
Frequently asked
Common questions about fontconfig
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