GitBash Custom Font Hack? Can anyone confirm that is truly a hack?

[dckimGUY]

First a descriptive picture, pulling all the hard evidence together:

So, the image there basically gives all of the relevant information.

Specs: Windows 10, GitBash, mintty

The issue I was having: I couldn't get my own custom font into the realm of the terminal so that it could be perceived by the terminal and utilized.

I just kept saying: "Why! Why!? Why can't I get my own custom font into the inside of this terminal!?"

I tried various things, installing the font, deleting it, trying again: "If I can't get my own font into this terminal I'm going back to the linux box!"

Then I somehow struck gold...

Untitled1

I opened the GitBash terminal and then looked in the font selections: "Oh, that's weird, it says 'Untitled1'."

"At least I slipped something in there, right?"

Then I tried it, and noticed: "Yes! This is somehow my font!"

My custom font had somehow, some way, entered into the terminal's perceptive realm.

At the time, about eight months back, I had no idea how or why this worked. To this day, not even the foggiest shadow of a clue...

So, I now put it to the GitHub community at large:

Why did this work?

• Is it the actual font name that made it work: "Untitled1"?
• Is it that the font was having all of the correct stuff to pass the bar for GitBash to accept it, by virtue of the defaults of FontForge?

Is there anyone who can explain any other similar method of sneaking your own font into GitBash for use at the terminal without changing the registry?

I would also put to you that there might be some standard, well known way of doing this, or some criteria of which my feeble mind is unawares.

What's your take:

Hack?

Or not at all a Hack?

-dckimGUY

[alishanawer]

Not a hack, just how mintty (the terminal used by Git Bash) discovers fonts on Windows

Why did your custom font show up as Untitled1?

Mintty doesn’t read fonts from the Windows registry like some terminals do, instead it scans all installed fonts that:

• Are installed for “all users” (system-wide), not just your current user
• Contain a usable “Monospace” / fixed-width character set
• Expose the correct font metadata (name, style, encoding tables, etc.)

If you created the font in FontForge, saved it as Untitled1, and installed it system-wide, then:

It passes mintty’s font filter rules → so the name Untitled1 appears in the font dropdown

It has nothing to do with the name itself, Untitled1 just happened to be the internal font name stored in the font file when it was installed. Mintty simply listed it because it looked like a valid monospaced, bitmap or TrueType font that Windows can provide to applications.

What are the actual requirements for mintty / Git Bash fonts?

To be recognized by mintty, your font basically needs to:

• Be installed in C:\Windows\Fonts (not per-user only)
• Report as monospace or fixed-pitch
  (it checks the PANOSE and pitch metadata flags)
• Support a typical character set (Unicode, Latin-1, etc.)

If those metadata fields are missing or marked incorrectly, mintty silently hides the font, which is why some custom fonts “just don’t show up” unless crafted carefully.

So it's not a hack, you just accidentally met all the criteria mintty expects.

Want to do it intentionally?

Here’s how to reliably get a custom font working in Git Bash / mintty:

1. In FontForge:

   • Set a proper Font Name, Family Name, and Menu Name

   • In Element → Font Info → OS/2 → Metrics, set:

     • Proportion: Monospaced
     • Pitch: Fixed

2. Generate as .ttf

3. Install “for all users” (right-click → Install for all users)

4. Restart Git Bash → Options → Text → Font → your font should now be listed

[davidlee7118-design]

I don't think it's a hack. It sounds more like Mintty recognized the font because it met the required metadata and monospaced font requirements, while Schrift Generator tools are useful for previewing different Unicode font styles before choosing one. The Untitled1 name was probably just the internal font family name rather than the reason it appeared. I'd be interested to know if renaming the exact same font changes anything.