sf-linux-installer

Install SF Pro, SF Mono, SF Compact, and New York fonts on Linux desktops with a single script.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/roymejia2217/sf-linux-installer.git
cd sf-linux-installer
./install.sh

Features

• 147 fonts across 4 families: SF Pro (47), SF Compact (38), New York (50), SF Mono (12)
• User and system-wide installation modes
• Automatic font family discovery from the fonts/ directory with no hardcoded lists
• Idempotent execution. Re-running the script skips already-installed files
• Desktop environment detection and font configuration for GNOME, Cinnamon, XFCE, MATE, and KDE Plasma
• Preserves the user current system font size when applying desktop settings
• Uninstall mode removes fonts and fontconfig entries cleanly
• Dry-run mode previews all changes without modifying the system
• Automatic privilege escalation via sudo, doas, or su for system installation
• No external dependencies beyond coreutils, fontconfig, and the desktop environment own tools
• No network access required. All fonts ship locally in the repository

Prerequisites

Requirement	Purpose
Bash 4.0+	Script runtime
fontconfig (fc-cache)	Font cache management
sudo, doas, or su	System-wide installation (--system)
xfconf-query	XFCE font configuration
gsettings	GNOME, Cinnamon, MATE font configuration
killall or pkill	Desktop environment refresh

All listed tools are pre-installed on standard Linux desktop distributions. The script detects which tools are available and adapts accordingly.

Installation

User Installation (default)

Installs fonts to ~/.local/share/fonts/apple and writes fontconfig to ~/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf. Does not require elevated privileges.

./install.sh

System-Wide Installation

Installs fonts to /usr/local/share/fonts/apple and writes fontconfig to /etc/fonts/conf.d/99-apple-fonts.conf. Requires root access.

./install.sh --system

Usage

Usage: ./install.sh [OPTIONS]

Install Apple fonts (SF Pro, SF Mono, SF Compact, NY) on Linux.

Options:
  --system      Install system-wide (/usr/local/share/fonts/apple)
  --uninstall   Remove installed fonts and fontconfig
  --dry-run     Show what would be done without making changes
  -h, --help    Show this help message and exit

Examples:
  ./install.sh              # Install for current user
  ./install.sh --system     # Install for all users (requires root)
  ./install.sh --dry-run    # Preview changes
  ./install.sh --uninstall  # Remove fonts

Uninstall

./install.sh --uninstall

Removes the font directory and fontconfig entries, then refreshes the font cache.

Dry Run

./install.sh --dry-run

Displays the number of fonts that would be installed and the target paths without copying any files.

Project Structure

sf-linux-installer/
├── install.sh
└── fonts/
    ├── NY/Library/Fonts/          (50 fonts - .otf, .ttf)
    ├── SF-Compact/Library/Fonts/  (38 fonts - .otf, .ttf)
    ├── SF-Mono/Library/Fonts/     (12 fonts - .otf)
    └── SF-Pro/Library/Fonts/      (47 fonts - .otf, .ttf)

Path	Description
install.sh	Main installer script
fonts/<family>/Library/Fonts/	Source font files for each family

The script auto-discovers font families by scanning top-level directories under fonts/. Adding a new family requires only placing a directory with .ttf or .otf files under fonts/.

Screenshots

Screenshot	Description
install.webp	Installation process output — font families discovered, files copied, fontconfig written, and font cache refreshed.
result.webp	Post-installation result — all 4 font families (SF Pro, SF Compact, SF Mono, New York) available in the system font picker.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Apple, SF Pro, SF Mono, SF Compact, and New York are trademarks of Apple Inc. This project distributes fonts for personal use only and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc.