discover new fonts when installed automatically, removing a common source of configuration problems.
perform font name substitution, so that appropriate alternative fonts can be selected if fonts are missing.
identify the set of fonts required to completely cover a set of languages.
have GUI configuration tools built as it uses an XML-based configuration file (though with autodiscovery, we believe this need is minimized).
efficiently and quickly find the fonts you need among the set of fonts you have installed, even if you have installed thousands of fonts, while minimizing memory usage.
be used in concert with the X Render Extension and FreeType to implement high quality, anti-aliased and subpixel rendered text on a display.
Fontconfig does not:
render the fonts themselves (this is left to FreeType or other rendering mechanisms)
depend on the X Window System in any fashion, so that printer only applications do not have such dependencies
