====== X_Server_Upgrading_Issues ======

Upgrading from sarge to etch went fine. Vncserver is used for the X display as there is no monitor plugged into the server. X and vncserver remained fine after the install and worked ok.

For some X applications, Firefox, or Iceweasel as it was renamed in Debian, Font errors appeared. They were similar to:
====== Error ======
 Error: Cairo does not yet support the requested image format:
 	Depth: 8
 	Alpha mask: 0x00000000
 	Red   mask: 0x00000007
 	Green mask: 0x00000038
 	Blue  mask: 0x000000c0
 Please file an enhacement request (quoting the above) at:
 http://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=cairo
 xfce4-tips: /home/dajobe/dev/debian/cairo/cairo-1.2.4/src/cairo-image-surface.c:155: _cairo_format_from_pixman_format:  Assertion `NOT_REACHED' failed.

After some googling I found that it was to do with the Display Depth (8bit) used by vncserver. The latest version of cairo does not support 8bit images. 16bit colour is required. 

====== Solution ======
 vncserver -geometry="1024x768" -depth="16"

Info found at: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=488860