[shrek]

I ran fc-cache but it didn't make a difference, still complaining about the missing font.
If i grep i find it:
fc-list | grep "Noto Sans:" gives
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/noto/NotoSans-Bold.ttf: Noto Sans:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/noto/NotoSans-Italic.ttf: Noto Sans:style=Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/noto/NotoSans-BoldItalic.ttf: Noto Sans:style=Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/noto/NotoSans-Regular.ttf: Noto Sans:style=Regular

So the Noto Sans:style=Italic is installed, but why does xosview complain?
xosview: display :0 cannot load font xft:Noto Sans:italic:size=10

Is it referenced wrong? I see Noto Sans:style=Italic, but xosview complains about Noto Sans:italic?

The interesting parts in the log seem to be the following:

Merging /home/username/.Xresources
In file included from /opt/DeskView/config/Universal.Xresources:2,
                from /home/username/.Xresources:2:
/opt/DeskView/config/applications/Applications.Xresources:42:55: warning: missing terminating ' character
  42 | Emwm*confirmRestart*messageString: Restarting EMWM won't close your programs. Continue?
      |                                                      ^
/opt/DeskView/config/applications/Applications.Xresources:60:21: warning: missing terminating ' character
  60 | !tells the WM we don't want to see the little coordinates box during window moves/resizes
      |                    ^
/opt/DeskView/config/applications/Applications.Xresources:114:20: warning: missing terminating ' character
  114 | ! Sticky colors don't need to change with the color scheme so they
      |                    ^
/home/username/.Xresources:25:20: warning: missing terminating ' character
  25 | !!! Inspired by SGI's default Indigo Magic colors.
      |                    ^
xrdb:  "xosview*swap" on line 302 overrides entry on line 291
xrdb:  "xosview*page" on line 303 overrides entry on line 292
xrdb:  "xosview*net" on line 305 overrides entry on line 293
xrdb:  "xosview*disk" on line 312 overrides entry on line 294
xrdb:  "xosview*diskIdleColor" on line 552 overrides entry on line 530
Starting the session manager
/home/username/.sessionetc: 39: xosview2: not found
Warning: Cannot convert string "*helvetica-medium-r-normal--14*" to type FontStruct
In file included from /opt/DeskView/config/Universal.Xresources:2,
                from /home/username/.Xresources:2:
/opt/DeskView/config/applications/Applications.Xresources:42:55: warning: missing terminating ' character
  42 | Emwm*confirmRestart*messageString: Restarting EMWM won't close your programs. Continue?
      |                                                      ^
/opt/DeskView/config/applications/Applications.Xresources:60:21: warning: missing terminating ' character
  60 | !tells the WM we don't want to see the little coordinates box during window moves/resizes
      |                    ^
/opt/DeskView/config/applications/Applications.Xresources:114:20: warning: missing terminating ' character
  114 | ! Sticky colors don't need to change with the color scheme so they
      |                    ^
/home/username/.Xresources:25:20: warning: missing terminating ' character
  25 | !!! Inspired by SGI's default Indigo Magic colors.
      |   

[Snip] (A lot of entries in the following form):
Warning:
    Name: _MOTIF_DEFAULT_LOCALE
    Class: XmRendition
    XmNfontType set to XmAS_IS.  Cannot load font.

Ignoring unknown option '-o'.
Ignoring unknown option 'load: True'.
xosview: display :1 cannot load font xft:Noto Sans:italic:size=10
Ignoring unknown option '-o'.
Ignoring unknown option 'cpu: False'.
Ignoring unknown option '-o'.
Ignoring unknown option 'mem: False'.
Ignoring unknown option '-o'.
Ignoring unknown option 'disk: True'.
xosview: display :1 cannot load font xft:Noto Sans:italic:size=10
Ignoring unknown option '-o'.
Ignoring unknown option 'load: True'.
xosview: display :1 cannot load font xft:Noto Sans:italic:size=10
urxvt: X connection to :1 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).^M
X connection to :1 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).^M
emwm: I/O error on display:: :1

X connection to ':1' broken, unable to recover, exiting.
X connection to :1 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).^M
X connection to :1 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).^M
[    0.16 ] error    3 BadWindow    request    2 minor    0 serial    652: "BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)"
[    0.16 ] error    3 BadWindow    request    2 minor    0 serial    747: "BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)"

I'm using this on linux mint and i'm going to try debian 11. So far the prerequisites were all available, except xpdf.

---

Did a fresh debian 11 install and still have the same error about missing xfg:Noto Sans:italic font
But at least the desktop env is now working when i login.

Ok, the -o flag on xosview not being recognized is odd. If you installed xosview from the package manager you should uninstall it and rebuild the new version. I bundled xosview2 which has nicer font support.

But the EMWM I/O error is new to me. Are you sure you followed the build instructions exactly?