- NAME
- xrdb - X server resource database utility
- SYNOPSIS
- xrdb [-option ...] [filename]
- DESCRIPTION
- Xrdb is used to get or set the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property on the
root window of screen 0, or the SCREEN_RESOURCES property on the root window of any or all
screens, or everything combined. You would normally run this program from your X startup
file.
Most X clients use the RESOURCE_MANAGER and SCREEN_RESOURCES properties to get user
preferences about color, fonts, and so on for applications. Having this information in the
server (where it is available to all clients) instead of on disk, solves the problem in
previous versions of X that required you to maintain defaults files on every
machine that you might use. It also allows for dynamic changing of defaults without
editing files.
The RESOURCE_MANAGER property is used for resources that apply to all screens of the
display. The SCREEN_RESOURCES property on each screen specifies additional (or overriding)
resources to be used for that screen. (When there is only one screen SCREEN_RESOURCES is
normally not used, all resources are just placed in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.)
The file specified by filename (or the contents from standard input if - or no
filename is given) is optionally passed through the C preprocessor with the following
symbols defined based on the capabilities of the server being used:
- SERVERHOST= hostname
- the hostname portion of the display to which you are connected.
- SRVR_ name
- the SERVERHOST hostname string turned into a legal identifier. For example "my
dpy.lcs.mit.edu" becomes SRVR_my_dpy_lcs_mit_edu.
-
- HOST= hostname
- the same as SERVERHOST
- .
- DISPLAY_NUM= num
- the number of the display on the server host.
-
- CLIENTHOST= hostname
- the name of the host on which xrdb is running.
-
- CLNT_name
- the CLIENTHOST hostname string turned into a legal identifier. For example
"expo.lcs.mit.edu" becomes CLNT_expo_lcs_mit_edu.
- RELEASE= num
- the vendor release number for the server. The interpretation of this number will vary
depending on VENDOR.
-
- REVISION= num
- the X protocol minor version supported by this server (currently 0).
-
- VERSION= num
- the X protocol major version supported by this server (should always be 11).
-
- VENDOR= vendor""
- a string literal specifying the vendor of the server.
-
- VNDR_name
- the VENDOR name string turned into a legal identifier. For example "MIT X
Consortium" becomes VNDR_MIT_X_Consortium.
- EXT_name
- A symbol is defined for each protocol extension supported by the server. Each extension
string name is turned into a legal identifier. For example,"X3D-PEX" becomes
EXT_X3D_PEX .
-
- NUM_SCREENS= num
- the total number of screens.
-
- SCREEN_NUM= num
- the number of the current screen (from zero).
-
- BITS_PER_RGB= num
- the number of significant bits in an RGB color specification. This is the log base 2 of
the number of distinct shades of each primary that the hardware can generate. Note that it
usually is not related to PLANES.
-
- CLASS= visualclass
- one of StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor, PseudoColor, TrueColor, DirectColor. This is
the visual class of the root window.
- CLASS_visualclass= visualid
- the visual class of the root window in a form you can # ifdef on. The value is
the numeric id of the visual.
- COLOR
- defined only if CLASS is one of StaticColor PseudoColor TrueColor or DirectColor.
-
- CLASS_visualelass_depth= num
- A symbol is defined for each visual supported for the screen. The symbol includes the
class of the visual and its depth; the value is the numeric id of the visual. (If more
than one visual has the same class and depth the numeric id of the first one reported by
the server is used.)
-
- HEIGHT= num
- the height of the root window in pixels.
-
- WIDTH= num
- the width of the root window in pixels.
-
- PLANES= num
- the number of bit planes (the depth) of the root window.
-
- X_RESOLUTION= num
- the x resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.
-
- Y_RESOLUTION= num
- the y resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.
-
- SRVR_name CLNT_name VNDR_name and EXT_name identifiers are
formed by changing all characters other than letters and digits into underscores (_).
Lines that begin with an exclamation mark (!) are ignored and may be used as comments.
Note that since xrdb can read from standard input, it can be used to the change the
contents of properties directly from a terminal or from a shell script.
- OPTIONS
- xrdb program accepts the following options:
- - help
- This option (or any unsupported option) will cause a brief description of the allowable
options and parameters to be printed.
- - display display
- This option specifies the X server to be used; see X(1). It also specifies the
screen to use for the -screen option, and it specifies the screen from which
preprocessor symbols are derived for the -global option.
- - all
- This option indicates that operation should be performed on the screen-independent
resource property (RESOURCE_MANAGER) as well as the screen-specific property
(SCREEN_RESOURCES) on every screen of the display. For example when used in conjunction
with -query the contents of all properties are output. For -load, -override and
-merge the input file is processed once for each screen. The resources which occur
in common in the out put for every screen are collected and these are applied as the
screen-independent resources.
The remaining resources are applied for each individual per-screen property. This the
default mode of operation.
- - global
- This option indicates that the operation should only be performed on the
screen-independent RESOURCE_MANAGER property.
- - screen
- This option indicates that the operation should only be performed on the
SCREEN_RESOURCES property of the default screen of the display.
- - screens
- This option indicates that the operation should be performed on the SCREEN_RESOURCES
property of each screen of the display. For -load, -override and -merge, the
input file is processed for each screen.
- - n
- This option indicates that changes to the specified properties (when used with -load,
-override or -merge) or to the resource file (when used with -edit) should
be shown on the standard output but should not be performed.
- - quiet
- This option indicates that warning about duplicate entries should not be displayed.
- -cpp filename
- This option specifies the pathname of the C preprocessor program to be used. Although xrdb
was designed to use CPP, any program that acts as a filter and accepts the -D, -I, and
-U options may be used.
- -nocpp
- This option indicates that xrdb should not run the input file through a
preprocessor before loading it into properties.
- - symbols
- This option indicates that the symbols that are defined for the preprocessor should be
printed onto the standard output.
- - query
- This option indicates that the current contents of the specified properties should be
printed onto the standard output. Note that since preprocessor commands in the input
resource file are part of the input file, not part of the property, they won't appear in
the output from this option. The - edit option can be used to merge the contents of
properties back into the input resource file without damaging preprocessor commands.
- - load
- This option indicates that the input should be loaded as the new value of the specified
properties replacing whatever was there (i.e. the old contents are removed). This is the
default action.
- - override
- This option indicates that the input should be added to instead of replacing the current
contents of the specified properties. New entries override previous entries.
- - merge
- This option indicates that the input should be merged and lexicographically sorted with
instead of replacing the current contents of the specified properties.
- - remove
- This option indicates that the specified properties should be removed from the server.
- - retain
- This option indicates that the server should be instructed not to reset if xrdb is the
first client. This never be necessary under normal conditions since xdm and xinit
always act as the first client.
- - edit filename
- This option indicates that the contents oŁ the specified properties should be edited
into the given file, replacing any values already listed there. This allows you to put
changes that you have made to your defaults back into your resource file, preserving any
comments or preprocessor lines.
- - backup string
- This option specifies a suffix to be appended to the filename used with - edit to
generate a backup file.
- -Dname[= value]
- This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to define symbols for use
with conditionals such as
- - Uname
- This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to remove any definitions
of this symbol.
- - Idirectory
- This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to specify a directory to
search for files that are referenced with # include.
- FlLES
- Generalizes ~/.Xdefaults files.
- SEE ALSO
- X(1), Xlib Resource Manager documentation, Xt resource documentation
- ENVIRONMENT
-
DISPLAY
to figure out which display to use.
- BUGS
-
The default for no arguments should be to query, not to overwrite, so that it is
consistent with other programs.
- AUTHORS
-
Bob Scheifler, Phil Karlton, rewritten from the original by Jim Gettys