XRDB(1X11) COMMAND REFERENCE XRDB(1X11) NAME xrdb - X server resource database utility SYNOPSIS xrdb [-option ...] [filename] This is a supported client. DESCRIPTION The xrdb utility is used to get or set the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property on the root window of screen 0. You would normally run this program from your X startup file. The resource manager (used by the Xlib routine XGetDefault(3x11) and the X Toolkit) uses the RESOURCE_MANAGER property 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 that occurred in previous versions of X that required you to maintain default files on every machine that you might use. This version also allows for dynamic changing of defaults without editing files. When the X system is started via the Tektronix startup programs and scripts, the resources are set from the files /usr/lib/X/config/*/Xresources and $HOME/.Xresources. For compatibility, if there is no RESOURCE_MANAGER property defined (either because xrdb was not run or if the property was removed), the resource manager will look for a file called .Xdefaults in your home directory. The filename (or the standard input if no input file is given) is optionally passed through the C preprocessor with the following symbols defined, based on the capabilities of the server being used: HOST=hostname The hostname portion of the display to which you are connected. WIDTH=num The width of the screen in pixels. HEIGHT=num The height of the screen in pixels. XRESOLUTION=num The x resolution of the screen in pixels per meter. YRESOLUTION=num The y resolution of the screen in pixels per meter. Printed 3/22/89 1
XRDB(1X11) COMMAND REFERENCE XRDB(1X11) PLANES=num The number of bit planes for the default visual. BITSPERRGB=num The number of significant bits in an RGB (red, green, blue) 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 is not related to the number of planes, which is the log base 2 of the size of the colormap. CLASS=visualclass One of StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor, PseudoColor, TrueColor, DirectColor. COLOR Only defined if the default visual's type is one of the color options. Lines that begin with an exclamation mark (!) are ignored and may be used as comments. OPTIONS The xrdb program accepts the following options: -help This option (or any unsupported option) prints a brief description of the allowable options and parameters. -display display This option specifies the X server to be used; see X(1x11). -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 the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. -symbols This option indicates that the symbols defined for the preprocessor should be printed onto the standard output. It can be used in conjunction with -query, but not with the options that change the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. Printed 3/22/89 2
XRDB(1X11) COMMAND REFERENCE XRDB(1X11) -query This option indicates that the current contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property 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 the property 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 RESOURCE_MANAGER property, replacing whatever is there (i.e. the old contents are removed). This is the default action. -nosort This option, given in conjunction with -load, indicates that the entries should not be lexicographically sorted by resource specifier before loading on the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. Default is to sort (without removing duplicates). -append This option indicates that the input should be appended to, instead of replacing, the current contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. Since xrdb can read the standard input, this option can be used to change the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property directly from a terminal or from a shell script. -merge Same as -append , except that the input is merged with the current contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. If the property contains an entry whose resource specifier matches an entry in the input, the entry in the property is deleted. The results are lexicographically sorted by the resource specifier. -remove This option indicates that the RESOURCE_MANAGER property should be removed from its window. -edit filename This option indicates that the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property should Printed 3/22/89 3
XRDB(1X11) COMMAND REFERENCE XRDB(1X11) 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 #ifdef. -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. Only one of -load, -merge, -append, -remove, or -edit is meaningful in an xrdb invocation. If -symbols or -query is given, these options are ignored and the RESOURCE_MANAGER property is unchanged. ENVIRONMENT DISPLAY To figure out which display to use. CAVEATS The default for no arguments should be to query, not to overwrite, so that it is consistent with other programs. FILES Generalizes ~/.Xdefaults files. SEE ALSO X(1x11), XGetDefault(3x11), and see Xlib Resource Manager documentation. AUTHORS Phil Karlton, rewritten from the original by Jim Gettys. Printed 3/22/89 4
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