XRDB(1) X Version 11 XRDB(1)
Release 5
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:
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 of the default screen.
COLOR defined only if CLASS is one of StaticColor, PseudoColor,
TrueColor, or DirectColor.
HEIGHT=num
the height of the default screen in pixels.
SERVERHOST=hostname
the hostname portion of the display to which you are
connected.
HOST=hostname
the same as SERVERHOST.
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CLIENTHOST=hostname
the name of the host on which xrdb is running.
PLANES=num
the number of bit planes (the depth) of the root window of the
default screen.
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 specifying the vendor of the server.
WIDTH=num
the width of the default screen in pixels.
X_RESOLUTION=num
the x resolution of the default screen in pixels per meter.
Y_RESOLUTION=num
the y resolution of the default screen in pixels per meter.
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
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every screen of the display. For example, when used in
conjunction with -query, the contents of all properties are
output. For -load and -merge, the input file is processed
once for each screen. The resources which occur in common in
the output 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 and -merge, the input file is processed
for each screen.
-n This option indicates that changes to the specified properties
(when used with -load 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.
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-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.
-merge This option indicates that the input should be merged with,
instead of replacing, the current contents of the specified
properties. Note that this option does a lexicographic sorted
merge of the two inputs, which is almost certainly not what
you want, but remains for backward compatibility.
-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 of 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 #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.
FILES
Generalizes ~/.Xdefaults files.
SEE ALSO
X(1), Xlib Resource Manager documentation, Xt resource documentation
ENVIRONMENT
DISPLAY to figure out which display to use.
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Release 5
BUGS
The default for no arguments should be to query, not to overwrite, so
that it is consistent with other programs.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 1991, Digital Equipment Corporation and MIT.
AUTHORS
Bob Scheifler, Phil Karlton, rewritten from the original by Jim Gettys
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