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1 | RXVT-UNICODE/URXVT FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |
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2 | Meta, Features & Commandline Issues |
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3 | My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human? |
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4 | Before sending me mail, you could go to IRC: "irc.freenode.net", channel |
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5 | "#rxvt-unicode" has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be |
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6 | interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :). |
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7 | |
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8 | I use Gentoo, and I have a problem... |
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9 | There are two big problems with Gentoo Linux: first, most if not all |
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10 | Gentoo systems are completely broken (missing or mismatched header |
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11 | files, broken compiler etc. are just the tip of the iceberg); secondly, |
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12 | it should be called Gentoo GNU/Linux. |
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13 | |
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14 | For these reasons, it is impossible to support rxvt-unicode on Gentoo. |
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15 | Problems appearing on Gentoo systems will usually simply be ignored |
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16 | unless they can be reproduced on non-Gentoo systems. |
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17 | |
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18 | Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode? |
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19 | Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a |
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20 | simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these |
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21 | should give you tabs: |
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22 | |
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23 | urxvt -pe tabbed |
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24 | |
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25 | URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed |
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26 | |
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27 | It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window |
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28 | managers or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow |
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29 | it to be embedded into other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed |
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30 | or the upcoming "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt |
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31 | (murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application. |
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32 | |
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33 | How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? |
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34 | The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape |
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35 | sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. When |
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36 | using the urxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the daemon. |
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37 | |
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38 | Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that? |
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39 | Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something |
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40 | you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings |
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41 | that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by |
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42 | design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be |
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43 | loaded accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your |
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44 | characters. |
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45 | |
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46 | Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger |
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47 | scrollback buffers: Without "--enable-unicode3", rxvt-unicode will use 6 |
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48 | bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a |
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49 | kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if |
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50 | full) use 10 Megabytes of memory. With "--enable-unicode3" it gets |
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51 | worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell. |
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52 | |
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53 | How can I start urxvtd in a race-free way? |
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54 | Try "urxvtd -f -o", which tells urxvtd to open the display, create the |
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55 | listening socket and then fork. |
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56 | |
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57 | How can I start urxvtd automatically when I run urxvtc? |
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58 | If you want to start urxvtd automatically whenever you run urxvtc and |
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59 | the daemon isn't running yet, use this script: |
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60 | |
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61 | #!/bin/sh |
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62 | urxvtc "$@" |
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63 | if [ $? -eq 2 ]; then |
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64 | urxvtd -q -o -f |
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65 | urxvtc "$@" |
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66 | fi |
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67 | |
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68 | This tries to create a new terminal, and if fails with exit status 2, |
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69 | meaning it couldn't connect to the daemon, it will start the daemon and |
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70 | re-run the command. Subsequent invocations of the script will re-use the |
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71 | existing daemon. |
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72 | |
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73 | How do I distinguish whether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular |
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74 | xterm? I need this to decide about setting colours etc. |
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75 | The original rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable |
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76 | "COLORTERM", so you can check and see if that is set. Note that several |
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77 | programs, JED, slrn, Midnight Commander automatically check this |
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78 | variable to decide whether or not to use colour. |
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79 | |
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80 | How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable? |
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81 | If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with DISPLAY_IS_IP and have enabled |
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82 | insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script |
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83 | snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode |
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84 | wasn't also compiled with ESCZ_ANSWER (as assumed in these snippets) |
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85 | then the COLORTERM variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from |
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86 | a regular xterm. |
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87 | |
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88 | Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script |
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89 | snippets: |
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90 | |
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91 | # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells: |
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92 | [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know |
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93 | if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then |
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94 | stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not |
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95 | printf "\eZ" |
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96 | read term_id |
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97 | stty icanon echo |
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98 | if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then |
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99 | printf '\e[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string |
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100 | read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell |
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101 | fi |
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102 | fi |
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103 | |
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104 | How do I compile the manual pages on my own? |
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105 | You need to have a recent version of perl installed as /usr/bin/perl, |
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106 | one that comes with pod2man, pod2text and pod2xhtml (from Pod::Xhtml). |
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107 | Then go to the doc subdirectory and enter "make alldoc". |
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108 | |
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109 | Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat? |
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110 | I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra |
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111 | bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see |
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112 | that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always |
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113 | being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after |
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114 | startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is a bit |
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115 | unfair, as many features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding conversion, |
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116 | iso14755 etc.) are already in use in this mode. |
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117 | |
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118 | text data bss drs rss filename |
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119 | 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything |
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120 | 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything |
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121 | |
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122 | When you "--enable-everything" (which *is* unfair, as this involves xft |
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123 | and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my |
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124 | libc), the two diverge, but not unreasonably so. |
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125 | |
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126 | text data bss drs rss filename |
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127 | 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything |
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128 | 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything |
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129 | |
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130 | The very large size of the text section is explained by the east-asian |
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131 | encoding tables, which, if unused, take up disk space but nothing else |
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132 | and can be compiled out unless you rely on X11 core fonts that use those |
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133 | encodings. The BSS size comes from the 64k emergency buffer that my c++ |
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134 | compiler allocates (but of course doesn't use unless you are out of |
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135 | memory). Also, using an xft font instead of a core font immediately adds |
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136 | a few megabytes of RSS. Xft indeed is responsible for a lot of RSS even |
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137 | when not used. |
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138 | |
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139 | Of course, due to every character using two or four bytes instead of |
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140 | one, a large scrollback buffer will ultimately make rxvt-unicode use |
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141 | more memory. |
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142 | |
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143 | Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k), this |
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144 | still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like |
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145 | gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole |
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146 | (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half |
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147 | a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits |
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148 | out), it fares extremely well *g*. |
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149 | |
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150 | Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool? |
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151 | Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I |
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152 | had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a |
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153 | fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put |
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154 | even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++. |
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155 | |
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156 | My personal stance on this is that C++ is less portable than C, but in |
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157 | the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability limits |
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158 | are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale support and |
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159 | unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than C++ itself. |
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160 | |
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161 | Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write programs |
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162 | in C that use gobs of memory, and certainly possible to write programs |
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163 | in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large libraries, but this |
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164 | is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is what rxvt links against on |
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165 | my system with a minimal config: |
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166 | |
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167 | libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000) |
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168 | libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000) |
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169 | libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000) |
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170 | /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000) |
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171 | |
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172 | And here is rxvt-unicode: |
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173 | |
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174 | libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000) |
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175 | libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000) |
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176 | libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000) |
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177 | libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000) |
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178 | /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000) |
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179 | |
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180 | No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically), |
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181 | except maybe libX11 :) |
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182 | |
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183 | Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues |
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184 | I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong? |
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185 | First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt-unicode, |
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186 | so you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you |
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187 | may bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a |
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188 | rite of passage: ... and you failed. |
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189 | |
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190 | Here are four ways to get transparency. Do read the manpage and option |
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191 | descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt-unicode. Really, do it! |
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192 | |
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193 | 1. Use transparent mode: |
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194 | |
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195 | Esetroot wallpaper.jpg |
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196 | urxvt -tr -tint red -sh 40 |
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197 | |
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198 | That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting |
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199 | support, or you are unable to read. This method requires that the |
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200 | background-setting program sets the _XROOTPMAP_ID or ESETROOT_PMAP_ID |
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201 | property. Compatible programs are Esetroot, hsetroot and feh. |
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202 | |
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203 | 2. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo-transparency. This enables you |
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204 | to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever |
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205 | your picture with gimp or any other tool: |
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206 | |
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207 | convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.jpg |
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208 | urxvt -pixmap "background.jpg;:root" |
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209 | |
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210 | That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack GDK-PixBuf support, or you |
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211 | are unable to read. |
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212 | |
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213 | 3. Use an ARGB visual: |
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214 | |
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215 | urxvt -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc |
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216 | |
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217 | This requires XFT support, and the support of your X-server. If that |
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218 | doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. ARGB visuals aren't |
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219 | there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the |
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220 | necessary bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but |
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221 | that doesn't mean that your WM has the required kludges in place. |
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222 | |
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223 | 4. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job: |
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224 | |
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225 | xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \ |
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226 | -set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000 |
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227 | |
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228 | Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace 0xc0000000 |
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229 | by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and |
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230 | your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces. |
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231 | |
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232 | Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings? |
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233 | Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that |
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234 | character size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal |
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235 | use might contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode |
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236 | will avoid these characters. For characters that are just "a bit" too |
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237 | wide a special "careful" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent |
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238 | characters. |
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239 | |
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240 | All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes, |
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241 | however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed |
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242 | bounding box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct |
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243 | way is to ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is |
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244 | wrong in these cases). |
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245 | |
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246 | It's not clear (to me at least), whether this is a bug in Xft, freetype, |
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247 | or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try |
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248 | using the "-lsp" option to give the font more height. If that doesn't |
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249 | work, you might be forced to use a different font. |
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250 | |
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251 | All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their |
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252 | bounding box data is correct. |
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253 | |
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254 | How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much? |
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255 | First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings |
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256 | ("TERM=rxvt-unicode"), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then |
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257 | make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise |
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258 | rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect: |
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259 | |
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260 | URxvt.colorBD: white |
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261 | URxvt.colorIT: green |
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262 | |
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263 | Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that? |
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264 | For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird |
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265 | colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the |
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266 | standard 8 colours (rxvt-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of |
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267 | course, to fix these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very |
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268 | good reasons. |
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269 | |
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270 | In the meantime, you can either edit your "rxvt-unicode" terminfo |
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271 | definition to only claim 8 colour support or use "TERM=rxvt", which will |
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272 | fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features. |
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273 | |
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274 | Can I switch the fonts at runtime? |
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275 | Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the |
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276 | same effect as using the "-fn" switch, and takes effect immediately: |
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277 | |
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278 | printf '\33]50;%s\007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic" |
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279 | |
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280 | This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a |
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281 | japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where |
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282 | japanese fonts would only be in your way. |
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283 | |
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284 | You can think of this as a kind of manual ISO-2022 switching. |
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285 | |
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286 | Why do italic characters look as if clipped? |
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287 | Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For |
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288 | example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font "xft:Bitstream Vera Sans |
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289 | Mono" completely fails in its italic face. A workaround might be to |
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290 | enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this: |
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291 | |
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292 | URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true |
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293 | URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true |
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294 | |
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295 | Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow? |
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296 | Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as it |
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297 | is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable |
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298 | antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves lots of |
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299 | memory and also speeds up rendering considerably. |
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300 | |
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301 | Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong? |
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302 | Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to |
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303 | fall back to its default font search list it will prefer X11 core fonts, |
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304 | because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has |
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305 | antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they |
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306 | look best that way. |
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307 | |
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308 | If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually. |
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309 | |
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310 | What's with this bold/blink stuff? |
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311 | If no bold colour is set via "colorBD:", bold will invert text using the |
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312 | standard foreground colour. |
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313 | |
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314 | For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the text |
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315 | blink when compiled with "--enable-text-blink". Without |
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316 | "--enable-text-blink", the blink attribute will be ignored. |
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317 | |
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318 | On ANSI colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity |
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319 | foreground/background colours. |
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320 | |
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321 | color0-7 are the low-intensity colours. |
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322 | |
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323 | color8-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colours. |
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324 | |
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325 | I don't like the screen colours. How do I change them? |
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326 | You can change the screen colours at run-time using ~/.Xdefaults |
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327 | resources (or as long-options). |
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328 | |
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329 | Here are values that are supposed to resemble a VGA screen, including |
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330 | the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow: |
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331 | |
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332 | URxvt.color0: #000000 |
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333 | URxvt.color1: #A80000 |
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334 | URxvt.color2: #00A800 |
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335 | URxvt.color3: #A8A800 |
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336 | URxvt.color4: #0000A8 |
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337 | URxvt.color5: #A800A8 |
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338 | URxvt.color6: #00A8A8 |
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339 | URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8 |
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340 | |
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341 | URxvt.color8: #000054 |
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342 | URxvt.color9: #FF0054 |
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343 | URxvt.color10: #00FF54 |
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344 | URxvt.color11: #FFFF54 |
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345 | URxvt.color12: #0000FF |
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346 | URxvt.color13: #FF00FF |
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347 | URxvt.color14: #00FFFF |
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348 | URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF |
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349 | |
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350 | And here is a more complete set of non-standard colours. |
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351 | |
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352 | URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1 |
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353 | URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1 |
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354 | URxvt.background: #0e0e0e |
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355 | URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1 |
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356 | URxvt.color0: #000000 |
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357 | URxvt.color8: #8b8f93 |
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358 | URxvt.color1: #dc74d1 |
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359 | URxvt.color9: #dc74d1 |
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360 | URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7 |
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361 | URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7 |
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362 | URxvt.color3: #dfe37e |
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363 | URxvt.color11: #dfe37e |
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364 | URxvt.color5: #9e88f0 |
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365 | URxvt.color13: #9e88f0 |
|
|
366 | URxvt.color6: #73f7ff |
|
|
367 | URxvt.color14: #73f7ff |
|
|
368 | URxvt.color7: #e1dddd |
|
|
369 | URxvt.color15: #e1dddd |
|
|
370 | |
|
|
371 | They have been described (not by me) as "pretty girly". |
|
|
372 | |
|
|
373 | Why do some characters look so much different than others? |
|
|
374 | See next entry. |
|
|
375 | |
|
|
376 | How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts? |
|
|
377 | Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is fine. |
|
|
378 | Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of your |
|
|
379 | system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want to |
|
|
380 | display. |
|
|
381 | |
|
|
382 | rxvt-unicode makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement font. |
|
|
383 | Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks |
|
|
384 | bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't |
|
|
385 | resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial |
|
|
386 | intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe |
|
|
387 | the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct. |
|
|
388 | |
|
|
389 | In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list, |
|
|
390 | e.g.: |
|
|
391 | |
|
|
392 | urxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3... |
|
|
393 | |
|
|
394 | When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base font. |
|
|
395 | If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the next |
|
|
396 | font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this |
|
|
397 | search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X-server. |
|
|
398 | |
|
|
399 | The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the |
|
|
400 | base font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, |
|
|
401 | which must be the same due to the way terminals work. |
|
|
402 | |
|
|
403 | Why do some chinese characters look so different than others? |
|
|
404 | This is because there is a difference between script and language -- |
|
|
405 | rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is, as |
|
|
406 | it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first sees a |
|
|
407 | japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for display. |
|
|
408 | Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many chinese |
|
|
409 | characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first |
|
|
410 | non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese |
|
|
411 | font -- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font |
|
|
412 | for chinese characters that are also in the japanese font. |
|
|
413 | |
|
|
414 | The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font |
|
|
415 | list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as a |
|
|
416 | preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font |
|
|
417 | first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first. |
|
|
418 | |
|
|
419 | In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at |
|
|
420 | runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different |
|
|
421 | fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this |
|
|
422 | has been designed yet). |
|
|
423 | |
|
|
424 | Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see "Can |
|
|
425 | I switch the fonts at runtime?" later in this document). |
|
|
426 | |
|
|
427 | How can I make mplayer display video correctly? |
|
|
428 | We are working on it, in the meantime, as a workaround, use something |
|
|
429 | like: |
|
|
430 | |
|
|
431 | urxvt -b 600 -geometry 20x1 -e sh -c 'mplayer -wid $WINDOWID file...' |
|
|
432 | |
|
|
433 | Why is the cursor now blinking in emacs/vi/...? |
|
|
434 | This is likely caused by your editor/program's use of the "cvvis" |
|
|
435 | terminfo capability. Emacs uses it by default, as well as some versions |
|
|
436 | of vi and possibly other programs. |
|
|
437 | |
|
|
438 | In emacs, you can switch that off by adding this to your ".emacs" file: |
|
|
439 | |
|
|
440 | (setq visible-cursor nil) |
|
|
441 | |
|
|
442 | For other programs, if they do not have an option, your have to remove |
|
|
443 | the "cvvis" capability from the terminfo description. |
|
|
444 | |
|
|
445 | When urxvt first added the blinking cursor option, it didn't add a |
|
|
446 | "cvvis" capability, which served no purpose before. Version 9.21 |
|
|
447 | introduced "cvvis" (and the ability to control blinking independent of |
|
|
448 | cursor shape) for compatibility with other terminals, which |
|
|
449 | traditionally use a blinking cursor for "cvvis". This also reflects the |
|
|
450 | intent of programs such as emacs, who expect "cvvis" to enable a |
|
|
451 | blinking cursor. |
|
|
452 | |
|
|
453 | Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction |
|
|
454 | The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words? |
|
|
455 | If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following |
|
|
456 | setting: |
|
|
457 | |
|
|
458 | URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+) |
|
|
459 | |
|
|
460 | If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended more and |
|
|
461 | more. |
|
|
462 | |
|
|
463 | To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this |
|
|
464 | pattern: |
|
|
465 | |
|
|
466 | URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\\\\]^`{|})]+) |
|
|
467 | |
|
|
468 | Please also note that the *LeftClick Shift-LeftClick* combination also |
|
|
469 | selects words like the old code. |
|
|
470 | |
|
|
471 | I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it? |
|
|
472 | You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the |
|
|
473 | perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps |
|
|
474 | rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory. |
|
|
475 | |
|
|
476 | If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to |
|
|
477 | identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section |
|
|
478 | PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the urxvtperl(3) manpage. For example, to |
|
|
479 | disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify this |
|
|
480 | perl-ext-common resource: |
|
|
481 | |
|
|
482 | URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup |
|
|
483 | |
|
|
484 | This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup |
|
|
485 | extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example, |
|
|
486 | scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any other |
|
|
487 | combination either by setting the searchable-scrollback resource: |
|
|
488 | |
|
|
489 | URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s |
|
|
490 | |
|
|
491 | The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off? |
|
|
492 | See next entry. |
|
|
493 | |
|
|
494 | During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this? |
|
|
495 | These are caused by the "readline" perl extension. Under normal |
|
|
496 | circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the |
|
|
497 | line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment, |
|
|
498 | but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in |
|
|
499 | some cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly. |
|
|
500 | |
|
|
501 | You can permanently switch this feature off by disabling the "readline" |
|
|
502 | extension: |
|
|
503 | |
|
|
504 | URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline |
|
|
505 | |
|
|
506 | My numeric keypad acts weird and generates differing output? |
|
|
507 | Some Debian GNU/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no |
|
|
508 | specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is |
|
|
509 | caused by the wrong "TERM" setting, although the details of whether and |
|
|
510 | how this can happen are unknown, as "TERM=rxvt" should offer a |
|
|
511 | compatible keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please |
|
|
512 | report if that helped. |
|
|
513 | |
|
|
514 | My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working. |
|
|
515 | The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set |
|
|
516 | correctly, or you specified a preeditType that is not supported by your |
|
|
517 | input method. For example, if you specified OverTheSpot and your input |
|
|
518 | method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys) does not |
|
|
519 | support this (for instance because it is not visual), then rxvt-unicode |
|
|
520 | will continue without an input method. |
|
|
521 | |
|
|
522 | In this case either do not specify a preeditType or specify more than |
|
|
523 | one pre-edit style, such as OverTheSpot,Root,None. |
|
|
524 | |
|
|
525 | If it still doesn't work, then maybe your input method doesn't support |
|
|
526 | compose sequences - to fall back to the built-in one, make sure you |
|
|
527 | don't specify an input method via "-im" or "XMODIFIERS". |
|
|
528 | |
|
|
529 | I cannot type "Ctrl-Shift-2" to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755 |
|
|
530 | Either try "Ctrl-2" alone (it often is mapped to ASCII NUL even on |
|
|
531 | international keyboards) or simply use ISO 14755 support to your |
|
|
532 | advantage, typing <Ctrl-Shift-0> to get a ASCII NUL. This works for |
|
|
533 | other codes, too, such as "Ctrl-Shift-1-d" to type the default telnet |
|
|
534 | escape character and so on. |
|
|
535 | |
|
|
536 | Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works. |
|
|
537 | Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing some |
|
|
538 | editors prematurely may leave it active. I've heard that tcsh may use |
|
|
539 | mouse reporting unless it is otherwise specified. A quick check is to |
|
|
540 | see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are pressed. |
|
|
541 | |
|
|
542 | What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour? |
|
|
543 | Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the Backspace |
|
|
544 | keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following question) there are |
|
|
545 | two standard values that can be used for Backspace: "^H" and "^?". |
|
|
546 | |
|
|
547 | Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the |
|
|
548 | debian policy of using "^?" when unsure, because it's the one and only |
|
|
549 | correct choice :). |
|
|
550 | |
|
|
551 | It is possible to toggle between "^H" and "^?" with the DECBKM private |
|
|
552 | mode: |
|
|
553 | |
|
|
554 | # use Backspace = ^H |
|
|
555 | $ stty erase ^H |
|
|
556 | $ printf "\e[?67h" |
|
|
557 | |
|
|
558 | # use Backspace = ^? |
|
|
559 | $ stty erase ^? |
|
|
560 | $ printf "\e[?67l" |
|
|
561 | |
|
|
562 | This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but |
|
|
563 | if you use Backspace = "^H", make sure that the termcap/terminfo value |
|
|
564 | properly reflects that. |
|
|
565 | |
|
|
566 | The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace |
|
|
567 | problem. To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys, the |
|
|
568 | Delete key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the vt100 for |
|
|
569 | Execute ("ESC [ 3 ~") and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo. |
|
|
570 | |
|
|
571 | Some other Backspace problems: |
|
|
572 | |
|
|
573 | some editors use termcap/terminfo, some editors (vim I'm told) expect |
|
|
574 | Backspace = ^H, GNU Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help. |
|
|
575 | |
|
|
576 | Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner. |
|
|
577 | |
|
|
578 | I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them? |
|
|
579 | There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless |
|
|
580 | you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources" option you can |
|
|
581 | use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with |
|
|
582 | keysyms. |
|
|
583 | |
|
|
584 | Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "urxvt -name URxvt" |
|
|
585 | |
|
|
586 | URxvt.keysym.Prior: \033[5~ |
|
|
587 | URxvt.keysym.Next: \033[6~ |
|
|
588 | URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[7~ |
|
|
589 | URxvt.keysym.End: \033[8~ |
|
|
590 | URxvt.keysym.Up: \033[A |
|
|
591 | URxvt.keysym.Down: \033[B |
|
|
592 | URxvt.keysym.Right: \033[C |
|
|
593 | URxvt.keysym.Left: \033[D |
|
|
594 | |
|
|
595 | See some more examples in the documentation for the keysym resource. |
|
|
596 | |
|
|
597 | I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following map |
|
|
598 | KP_Insert == Insert |
|
|
599 | F22 == Print |
|
|
600 | F27 == Home |
|
|
601 | F29 == Prior |
|
|
602 | F33 == End |
|
|
603 | F35 == Next |
|
|
604 | |
|
|
605 | Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various |
|
|
606 | possible keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the |
|
|
607 | keys as required for your particular machine. |
|
|
608 | |
|
|
609 | Terminal Configuration |
|
|
610 | Can I see a typical configuration? |
|
|
611 | The default configuration tries to be xterm-like, which I don't like |
|
|
612 | that much, but it's least surprise to regular users. |
|
|
613 | |
|
|
614 | As a rxvt or rxvt-unicode user, you are practically supposed to invest |
|
|
615 | time into customising your terminal. To get you started, here is the |
|
|
616 | author's .Xdefaults entries, with comments on what they do. It's |
|
|
617 | certainly not *typical*, but what's typical... |
|
|
618 | |
|
|
619 | URxvt.cutchars: "()*,<>[]{}|' |
|
|
620 | URxvt.print-pipe: cat >/tmp/xxx |
|
|
621 | |
|
|
622 | These are just for testing stuff. |
|
|
623 | |
|
|
624 | URxvt.imLocale: ja_JP.UTF-8 |
|
|
625 | URxvt.preeditType: OnTheSpot,None |
|
|
626 | |
|
|
627 | This tells rxvt-unicode to use a special locale when communicating with |
|
|
628 | the X Input Method, and also tells it to only use the OnTheSpot pre-edit |
|
|
629 | type, which requires the "xim-onthespot" perl extension but rewards me |
|
|
630 | with correct-looking fonts. |
|
|
631 | |
|
|
632 | URxvt.perl-lib: /root/lib/urxvt |
|
|
633 | URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,selection-autotransform,selection-pastebin,xim-onthespot,remote-clipboard |
|
|
634 | URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ( at .*? line \\d+) |
|
|
635 | URxvt.selection.pattern-1: ^(/[^:]+):\ |
|
|
636 | URxvt.selection-autotransform.0: s/^([^:[:space:]]+):(\\d+):?$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/ |
|
|
637 | URxvt.selection-autotransform.1: s/^ at (.*?) line (\\d+)$/:e \\Q$1\\E\\x0d:$2\\x0d/ |
|
|
638 | |
|
|
639 | This is my perl configuration. The first two set the perl library |
|
|
640 | directory and also tells urxvt to use a large number of extensions. I |
|
|
641 | develop for myself mostly, so I actually use most of the extensions I |
|
|
642 | write. |
|
|
643 | |
|
|
644 | The selection stuff mainly makes the selection perl-error-message aware |
|
|
645 | and tells it to convert perl error messages into vi-commands to load the |
|
|
646 | relevant file and go to the error line number. |
|
|
647 | |
|
|
648 | URxvt.scrollstyle: plain |
|
|
649 | URxvt.secondaryScroll: true |
|
|
650 | |
|
|
651 | As the documentation says: plain is the preferred scrollbar for the |
|
|
652 | author. The "secondaryScroll" configures urxvt to scroll in full-screen |
|
|
653 | apps, like screen, so lines scrolled out of screen end up in urxvt's |
|
|
654 | scrollback buffer. |
|
|
655 | |
|
|
656 | URxvt.background: #000000 |
|
|
657 | URxvt.foreground: gray90 |
|
|
658 | URxvt.color7: gray90 |
|
|
659 | URxvt.colorBD: #ffffff |
|
|
660 | URxvt.cursorColor: #e0e080 |
|
|
661 | URxvt.throughColor: #8080f0 |
|
|
662 | URxvt.highlightColor: #f0f0f0 |
|
|
663 | |
|
|
664 | Some colours. Not sure which ones are being used or even non-defaults, |
|
|
665 | but these are in my .Xdefaults. Most notably, they set |
|
|
666 | foreground/background to light gray/black, and also make sure that the |
|
|
667 | colour 7 matches the default foreground colour. |
|
|
668 | |
|
|
669 | URxvt.underlineColor: yellow |
|
|
670 | |
|
|
671 | Another colour, makes underline lines look different. Sometimes hurts, |
|
|
672 | but is mostly a nice effect. |
|
|
673 | |
|
|
674 | URxvt.geometry: 154x36 |
|
|
675 | URxvt.loginShell: false |
|
|
676 | URxvt.meta: ignore |
|
|
677 | URxvt.utmpInhibit: true |
|
|
678 | |
|
|
679 | Uh, well, should be mostly self-explanatory. By specifying some defaults |
|
|
680 | manually, I can quickly switch them for testing. |
|
|
681 | |
|
|
682 | URxvt.saveLines: 8192 |
|
|
683 | |
|
|
684 | A large scrollback buffer is essential. Really. |
|
|
685 | |
|
|
686 | URxvt.mapAlert: true |
|
|
687 | |
|
|
688 | The only case I use it is for my IRC window, which I like to keep |
|
|
689 | iconified till people msg me (which beeps). |
|
|
690 | |
|
|
691 | URxvt.visualBell: true |
|
|
692 | |
|
|
693 | The audible bell is often annoying, especially when in a crowd. |
|
|
694 | |
|
|
695 | URxvt.insecure: true |
|
|
696 | |
|
|
697 | Please don't hack my mutt! Ooops... |
|
|
698 | |
|
|
699 | URxvt.pastableTabs: false |
|
|
700 | |
|
|
701 | I once thought this is a great idea. |
|
|
702 | |
|
|
703 | urxvt.font: 9x15bold,\ |
|
|
704 | -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1,\ |
|
|
705 | -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--15-140-75-75-c-90-iso10646-1, \ |
|
|
706 | [codeset=JISX0208]xft:Kochi Gothic, \ |
|
|
707 | xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:autohint=true, \ |
|
|
708 | xft:Code2000:antialias=false |
|
|
709 | urxvt.boldFont: -xos4-terminus-bold-r-normal--14-140-72-72-c-80-iso8859-15 |
|
|
710 | urxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true |
|
|
711 | urxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true |
|
|
712 | |
|
|
713 | I wrote rxvt-unicode to be able to specify fonts exactly. So don't be |
|
|
714 | overwhelmed. A special note: the "9x15bold" mentioned above is actually |
|
|
715 | the version from XFree-3.3, as XFree-4 replaced it by a totally |
|
|
716 | different font (different glyphs for ";" and many other harmless |
|
|
717 | characters), while the second font is actually the "9x15bold" from |
|
|
718 | XFree4/XOrg. The bold version has less chars than the medium version, so |
|
|
719 | I use it for rare characters, too. When editing sources with vim, I use |
|
|
720 | italic for comments and other stuff, which looks quite good with |
|
|
721 | Bitstream Vera anti-aliased. |
|
|
722 | |
|
|
723 | Terminus is a quite bad font (many very wrong glyphs), but for most of |
|
|
724 | my purposes, it works, and gives a different look, as my normal |
|
|
725 | (Non-bold) font is already bold, and I want to see a difference between |
|
|
726 | bold and normal fonts. |
|
|
727 | |
|
|
728 | Please note that I used the "urxvt" instance name and not the "URxvt" |
|
|
729 | class name. That is because I use different configs for different |
|
|
730 | purposes, for example, my IRC window is started with "-name IRC", and |
|
|
731 | uses these defaults: |
|
|
732 | |
|
|
733 | IRC*title: IRC |
|
|
734 | IRC*geometry: 87x12+535+542 |
|
|
735 | IRC*saveLines: 0 |
|
|
736 | IRC*mapAlert: true |
|
|
737 | IRC*font: suxuseuro |
|
|
738 | IRC*boldFont: suxuseuro |
|
|
739 | IRC*colorBD: white |
|
|
740 | IRC*keysym.M-C-1: command:\033]710;suxuseuro\007\033]711;suxuseuro\007 |
|
|
741 | IRC*keysym.M-C-2: command:\033]710;9x15bold\007\033]711;9x15bold\007 |
|
|
742 | |
|
|
743 | "Alt-Ctrl-1" and "Alt-Ctrl-2" switch between two different font sizes. |
|
|
744 | "suxuseuro" allows me to keep an eye (and actually read) stuff while |
|
|
745 | keeping a very small window. If somebody pastes something complicated |
|
|
746 | (e.g. japanese), I temporarily switch to a larger font. |
|
|
747 | |
|
|
748 | The above is all in my ".Xdefaults" (I don't use ".Xresources" nor |
|
|
749 | "xrdb"). I also have some resources in a separate ".Xdefaults-hostname" |
|
|
750 | file for different hosts, for example, on my main desktop, I use: |
|
|
751 | |
|
|
752 | URxvt.keysym.C-M-q: command:\033[3;5;5t |
|
|
753 | URxvt.keysym.C-M-y: command:\033[3;5;606t |
|
|
754 | URxvt.keysym.C-M-e: command:\033[3;1605;5t |
|
|
755 | URxvt.keysym.C-M-c: command:\033[3;1605;606t |
|
|
756 | URxvt.keysym.C-M-p: perl:test |
|
|
757 | |
|
|
758 | The first for keysym definitions allow me to quickly bring some windows |
|
|
759 | in the layout I like most. Ion users might start laughing but will stop |
|
|
760 | immediately when I tell them that I use my own Fvwm2 module for much the |
|
|
761 | same effect as Ion provides, and I only very rarely use the above key |
|
|
762 | combinations :-> |
|
|
763 | |
|
|
764 | Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources? |
|
|
765 | Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X |
|
|
766 | applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your OS loads |
|
|
767 | resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will |
|
|
768 | ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read |
|
|
769 | $HOME/.Xdefaults when no resources are attached to the display. |
|
|
770 | |
|
|
771 | If you have or use an $HOME/.Xresources file, chances are that resources |
|
|
772 | are loaded into your X-server. In this case, you have to re-login after |
|
|
773 | every change (or run xrdb -merge $HOME/.Xresources). |
|
|
774 | |
|
|
775 | Also consider the form resources have to use: |
|
|
776 | |
|
|
777 | URxvt.resource: value |
|
|
778 | |
|
|
779 | If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of |
|
|
780 | specifying resources), make sure you understand whether and why it |
|
|
781 | works. If unsure, use the form above. |
|
|
782 | |
|
|
783 | When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? |
|
|
784 | The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available |
|
|
785 | as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often |
|
|
786 | arises). |
|
|
787 | |
|
|
788 | The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this |
|
|
789 | can be done by simply installing rxvt-unicode on the remote system as |
|
|
790 | well (in case you have a nice package manager ready), or you can install |
|
|
791 | the terminfo database manually like this (with ncurses infocmp. works as |
|
|
792 | user and root): |
|
|
793 | |
|
|
794 | REMOTE=remotesystem.domain |
|
|
795 | infocmp rxvt-unicode | ssh $REMOTE "mkdir -p .terminfo && cat >/tmp/ti && tic /tmp/ti" |
|
|
796 | |
|
|
797 | One some systems you might need to set $TERMINFO to the full path of |
|
|
798 | $HOME/.terminfo for this to work. |
|
|
799 | |
|
|
800 | If you cannot or do not want to do this, then you can simply set |
|
|
801 | "TERM=rxvt" or even "TERM=xterm", and live with the small number of |
|
|
802 | problems arising, which includes wrong keymapping, less and different |
|
|
803 | colours and some refresh errors in fullscreen applications. It's a nice |
|
|
804 | quick-and-dirty workaround for rare cases, though. |
|
|
805 | |
|
|
806 | If you always want to do this (and are fine with the consequences) you |
|
|
807 | can either recompile rxvt-unicode with the desired TERM value or use a |
|
|
808 | resource to set it: |
|
|
809 | |
|
|
810 | URxvt.termName: rxvt |
|
|
811 | |
|
|
812 | If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also replace |
|
|
813 | the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one and use "TERM=rxvt". |
|
|
814 | |
|
|
815 | nano fails with "Error opening terminal: rxvt-unicode" |
|
|
816 | This exceptionally confusing and useless error message is printed by |
|
|
817 | nano when it can't find the terminfo database. Nothing is wrong with |
|
|
818 | your terminal, read the previous answer for a solution. |
|
|
819 | |
|
|
820 | "tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry. |
|
|
821 | Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it by |
|
|
822 | "enacs=\E[0@" and try again. |
|
|
823 | |
|
|
824 | "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under urxvt. |
|
|
825 | See next entry. |
|
|
826 | |
|
|
827 | I need a termcap file entry. |
|
|
828 | One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating |
|
|
829 | systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap |
|
|
830 | library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry |
|
|
831 | for "rxvt-unicode". |
|
|
832 | |
|
|
833 | You could use rxvt's termcap entry with reasonable results in many |
|
|
834 | cases. You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's infocmp |
|
|
835 | program like this: |
|
|
836 | |
|
|
837 | infocmp -C rxvt-unicode |
|
|
838 | |
|
|
839 | Or you could use the termcap entry in doc/etc/rxvt-unicode.termcap, |
|
|
840 | generated by the command above. |
|
|
841 | |
|
|
842 | Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output? |
|
|
843 | The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to |
|
|
844 | decide whether a terminal has colour, but uses its own configuration |
|
|
845 | file. Needless to say, "rxvt-unicode" is not in its default file (among |
|
|
846 | with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add: |
|
|
847 | |
|
|
848 | TERM rxvt-unicode |
|
|
849 | |
|
|
850 | to "/etc/DIR_COLORS" or simply add: |
|
|
851 | |
|
|
852 | alias ls='ls --color=auto' |
|
|
853 | |
|
|
854 | to your ".profile" or ".bashrc". |
|
|
855 | |
|
|
856 | Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode? |
|
|
857 | See next entry. |
|
|
858 | |
|
|
859 | Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic? |
|
|
860 | See next entry. |
|
|
861 | |
|
|
862 | Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly? |
|
|
863 | Make sure you are using "TERM=rxvt-unicode". Some pre-packaged |
|
|
864 | distributions break rxvt-unicode by setting "TERM" to "rxvt", which |
|
|
865 | doesn't have these extra features. Unfortunately, some of these |
|
|
866 | furthermore fail to even install the "rxvt-unicode" terminfo file, so |
|
|
867 | you will need to install it on your own (See the question When I log-in |
|
|
868 | to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? on how to do |
|
|
869 | this). |
|
|
870 | |
|
|
871 | Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues |
|
|
872 | Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding? |
|
|
873 | See next entry. |
|
|
874 | |
|
|
875 | Unicode does not seem to work? |
|
|
876 | If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but |
|
|
877 | getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output |
|
|
878 | is subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings. |
|
|
879 | |
|
|
880 | Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same "LC_CTYPE" setting as the |
|
|
881 | programs running in it. Often rxvt-unicode is started in the "C" locale, |
|
|
882 | while the login script running within the rxvt-unicode window changes |
|
|
883 | the locale to something else, e.g. "en_GB.UTF-8". Needless to say, this |
|
|
884 | is not going to work, and is the most common cause for problems. |
|
|
885 | |
|
|
886 | The best thing is to fix your startup environment, as you will likely |
|
|
887 | run into other problems. If nothing works you can try this in your |
|
|
888 | .profile. |
|
|
889 | |
|
|
890 | printf '\33]701;%s\007' "$LC_CTYPE" # $LANG or $LC_ALL are worth a try, too |
|
|
891 | |
|
|
892 | If this doesn't work, then maybe you use a "LC_CTYPE" specification not |
|
|
893 | supported on your systems. Some systems have a "locale" command which |
|
|
894 | displays this (also, "perl -e0" can be used to check locale settings, as |
|
|
895 | it will complain loudly if it cannot set the locale). If it displays |
|
|
896 | something like: |
|
|
897 | |
|
|
898 | locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: ... |
|
|
899 | |
|
|
900 | Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system. |
|
|
901 | |
|
|
902 | If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then |
|
|
903 | you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't |
|
|
904 | support locales :( |
|
|
905 | |
|
|
906 | How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use? |
|
|
907 | See next entry. |
|
|
908 | |
|
|
909 | Is there an option to switch encodings? |
|
|
910 | Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no |
|
|
911 | specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know |
|
|
912 | about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O. |
|
|
913 | |
|
|
914 | The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for |
|
|
915 | selecting the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating |
|
|
916 | this to all applications so everybody agrees on character properties |
|
|
917 | such as width and code number. This mechanism is the *locale*. |
|
|
918 | Applications not using that info will have problems (for example, |
|
|
919 | "xterm" gets the width of characters wrong as it uses its own, |
|
|
920 | locale-independent table under all locales). |
|
|
921 | |
|
|
922 | Rxvt-unicode uses the "LC_CTYPE" locale category to select encoding. All |
|
|
923 | programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the |
|
|
924 | interpretation of characters. |
|
|
925 | |
|
|
926 | Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor |
|
|
927 | is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like. |
|
|
928 | |
|
|
929 | On most systems, the content of the "LC_CTYPE" environment variable |
|
|
930 | contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed |
|
|
931 | locale. Common names for locales are "en_US.UTF-8", "de_DE.ISO-8859-15", |
|
|
932 | "ja_JP.EUC-JP", i.e. "language_country.encoding", but other forms (i.e. |
|
|
933 | "de" or "german") are also common. |
|
|
934 | |
|
|
935 | Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for the |
|
|
936 | encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings, i.e. |
|
|
937 | "de_DE.UTF-8" and "ja_JP.UTF-8" are the normally same to rxvt-unicode. |
|
|
938 | |
|
|
939 | If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start |
|
|
940 | rxvt-unicode with the correct "LC_CTYPE" category. |
|
|
941 | |
|
|
942 | Can I switch locales at runtime? |
|
|
943 | Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets |
|
|
944 | rxvt-unicode's idea of "LC_CTYPE". |
|
|
945 | |
|
|
946 | printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS |
|
|
947 | |
|
|
948 | See also the previous answer. |
|
|
949 | |
|
|
950 | Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in one |
|
|
951 | locale (e.g. "de_DE.UTF-8") but some programs don't support it (e.g. |
|
|
952 | UTF-8). For example, I use this script to start "xjdic", which first |
|
|
953 | switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later: |
|
|
954 | |
|
|
955 | printf '\33]701;%s\007' ja_JP.SJIS |
|
|
956 | xjdic -js |
|
|
957 | printf '\33]701;%s\007' de_DE.UTF-8 |
|
|
958 | |
|
|
959 | You can also use xterm's "luit" program, which usually works fine, |
|
|
960 | except for some locales where character width differs between program- |
|
|
961 | and rxvt-unicode-locales. |
|
|
962 | |
|
|
963 | I have problems getting my input method working. |
|
|
964 | Try a search engine, as this is slightly different for every input |
|
|
965 | method server. |
|
|
966 | |
|
|
967 | Here is a checklist: |
|
|
968 | |
|
|
969 | - Make sure your locale *and* the imLocale are supported on your OS. |
|
|
970 | Try "locale -a" or check the documentation for your OS. |
|
|
971 | |
|
|
972 | - Make sure your locale or imLocale matches a locale supported by your |
|
|
973 | XIM. |
|
|
974 | For example, kinput2 does not support UTF-8 locales, you should use |
|
|
975 | "ja_JP.EUC-JP" or equivalent. |
|
|
976 | |
|
|
977 | - Make sure your XIM server is actually running. |
|
|
978 | - Make sure the "XMODIFIERS" environment variable is set correctly when |
|
|
979 | *starting* rxvt-unicode. |
|
|
980 | When you want to use e.g. kinput2, it must be set to "@im=kinput2". |
|
|
981 | For scim, use "@im=SCIM". You can see what input method servers are |
|
|
982 | running with this command: |
|
|
983 | |
|
|
984 | xprop -root XIM_SERVERS |
|
|
985 | |
|
|
986 | My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do? |
|
|
987 | You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of |
|
|
988 | the terminal, using the resource "imlocale": |
|
|
989 | |
|
|
990 | URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP |
|
|
991 | |
|
|
992 | Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and still |
|
|
993 | use your input method. Please note, however, that, depending on your |
|
|
994 | Xlib version, you may not be able to input characters outside "EUC-JP" |
|
|
995 | in a normal way then, as your input method limits you. |
|
|
996 | |
|
|
997 | Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits. |
|
|
998 | Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by |
|
|
999 | design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory |
|
|
1000 | leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at |
|
|
1001 | exit time. kinput2 (and derived input methods) generally succeeds, while |
|
|
1002 | SCIM (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however, crashes |
|
|
1003 | cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate. |
|
|
1004 | |
|
|
1005 | So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers. |
|
|
1006 | |
|
|
1007 | Operating Systems / Package Maintaining |
|
|
1008 | I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation? |
|
|
1009 | You should build one binary with the default options. configure now |
|
|
1010 | enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them |
|
|
1011 | runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enabling |
|
|
1012 | them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter |
|
|
1013 | should be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely |
|
|
1014 | more in the future) depends on it. |
|
|
1015 | |
|
|
1016 | You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" and "perl-ext" resources |
|
|
1017 | system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will result in useful |
|
|
1018 | behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty |
|
|
1019 | "perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the |
|
|
1020 | perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it. |
|
|
1021 | |
|
|
1022 | If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal one |
|
|
1023 | with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with |
|
|
1024 | "--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of |
|
|
1025 | encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used). |
|
|
1026 | |
|
|
1027 | I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe? |
|
|
1028 | It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly |
|
|
1029 | install urxvt with privileges necessary for your OS now. |
|
|
1030 | |
|
|
1031 | When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork |
|
|
1032 | into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some |
|
|
1033 | systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges |
|
|
1034 | immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep |
|
|
1035 | privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains |
|
|
1036 | things as perl interpreters, which might be "helpful" to attackers). |
|
|
1037 | |
|
|
1038 | This forking is done as the very first within main(), which is very |
|
|
1039 | early and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before |
|
|
1040 | main(), or things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should |
|
|
1041 | result in very little risk. |
|
|
1042 | |
|
|
1043 | I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all. |
|
|
1044 | Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol "__STDC_ISO_10646__" to be defined in |
|
|
1045 | your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it, |
|
|
1046 | whether it defines the symbol or not. "__STDC_ISO_10646__" requires that |
|
|
1047 | wchar_t is represented as unicode. |
|
|
1048 | |
|
|
1049 | As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symbol nor |
|
|
1050 | does it support it. Instead, it uses its own internal representation of |
|
|
1051 | wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with respect to standards. |
|
|
1052 | |
|
|
1053 | However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1" and |
|
|
1054 | "UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t). |
|
|
1055 | |
|
|
1056 | "__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language apps |
|
|
1057 | in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized) |
|
|
1058 | representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to convert between wchar_t |
|
|
1059 | (as used by X11 and your applications) and any other encoding without |
|
|
1060 | implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and every locale. There |
|
|
1061 | simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t into anything except the current |
|
|
1062 | locale encoding. |
|
|
1063 | |
|
|
1064 | Some applications (such as the formidable mlterm) work around this by |
|
|
1065 | carrying their own replacement functions for character set handling with |
|
|
1066 | them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or doing multiple |
|
|
1067 | conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the OS implements |
|
|
1068 | encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator). |
|
|
1069 | |
|
|
1070 | The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the |
|
|
1071 | system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry |
|
|
1072 | complete replacements for them :) |
|
|
1073 | |
|
|
1074 | How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin? |
|
|
1075 | rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using the |
|
|
1076 | X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no longer |
|
|
1077 | supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a single |
|
|
1078 | font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or |
|
|
1079 | "-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the |
|
|
1080 | old libW11 emulation. |
|
|
1081 | |
|
|
1082 | At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any |
|
|
1083 | multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are |
|
|
1084 | likely limited to 8-bit encodings. |
|
|
1085 | |
|
|
1086 | Character widths are not correct. |
|
|
1087 | urxvt uses the system wcwidth function to know the information about the |
|
|
1088 | width of characters, so on systems with incorrect locale data you will |
|
|
1089 | likely get bad results. Two notorious examples are Solaris 9, where |
|
|
1090 | single-width characters like U+2514 are reported as double-width, and |
|
|
1091 | Darwin 8, where combining chars are reported having width 1. |
|
|
1092 | |
|
|
1093 | The solution is to upgrade your system or switch to a better one. A |
|
|
1094 | possibly working workaround is to use a wcwidth implementation like |
|
|
1095 | |
|
|
1096 | http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/wcwidth.c |
|
|
1097 | |