--- rxvt-unicode/README.FAQ 2005/12/17 20:55:45 1.19 +++ rxvt-unicode/README.FAQ 2005/12/24 12:55:17 1.20 @@ -1,7 +1,92 @@ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS + Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat? + I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause + extra bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you + can see that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables + always being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) + after startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is + a bit unfair, as many features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding + conversion, iso14755 etc.) are already in use in this mode. + + text data bss drs rss filename + 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything + 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything + + When you "--enable-everything" (which _is_ unfair, as this involves + xft and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 + and my libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so. + + text data bss drs rss filename + 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything + 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything + + The very large size of the text section is explained by the + east-asian encoding tables, which, if unused, take up disk space but + nothing else and can be compiled out unless you rely on X11 core + fonts that use those encodings. The BSS size comes from the 64k + emergency buffer that my c++ compiler allocates (but of course + doesn't use unless you are out of memory). Also, using an xft font + instead of a core font immediately adds a few megabytes of RSS. Xft + indeed is responsible for a lot of RSS even when not used. + + Of course, due to every character using two or four bytes instead of + one, a large scrollback buffer will ultimately make rxvt-unicode use + more memory. + + Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k), + this still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like + gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or + konsole (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after + exit, plus half aminute of startup time, including the hundreds of + warnings it spits out), it fares extremely well *g*. + + Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool? + Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: + I had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a + fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). + Put even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++. + + My personal stance on this is that C++ is less portable than C, but + in the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability + limits are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale + support and unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than + C++ itself. + + Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write + programs in C that use gobs of memory, an certainly possible to + write programs in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large + libraries, but this is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is + what rxvt links against on my system with a minimal config: + + libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000) + libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000) + libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000) + /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000) + + And here is rxvt-unicode: + + libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000) + libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000) + libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000) + libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000) + /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000) + + No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in + statically), except maybe libX11 :) + + Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode? + rxvt-unicode does not directly support tabs. It will work fine with + tabbing functionality of many window managers or similar tabbing + programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be embedded into + other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed or the upcoming + "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt) + terminal as an example embedding application. + How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. + When using the urxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the + daemon. I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large @@ -51,7 +136,7 @@ Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it by "enacs=\E[0@" and try again. - "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt. + "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under urxvt. I need a termcap file entry. One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating systems still compile some programs using the @@ -172,7 +257,7 @@ In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list, e.g.: - rxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3... + urxvt -fn basefont,font2,font3... When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to @@ -467,7 +552,7 @@ some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt - or Shift keys are depressed. See rxvt(7) + or Shift keys are depressed. See urxvt(7) What's with this bold/blink stuff? If no bold colour is set via "colorBD:", bold will invert text using @@ -532,9 +617,9 @@ URxvt.color7: #e1dddd URxvt.color15: #e1dddd - How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way? - Try "rxvtd -f -o", which tells rxvtd to open the display, create the - listening socket and then fork. + How can I start urxvtd in a race-free way? + Try "urxvtd -f -o", which tells urxvtd to open the display, create + the listening socket and then fork. What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour? Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the @@ -557,13 +642,13 @@ # use Backspace = ^H $ stty erase ^H - $ rxvt + $ urxvt # use Backspace = ^? $ stty erase ^? - $ rxvt + $ urxvt - Toggle with "ESC [ 36 h" / "ESC [ 36 l" as documented in rxvt(7). + Toggle with "ESC [ 36 h" / "ESC [ 36 l" as documented in urxvt(7). For an existing rxvt-unicode: @@ -599,7 +684,7 @@ option you can use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms. - Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "rxvt -name + Here's an example for a URxvt session started using "urxvt -name URxvt" URxvt.keysym.Home: \033[1~