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Revision 1.14 by root, Thu Jun 30 14:00:49 2005 UTC vs.
Revision 1.24 by root, Wed Jan 11 19:55:33 2006 UTC

1FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
2 Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
3 I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause
4 extra bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you
5 can see that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables
6 always being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS)
7 after startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is
8 a bit unfair, as many features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding
9 conversion, iso14755 etc.) are already in use in this mode.
10
11 text data bss drs rss filename
12 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
13 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
14
15 When you "--enable-everything" (which _is_ unfair, as this involves
16 xft and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11
17 and my libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.
18
19 text data bss drs rss filename
20 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
21 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
22
23 The very large size of the text section is explained by the
24 east-asian encoding tables, which, if unused, take up disk space but
25 nothing else and can be compiled out unless you rely on X11 core
26 fonts that use those encodings. The BSS size comes from the 64k
27 emergency buffer that my c++ compiler allocates (but of course
28 doesn't use unless you are out of memory). Also, using an xft font
29 instead of a core font immediately adds a few megabytes of RSS. Xft
30 indeed is responsible for a lot of RSS even when not used.
31
32 Of course, due to every character using two or four bytes instead of
33 one, a large scrollback buffer will ultimately make rxvt-unicode use
34 more memory.
35
36 Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k),
37 this still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like
38 gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or
39 konsole (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after
40 exit, plus half a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of
41 warnings it spits out), it fares extremely well *g*.
42
43 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
44 Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is:
45 I had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a
46 fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me).
47 Put even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
48
49 My personal stance on this is that C++ is less portable than C, but
50 in the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability
51 limits are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale
52 support and unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than
53 C++ itself.
54
55 Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write
56 programs in C that use gobs of memory, an certainly possible to
57 write programs in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large
58 libraries, but this is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is
59 what rxvt links against on my system with a minimal config:
60
61 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
62 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)
63 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)
64 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
65
66 And here is rxvt-unicode:
67
68 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
69 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
70 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
71 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
72 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
73
74 No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in
75 statically), except maybe libX11 :)
76
77 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
78 rxvt-unicode does not directly support tabs. It will work fine with
79 tabbing functionality of many window managers or similar tabbing
80 programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be embedded into
81 other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed or the upcoming
82 "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt)
83 terminal as an example embedding application.
84
2 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 85 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
3 The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 86 The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
4 sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. 87 sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number.
88 When using the rxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the
89 daemon.
5 90
6 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 91 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
7 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode contains large patches 92 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
8 that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. Before 93 patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode.
9 reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please download 94 Before reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please
10 and install the genuine version 95 download and install the genuine version
11 (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce the 96 (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce the
12 problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific 97 problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific
13 to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the 98 to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the
14 Debian Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug). 99 Debian Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug).
15 100
16 For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 101 For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and
17 probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's 102 probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's
18 also a bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for 103 also a bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for
19 other users that might encounter the same issue. 104 other users that might encounter the same issue.
105
106 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any
107 recommendation?
108 You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
109 enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
110 runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling
111 them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl
112 interpreter should be enabled, as important functionality (menus,
113 selection, likely more in the future) depends on it.
114
115 You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" snd "perl-ext"
116 resources system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will
117 result in useful behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory,
118 add an empty "perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file.
119 This will keep the perl interpreter disabled until the user enables
120 it.
121
122 If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal
123 one with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
124 "--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot
125 of encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely
126 used).
127
128 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this
129 safe?
130 Likely not. While I honestly try to make it secure, and am probably
131 not bad at it, I think it is simply unreasonable to expect all of
132 freetype + fontconfig + xft + xlib + perl + ... + rxvt-unicode
133 itself to all be secure. Also, rxvt-unicode disables some options
134 when it detects that it runs setuid or setgid, which is not nice.
135 Besides, with the embedded perl interpreter the possibility for
136 security problems easily multiplies.
137
138 Elevated privileges are only required for utmp and pty operations on
139 some systems (for example, GNU/Linux doesn't need any extra
140 privileges for ptys, but some need it for utmp support). It is
141 planned to mvoe this into a forked handler process, but this is not
142 yet done.
143
144 So, while setuid/setgid operation is supported and not a problem on
145 your typical single-user-no-other-logins unix desktop, always
146 remember that its an awful lot of code, most of which isn't checked
147 for security issues regularly.
20 148
21 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? 149 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
22 The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely 150 The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely
23 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same 151 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same
24 problem often arises). 152 problem often arises).
… …
44 172
45 URxvt.termName: rxvt 173 URxvt.termName: rxvt
46 174
47 If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also 175 If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also
48 replace the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one. 176 replace the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
177
178 "tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
179 Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it
180 by "enacs=\E[0@" and try again.
49 181
50 "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt. 182 "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt.
51 I need a termcap file entry. 183 I need a termcap file entry.
52 One reason you might want this is that some distributions or 184 One reason you might want this is that some distributions or
53 operating systems still compile some programs using the 185 operating systems still compile some programs using the
… …
312 444
313 I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc. 445 I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
314 Try the diff in doc/solaris9.patch as a base. It fixes the worst 446 Try the diff in doc/solaris9.patch as a base. It fixes the worst
315 problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem. 447 problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem.
316 448
449 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
450 rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
451 the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
452 longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
453 single font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
454 "-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as
455 the old libW11 emulation.
456
457 At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
458 multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
459 likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
460
317 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use? 461 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
318 Is there an option to switch encodings? 462 Is there an option to switch encodings?
319 Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, 463 Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch,
320 and no specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't 464 and no specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't
321 even know about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to 465 even know about UTF-8 or any other encodings with respect to
… …
432 it gets worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell. 576 it gets worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
433 577
434 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow? 578 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
435 Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, 579 Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely,
436 as it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to 580 as it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to
437 disable antialiasing (by appending ":antialiasing=false"), which 581 disable antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves
438 saves lots of memory and also speeds up rendering considerably. 582 lots of memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
439 583
440 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong? 584 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
441 Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to 585 Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
442 fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core 586 fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
443 fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It 587 fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It
… …
515 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff 659 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
516 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd 660 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
517 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd 661 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
518 662
519 How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way? 663 How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way?
520 Despite it's name, rxvtd is not a real daemon, but more like a 664 Try "rxvtd -f -o", which tells rxvtd to open the display, create the
521 server that answers rxvtc's requests, so it doesn't background 665 listening socket and then fork.
522 itself.
523
524 To ensure rxvtd is listening on it's socket, you can use the
525 following method to wait for the startup message before continuing:
526
527 { rxvtd & } | read
528 666
529 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour? 667 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
530 Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the 668 Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
531 BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following 669 BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
532 question) there are two standard values that can be used for 670 question) there are two standard values that can be used for

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