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Revision 1.14 by root, Thu Jun 30 14:00:49 2005 UTC vs.
Revision 1.25 by root, Thu Jan 12 05:37:34 2006 UTC

1FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
2 I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I
3 change/disable it?
4 You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
5 perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps
6 rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
7
8 If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
9 identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the
10 section PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the rxvtperl(3) manpage. For
11 example, to disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify
12 this perl-ext-common resource:
13
14 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
15
16 This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
17 extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
18 scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any
19 other combination either by setting the searchable-scrollback
20 resource:
21
22 URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
23
24 Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
25 I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause
26 extra bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you
27 can see that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables
28 always being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS)
29 after startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is
30 a bit unfair, as many features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding
31 conversion, iso14755 etc.) are already in use in this mode.
32
33 text data bss drs rss filename
34 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
35 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
36
37 When you "--enable-everything" (which _is_ unfair, as this involves
38 xft and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11
39 and my libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.
40
41 text data bss drs rss filename
42 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
43 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
44
45 The very large size of the text section is explained by the
46 east-asian encoding tables, which, if unused, take up disk space but
47 nothing else and can be compiled out unless you rely on X11 core
48 fonts that use those encodings. The BSS size comes from the 64k
49 emergency buffer that my c++ compiler allocates (but of course
50 doesn't use unless you are out of memory). Also, using an xft font
51 instead of a core font immediately adds a few megabytes of RSS. Xft
52 indeed is responsible for a lot of RSS even when not used.
53
54 Of course, due to every character using two or four bytes instead of
55 one, a large scrollback buffer will ultimately make rxvt-unicode use
56 more memory.
57
58 Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k),
59 this still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like
60 gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or
61 konsole (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after
62 exit, plus half a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of
63 warnings it spits out), it fares extremely well *g*.
64
65 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
66 Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is:
67 I had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a
68 fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me).
69 Put even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
70
71 My personal stance on this is that C++ is less portable than C, but
72 in the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability
73 limits are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale
74 support and unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than
75 C++ itself.
76
77 Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write
78 programs in C that use gobs of memory, an certainly possible to
79 write programs in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large
80 libraries, but this is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is
81 what rxvt links against on my system with a minimal config:
82
83 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
84 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)
85 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)
86 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
87
88 And here is rxvt-unicode:
89
90 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
91 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
92 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
93 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
94 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
95
96 No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in
97 statically), except maybe libX11 :)
98
99 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
100 rxvt-unicode does not directly support tabs. It will work fine with
101 tabbing functionality of many window managers or similar tabbing
102 programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be embedded into
103 other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed or the upcoming
104 "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt)
105 terminal as an example embedding application.
106
2 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 107 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
3 The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 108 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. 109 sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number.
110 When using the rxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the
111 daemon.
5 112
6 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 113 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
7 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode contains large patches 114 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
8 that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. Before 115 patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode.
9 reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please download 116 Before reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please
10 and install the genuine version 117 download and install the genuine version
11 (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce the 118 (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce the
12 problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific 119 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 120 to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the
14 Debian Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug). 121 Debian Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug).
15 122
16 For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 123 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 124 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 125 also a bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for
19 other users that might encounter the same issue. 126 other users that might encounter the same issue.
127
128 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any
129 recommendation?
130 You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
131 enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
132 runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling
133 them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl
134 interpreter should be enabled, as important functionality (menus,
135 selection, likely more in the future) depends on it.
136
137 You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" snd "perl-ext"
138 resources system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will
139 result in useful behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory,
140 add an empty "perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file.
141 This will keep the perl interpreter disabled until the user enables
142 it.
143
144 If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal
145 one with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
146 "--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot
147 of encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely
148 used).
149
150 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this
151 safe?
152 Likely not. While I honestly try to make it secure, and am probably
153 not bad at it, I think it is simply unreasonable to expect all of
154 freetype + fontconfig + xft + xlib + perl + ... + rxvt-unicode
155 itself to all be secure. Also, rxvt-unicode disables some options
156 when it detects that it runs setuid or setgid, which is not nice.
157 Besides, with the embedded perl interpreter the possibility for
158 security problems easily multiplies.
159
160 Elevated privileges are only required for utmp and pty operations on
161 some systems (for example, GNU/Linux doesn't need any extra
162 privileges for ptys, but some need it for utmp support). It is
163 planned to mvoe this into a forked handler process, but this is not
164 yet done.
165
166 So, while setuid/setgid operation is supported and not a problem on
167 your typical single-user-no-other-logins unix desktop, always
168 remember that its an awful lot of code, most of which isn't checked
169 for security issues regularly.
20 170
21 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? 171 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 172 The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely
23 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same 173 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same
24 problem often arises). 174 problem often arises).
… …
44 194
45 URxvt.termName: rxvt 195 URxvt.termName: rxvt
46 196
47 If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also 197 If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also
48 replace the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one. 198 replace the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
199
200 "tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
201 Most likely it's the empty definition for "enacs=". Just replace it
202 by "enacs=\E[0@" and try again.
49 203
50 "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt. 204 "bash"'s readline does not work correctly under rxvt.
51 I need a termcap file entry. 205 I need a termcap file entry.
52 One reason you might want this is that some distributions or 206 One reason you might want this is that some distributions or
53 operating systems still compile some programs using the 207 operating systems still compile some programs using the
… …
312 466
313 I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc. 467 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 468 Try the diff in doc/solaris9.patch as a base. It fixes the worst
315 problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem. 469 problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem.
316 470
471 How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
472 rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
473 the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
474 longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
475 single font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
476 "-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as
477 the old libW11 emulation.
478
479 At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
480 multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
481 likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
482
317 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use? 483 How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
318 Is there an option to switch encodings? 484 Is there an option to switch encodings?
319 Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, 485 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 486 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 487 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. 598 it gets worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
433 599
434 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow? 600 Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
435 Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, 601 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 602 as it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to
437 disable antialiasing (by appending ":antialiasing=false"), which 603 disable antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves
438 saves lots of memory and also speeds up rendering considerably. 604 lots of memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
439 605
440 Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong? 606 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 607 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 608 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 609 fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It
… …
515 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff 681 URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
516 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd 682 URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
517 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd 683 URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
518 684
519 How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way? 685 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 686 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 687 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
528 688
529 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour? 689 What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
530 Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the 690 Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
531 BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following 691 BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
532 question) there are two standard values that can be used for 692 question) there are two standard values that can be used for

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