| 1 | FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |
1 | FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |
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2 | I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I |
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3 | change/disable it? |
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4 | You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the |
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5 | perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps |
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6 | rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory. |
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7 | |
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8 | If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to |
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9 | identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the |
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10 | section PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the rxvtperl(3) manpage. For |
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11 | example, to disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify |
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12 | this perl-ext-common resource: |
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13 | |
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14 | URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup |
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15 | |
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16 | This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup |
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17 | extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example, |
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18 | scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any |
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19 | other combination either by setting the searchable-scrollback |
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20 | resource: |
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21 | |
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22 | URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s |
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23 | |
| 2 | Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat? |
24 | 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 |
25 | 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 |
26 | 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 |
27 | 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) |
28 | always being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) |
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| 35 | |
57 | |
| 36 | Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k), |
58 | Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k), |
| 37 | this still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like |
59 | this still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like |
| 38 | gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or |
60 | gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or |
| 39 | konsole (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after |
61 | konsole (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after |
| 40 | exit, plus half aminute of startup time, including the hundreds of |
62 | exit, plus half a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of |
| 41 | warnings it spits out), it fares extremely well *g*. |
63 | warnings it spits out), it fares extremely well *g*. |
| 42 | |
64 | |
| 43 | Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool? |
65 | Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool? |
| 44 | Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: |
66 | 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 |
67 | I had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a |
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| 100 | |
122 | |
| 101 | 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 |
| 102 | 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 |
| 103 | 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 |
| 104 | other users that might encounter the same issue. |
126 | other users that might encounter the same issue. |
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127 | |
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128 | I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any |
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129 | recommendation? |
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130 | You should build one binary with the default options. configure now |
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131 | enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them |
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132 | runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling |
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133 | them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl |
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134 | interpreter should be enabled, as important functionality (menus, |
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135 | selection, likely more in the future) depends on it. |
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136 | |
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137 | You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" snd "perl-ext" |
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138 | resources system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will |
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139 | result in useful behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, |
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140 | add an empty "perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file. |
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141 | This will keep the perl interpreter disabled until the user enables |
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142 | it. |
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143 | |
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144 | If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal |
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145 | one with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with |
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146 | "--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot |
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147 | of encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely |
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148 | used). |
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149 | |
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150 | I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this |
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151 | safe? |
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152 | Likely not. While I honestly try to make it secure, and am probably |
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153 | not bad at it, I think it is simply unreasonable to expect all of |
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154 | freetype + fontconfig + xft + xlib + perl + ... + rxvt-unicode |
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155 | itself to all be secure. Also, rxvt-unicode disables some options |
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156 | when it detects that it runs setuid or setgid, which is not nice. |
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157 | Besides, with the embedded perl interpreter the possibility for |
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158 | security problems easily multiplies. |
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159 | |
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160 | Elevated privileges are only required for utmp and pty operations on |
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161 | some systems (for example, GNU/Linux doesn't need any extra |
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162 | privileges for ptys, but some need it for utmp support). It is |
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163 | planned to mvoe this into a forked handler process, but this is not |
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164 | yet done. |
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165 | |
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166 | So, while setuid/setgid operation is supported and not a problem on |
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167 | your typical single-user-no-other-logins unix desktop, always |
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168 | remember that its an awful lot of code, most of which isn't checked |
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169 | for security issues regularly. |
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170 | |
| 106 | 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? |
| 107 | The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely |
172 | The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely |
| 108 | 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 |
| 109 | problem often arises). |
174 | problem often arises). |
