[ViewVC] Diff of: cvs/rxvt-unicode/README.FAQ

Comparing rxvt-unicode/README.FAQ (file contents):
Revision 1.9 by root, Fri Feb 11 18:14:07 2005 UTC vs.
Revision 1.20 by root, Sat Dec 24 12:55:17 2005 UTC

 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 contains large patches
+        The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
-        that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. Before
+        patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode.
-        reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please download
+        Before reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please
-        and install the genuine version
+        download and install the genuine version
         (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt-unicode>) and try to reproduce the
         problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific
         to Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the
         Debian Bug Tracking System (use "reportbug" to report the bug).
            URxvt.termName: rxvt
         If you don't plan to use rxvt (quite common...) you could also
         replace the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
+    "tic" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.
+        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
-        long-obsoleted termcap (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely
+        long-obsoleted termcap library (Fedora Core's bash is one example)
-        on a termcap entry for "rxvt-unicode".
+        and rely on a termcap entry for "rxvt-unicode".
         You could use rxvt's termcap entry with resonable results in many
         cases. You can also create a termcap entry by using terminfo's
         infocmp program like this:
         Or you could use this termcap entry, generated by the command above:
            rxvt-unicode|rxvt-unicode terminal (X Window System):\
                    :am:bw:eo:km:mi:ms:xn:xo:\
-                   :co#80:it#8:li#24:\
+                   :co#80:it#8:li#24:lm#0:\
                    :AL=\E[%dL:DC=\E[%dP:DL=\E[%dM:DO=\E[%dB:IC=\E[%d@:\
                    :K1=\EOw:K2=\EOu:K3=\EOy:K4=\EOq:K5=\EOs:LE=\E[%dD:\
-                   :RI=\E[%dC:SF=\E[%dS:SR=\E[%dT:UP=\E[%dA:ae=^O:al=\E[L:\
+                   :RI=\E[%dC:SF=\E[%dS:SR=\E[%dT:UP=\E[%dA:ae=\E(B:al=\E[L:\
-                   :as=^N:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:\
+                   :as=\E(0:bl=^G:cd=\E[J:ce=\E[K:cl=\E[H\E[2J:\
-                   :cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:dl=\E[M:do=^J:\
+                   :cm=\E[%i%d;%dH:cr=^M:cs=\E[%i%d;%dr:ct=\E[3g:dc=\E[P:\
-                   :ec=\E[%dX:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:\
+                   :dl=\E[M:do=^J:ec=\E[%dX:ei=\E[4l:ho=\E[H:\
+                   :i1=\E[?47l\E=\E[?1l:ic=\E[@:im=\E[4h:\
-                   :im=\E[4h:is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
+                   :is=\E[r\E[m\E[2J\E[H\E[?7h\E[?1;3;4;6l\E[4l:\
-                   :k0=\E[21~:k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:\
+                   :k1=\E[11~:k2=\E[12~:k3=\E[13~:k4=\E[14~:k5=\E[15~:\
-                   :k5=\E[15~:k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:\
+                   :k6=\E[17~:k7=\E[18~:k8=\E[19~:k9=\E[20~:kD=\E[3~:\
-                   :kD=\E[3~:kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=\177:kd=\EOB:\
+                   :kI=\E[2~:kN=\E[6~:kP=\E[5~:kb=\177:kd=\EOB:ke=\E[?1l\E>:\
-                   :ke=\E[?1l\E>:kh=\E[7~:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:\
+                   :kh=\E[7~:kl=\EOD:kr=\EOC:ks=\E[?1h\E=:ku=\EOA:le=^H:\
-                   :ku=\EOA:le=^H:mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:\
+                   :mb=\E[5m:md=\E[1m:me=\E[m\017:mr=\E[7m:nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:\
-                   :nd=\E[C:rc=\E8:sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:\
+                   :sc=\E7:se=\E[27m:sf=^J:so=\E[7m:sr=\EM:st=\EH:ta=^I:\
-                   :st=\EH:ta=^I:te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:\
+                   :te=\E[r\E[?1049l:ti=\E[?1049h:ue=\E[24m:up=\E[A:\
-                   :up=\E[A:us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
+                   :us=\E[4m:vb=\E[?5h\E[?5l:ve=\E[?25h:vi=\E[?25l:\
                    :vs=\E[?25h:
     Why does "ls" no longer have coloured output?
         The "ls" in the GNU coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
         decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
         indeed look correct.
         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
         the next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed
         up this search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the
         that doesn't work, you might be forced to use a different font.
         All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their
         bounding box data is correct.
+    On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.
+        Seems to be a known bug, read
+        <http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
+        following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
+           #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
     My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.
         The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not
         set correctly, or you specified a preeditStyle that is not supported
         by your input method. For example, if you specified OverTheSpot and
         your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose
         As you might have guessed, FreeBSD does neither define this symobl
         nor does it support it. Instead, it uses it's own internal
         representation of wchar_t. This is, of course, completely fine with
         respect to standards.
+        However, that means rxvt-unicode only works in "POSIX", "ISO-8859-1"
+        and "UTF-8" locales under FreeBSD (which all use Unicode as wchar_t.
-        However, "__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support
+        "__STDC_ISO_10646__" is the only sane way to support multi-language
-        multi-language apps in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and
+        apps in an OS, as using a locale-dependent (and non-standardized)
-        non-standardized) representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to
+        representation of wchar_t makes it impossible to convert between
-        convert between wchar_t (as used by X11 and your applications) and
+        wchar_t (as used by X11 and your applications) and any other
-        any other encoding without implementing OS-specific-wrappers for
+        encoding without implementing OS-specific-wrappers for each and
-        each and every locale. There simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t
+        every locale. There simply are no APIs to convert wchar_t into
-        into anything except the current locale encoding.
+        anything except the current locale encoding.
         Some applications (such as the formidable mlterm) work around this
         by carrying their own replacement functions for character set
         handling with them, and either implementing OS-dependent hacks or
         doing multiple conversions (which is slow and unreliable in case the
         emulator).
         The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in
         the system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app
         to carry complete replacements for them :)
+    I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.
+        Try the diff in doc/solaris9.patch as a base. It fixes the worst
+        problems with "wcwidth" and a compile problem.
+    How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?
+        rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
+        the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
+        longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
+        single font). I recommend starting the X-server in "-multiwindow" or
+        "-rootless" mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as
+        the old libW11 emulation.
+        At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any
+        multi-byte encodings (you might try "LC_CTYPE=C-UTF-8"), so you are
+        likely limited to 8-bit encodings.
     How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?
     Is there an option to switch encodings?
         Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch,
         and no specific "utf-8" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't
         Now you can start your terminal with "LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF-8" and
         still use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not
         be able to input characters outside "EUC-JP" in a normal way then,
         as your input method limits you.
+    Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.
+        Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the XIM protocol is racy by
+        design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
+        leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering
+        at exit time. kinput2 (and derived input methods) generally
+        succeeds, while SCIM (or similar input methods) fails. In the end,
+        however, crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides
+        cooperate.
+        So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
     Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?
         Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for
         something you don't use. One thing you should try is to configure
         out all settings that you don't need, for example, Xft support is a
         resource hog by design, when used. Compiling it out ensures that no
         it gets worse, as rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
     Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?
         Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely,
         as it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to
-        disable antialiasing (by appending ":antialiasing=false"), which
+        disable antialiasing (by appending ":antialias=false"), which saves
-        saves lots of memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
+        lots of memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
     Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?
         Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
         fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
         fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It
     Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
         Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
         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
         the standard foreground colour.
            URxvt.color6:       #73f7ff
            URxvt.color14:      #73f7ff
            URxvt.color7:       #e1dddd
            URxvt.color15:      #e1dddd
-    How can I start rxvtd in a race-free way?
+    How can I start urxvtd in a race-free way?
-        Despite it's name, rxvtd is not a real daemon, but more like a
+        Try "urxvtd -f -o", which tells urxvtd to open the display, create
-        server that answers rxvtc's requests, so it doesn't background
+        the listening socket and then fork.
-        itself.
-        To ensure rxvtd is listening on it's socket, you can use the
-        following method to wait for the startup message before continuing:
-          { rxvtd & } | read
     What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
         Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
         BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
         question) there are two standard values that can be used for
         For starting a new rxvt-unicode:
            # 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:
            # use Backspace = ^H
            $ stty erase ^H
         There are some compile-time selections available via configure.
         Unless you have run "configure" with the "--disable-resources"
         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~
            URxvt.keysym.End:           \033[4~
            URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe:  \033<C-'>

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Comparing rxvt-unicode/README.FAQ (file contents): Revision 1.9 by root, Fri Feb 11 18:14:07 2005 UTC vs. Revision 1.20 by root, Sat Dec 24 12:55:17 2005 UTC

Diff Legend

Comparing rxvt-unicode/README.FAQ (file contents):
Revision 1.9 by root, Fri Feb 11 18:14:07 2005 UTC vs.
Revision 1.20 by root, Sat Dec 24 12:55:17 2005 UTC