--- rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.man.in 2005/10/25 20:04:59 1.25 +++ rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.man.in 2005/12/24 12:55:17 1.29 @@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ .\" ======================================================================== .\" .IX Title "rxvt 7" -.TH rxvt 7 "2005-10-25" "5.8" "RXVT-UNICODE" +.TH rxvt 7 "2005-12-24" "6.0" "RXVT-UNICODE" .SH "NAME" RXVT REFERENCE \- FAQ, command sequences and other background information .SH "SYNOPSIS" @@ -158,10 +158,102 @@ . .SH "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS" .IX Header "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS" +.IP "Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?" 4 +.IX Item "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 (\s-1RSS\s0) after startup. Even +with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-disable\-everything\*(C'\fR, this comparison is a bit unfair, as many +features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding conversion, iso14755 etc.) are +already in use in this mode. +.Sp +.Vb 3 +\& text data bss drs rss filename +\& 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything +\& 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything +.Ve +.Sp +When you \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-everything\*(C'\fR (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. +.Sp +.Vb 3 +\& text data bss drs rss filename +\& 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything +\& 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything +.Ve +.Sp +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 \s-1BSS\s0 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 \s-1RSS\s0. Xft indeed is responsible for a lot of \s-1RSS\s0 even when +not used. +.Sp +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. +.Sp +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*. +.IP "Why \*(C+, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?" 4 +.IX Item "Why , 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+. +.Sp +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. +.Sp +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 \s-1GCC\s0. Here is what rxvt links against on my +system with a minimal config: +.Sp +.Vb 4 +\& 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) +.Ve +.Sp +And here is rxvt\-unicode: +.Sp +.Vb 5 +\& 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) +.Ve +.Sp +No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically), +except maybe libX11 :) +.IP "Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt\-unicode?" 4 +.IX Item "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 \fIdoc/rxvt\-tabbed\fR or the upcoming \f(CW\*(C`Gtk2::URxvt\*(C'\fR perl +module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt) terminal as an example +embedding application. .IP "How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?" 4 .IX Item "How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?" The version number is displayed with the usage (\-h). Also the escape -sequence \f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 8 n\*(C'\fR sets the window title to the version number. +sequence \f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 8 n\*(C'\fR sets the window title to the version number. When +using the @@RXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the +daemon. .IP "I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem..." 4 .IX Item "I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem..." The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large @@ -2390,7 +2482,7 @@ \& settable insecure mode \& keysym remapping support \& cursor blinking and underline cursor -\& -embed and -pty-fd options +\& -embed, -pty-fd and -hold options .Ve .IP "\-\-enable\-iso14755 (default: on)" 4 .IX Item "--enable-iso14755 (default: on)" @@ -2428,9 +2520,9 @@ See for details. .IP "\-\-enable\-smart\-resize (default: on)" 4 .IX Item "--enable-smart-resize (default: on)" -Add smart growth/shrink behaviour when changing font size via from hot -keys. This should keep in a fixed position the rxvt corner which is -closest to a corner of the screen. +Add smart growth/shrink behaviour when changing font size via hot +keys. This should keep the window corner which is closest to a corner of +the screen in a fixed position. .IP "\-\-enable\-pointer\-blank (default: on)" 4 .IX Item "--enable-pointer-blank (default: on)" Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive.