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155.PP 155.PP
156The newest version of this document is also available on the World Wide Web at 156The newest version of this document is also available on the World Wide Web at
157<http://cvs.schmorp.de/browse/*checkout*/rxvt\-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.html>. 157<http://cvs.schmorp.de/browse/*checkout*/rxvt\-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.html>.
158.SH "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS" 158.SH "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS"
159.IX Header "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS" 159.IX Header "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS"
160.Sh "The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?" 160.Sh "Meta, Features & Commandline Issues"
161.IX Subsection "The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?" 161.IX Subsection "Meta, Features & Commandline Issues"
162If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following 162\fIMy question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?\fR
163setting: 163.IX Subsection "My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?"
164.PP
165Before sending me mail, you could go to \s-1IRC:\s0 \f(CW\*(C`irc.freenode.net\*(C'\fR,
166channel \f(CW\*(C`#rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
167interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
168.PP
169\fIDoes it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt\-unicode?\fR
170.IX Subsection "Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?"
171.PP
172Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a
173simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these should
174give you tabs:
164.PP 175.PP
165.Vb 1 176.Vb 1
166\& URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+) 177\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -pe tabbed
167.Ve 178.Ve
168.PP
169If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended
170more and more.
171.PP
172To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this pattern:
173.PP 179.PP
174.Vb 1 180.Vb 1
175\& URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\e\e\e\e]^`{|})]+) 181\& URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed
176.Ve 182.Ve
177.PP 183.PP
178Please also note that the \fILeftClick Shift-LeftClik\fR combination also 184It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window managers
179selects words like the old code. 185or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be
180.Sh "I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?" 186embedded into other programs, as witnessed by \fIdoc/rxvt\-tabbed\fR or
181.IX Subsection "I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?" 187the upcoming \f(CW\*(C`Gtk2::URxvt\*(C'\fR perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
182You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the 188(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
183\&\fBperl-ext-common\fR resource to the empty string, which also keeps
184rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
185.PP 189.PP
186If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to 190\fIHow do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?\fR
187identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section 191.IX Subsection "How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?"
188\&\fB\s-1PREPACKAGED\s0 \s-1EXTENSIONS\s0\fR in the @@RXVT_NAME@@\fIperl\fR\|(3) manpage. For
189example, to disable the \fBselection-popup\fR and \fBoption-popup\fR, specify
190this \fBperl-ext-common\fR resource:
191.PP 192.PP
193The version number is displayed with the usage (\-h). Also the escape
194sequence \f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 8 n\*(C'\fR sets the window title to the version number. When
195using the @@RXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the
196daemon.
197.PP
198\fIRxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?\fR
199.IX Subsection "Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?"
200.PP
201Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something you
202don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings that
203you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by design,
204when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be loaded
205accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your characters.
206.PP
207Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
208scrollback buffers: Without \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-unicode3\*(C'\fR, rxvt-unicode will use
2096 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
210kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if full)
211use 10 Megabytes of memory. With \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-unicode3\*(C'\fR it gets worse, as
212rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
213.PP
214\fIHow can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?\fR
215.IX Subsection "How can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?"
216.PP
217Try \f(CW\*(C`@@RXVT_NAME@@d \-f \-o\*(C'\fR, which tells @@RXVT_NAME@@d to open the
218display, create the listening socket and then fork.
219.PP
220\fIHow do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc.\fR
221.IX Subsection "How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc."
222.PP
223rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable \*(L"\s-1COLORTERM\s0\*(R", so you can
224check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, \s-1JED\s0, slrn,
225Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide whether or
226not to use color.
227.PP
228\fIHow do I set the correct, full \s-1IP\s0 address for the \s-1DISPLAY\s0 variable?\fR
229.IX Subsection "How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?"
230.PP
231If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with \s-1DISPLAY_IS_IP\s0 and have enabled
232insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
233snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
234wasn't also compiled with \s-1ESCZ_ANSWER\s0 (as assumed in these snippets) then
235the \s-1COLORTERM\s0 variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from a
236regular xterm.
237.PP
238Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
239snippets:
240.PP
192.Vb 1 241.Vb 12
193\& URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup 242\& # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
243\& [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
244\& if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
245\& stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
246\& echo -n '^[Z'
247\& read term_id
248\& stty icanon echo
249\& if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
250\& echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
251\& read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
252\& fi
253\& fi
194.Ve 254.Ve
195.PP 255.PP
196This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup 256\fIHow do I compile the manual pages on my own?\fR
197extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example, 257.IX Subsection "How do I compile the manual pages on my own?"
198scrollback search mode is triggered by \fBM\-s\fR. You can move it to any
199other combination either by setting the \fBsearchable-scrollback\fR resource:
200.PP 258.PP
201.Vb 1 259You need to have a recent version of perl installed as \fI/usr/bin/perl\fR,
202\& URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s 260one that comes with \fIpod2man\fR, \fIpod2text\fR and \fIpod2html\fR. Then go to
203.Ve 261the doc subdirectory and enter \f(CW\*(C`make alldoc\*(C'\fR.
204.Sh "The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?"
205.IX Subsection "The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?"
206See next entry.
207.Sh "During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?"
208.IX Subsection "During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?"
209These are caused by the \f(CW\*(C`readline\*(C'\fR perl extension. Under normal
210circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
211line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
212but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in some
213cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
214.PP 262.PP
215You can permamently switch this feature off by disabling the \f(CW\*(C`readline\*(C'\fR
216extension:
217.PP
218.Vb 1
219\& URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
220.Ve
221.Sh "Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?"
222.IX Subsection "Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?"
223Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
224applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your \s-1OS\s0 loads
225resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
226ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
227\&\fI$HOME/.Xdefaults\fR when no resources are attached to the display.
228.PP
229If you have or use an \fI$HOME/.Xresources\fR file, chances are that
230resources are loaded into your X\-server. In this case, you have to
231re-login after every change (or run \fIxrdb \-merge \f(CI$HOME\fI/.Xresources\fR).
232.PP
233Also consider the form resources have to use:
234.PP
235.Vb 1
236\& URxvt.resource: value
237.Ve
238.PP
239If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
240specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it
241works. If unsure, use the form above.
242.Sh "I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?"
243.IX Subsection "I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?"
244First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt\-unicode, so
245you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you may
246bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a rite
247of passage: ... and you failed.
248.PP
249Here are four ways to get transparency. \fBDo\fR read the manpage and option
250descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt\-unicode. Really, do it!
251.PP
2521. Use inheritPixmap:
253.PP
254.Vb 2
255\& Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
256\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -ip -tint red -sh 40
257.Ve
258.PP
259That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
260support, or you are unable to read.
261.PP
2622. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo\-transparency. This enables you
263to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
264your picture with gimp:
265.PP
266.Vb 2
267\& convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.xpm
268\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -pixmap background.xpm -pe automove-background
269.Ve
270.PP
271That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack \s-1XPM\s0 and Perl support, or you
272are unable to read.
273.PP
2743. Use an \s-1ARGB\s0 visual:
275.PP
276.Vb 1
277\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
278.Ve
279.PP
280This requires \s-1XFT\s0 support, and the support of your X\-server. If that
281doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. \s-1ARGB\s0 visuals aren't
282there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the neccessary
283bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but that
284doesn't mean that your \s-1WM\s0 has the required kludges in place.
285.PP
2864. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
287.PP
288.Vb 2
289\& xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \e
290\& -set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
291.Ve
292.PP
293Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace \f(CW0xc0000000\fR
294by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
295your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
296.Sh "Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?" 263\fIIsn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?\fR
297.IX Subsection "Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?" 264.IX Subsection "Isn't rxvt-unicode supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?"
265.PP
298I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra 266I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
299bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see 267bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
300that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being 268that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being
301compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (\s-1RSS\s0) after startup. Even 269compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (\s-1RSS\s0) after startup. Even
302with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-disable\-everything\*(C'\fR, this comparison is a bit unfair, as many 270with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-disable\-everything\*(C'\fR, this comparison is a bit unfair, as many
… …
336still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like gnome-terminal 304still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like gnome-terminal
337(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra 305(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra
33843180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half a minute of 30643180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half a minute of
339startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares 307startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares
340extremely well *g*. 308extremely well *g*.
309.PP
341.Sh "Why \*(C+, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?" 310\fIWhy \*(C+, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?\fR
342.IX Subsection "Why , isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?" 311.IX Subsection "Why , isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?"
312.PP
343Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had 313Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had
344to write it, and \*(C+ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction 314to write it, and \*(C+ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction
345of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even 315of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even
346shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without \*(C+. 316shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without \*(C+.
347.PP 317.PP
… …
373\& /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000) 343\& /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
374.Ve 344.Ve
375.PP 345.PP
376No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically), 346No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
377except maybe libX11 :) 347except maybe libX11 :)
378.Sh "Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt\-unicode?" 348.Sh "Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues"
379.IX Subsection "Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?" 349.IX Subsection "Rendering, Font & Look and Feel Issues"
380Beginning with version 7.3, there is a perl extension that implements a 350\fII can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?\fR
381simple tabbed terminal. It is installed by default, so any of these should 351.IX Subsection "I can't get transparency working, what am I doing wrong?"
382give you tabs: 352.PP
353First of all, transparency isn't officially supported in rxvt\-unicode, so
354you are mostly on your own. Do not bug the author about it (but you may
355bug everybody else). Also, if you can't get it working consider it a rite
356of passage: ... and you failed.
357.PP
358Here are four ways to get transparency. \fBDo\fR read the manpage and option
359descriptions for the programs mentioned and rxvt\-unicode. Really, do it!
360.PP
3611. Use inheritPixmap:
362.PP
363.Vb 2
364\& Esetroot wallpaper.jpg
365\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -ip -tint red -sh 40
366.Ve
367.PP
368That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack transparency and tinting
369support, or you are unable to read.
370.PP
3712. Use a simple pixmap and emulate pseudo\-transparency. This enables you
372to use effects other than tinting and shading: Just shade/tint/whatever
373your picture with gimp or any other tool:
374.PP
375.Vb 2
376\& convert wallpaper.jpg -blur 20x20 -modulate 30 background.xpm
377\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -pixmap background.xpm -pe automove-background
378.Ve
379.PP
380That works. If you think it doesn't, you lack \s-1XPM\s0 and Perl support, or you
381are unable to read.
382.PP
3833. Use an \s-1ARGB\s0 visual:
383.PP 384.PP
384.Vb 1 385.Vb 1
385\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -pe tabbed 386\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -depth 32 -fg grey90 -bg rgba:0000/0000/4444/cccc
386.Ve 387.Ve
388.PP
389This requires \s-1XFT\s0 support, and the support of your X\-server. If that
390doesn't work for you, blame Xorg and Keith Packard. \s-1ARGB\s0 visuals aren't
391there yet, no matter what they claim. Rxvt-Unicode contains the neccessary
392bugfixes and workarounds for Xft and Xlib to make it work, but that
393doesn't mean that your \s-1WM\s0 has the required kludges in place.
394.PP
3954. Use xcompmgr and let it do the job:
396.PP
397.Vb 2
398\& xprop -frame -f _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 32c \e
399\& -set _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY 0xc0000000
400.Ve
401.PP
402Then click on a window you want to make transparent. Replace \f(CW0xc0000000\fR
403by other values to change the degree of opacity. If it doesn't work and
404your server crashes, you got to keep the pieces.
405.PP
406\fIWhy do some chinese characters look so different than others?\fR
407.IX Subsection "Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?"
408.PP
409This is because there is a difference between script and language \*(--
410rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is,
411as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first
412sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for
413display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many
414chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
415non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese font
416\&\*(-- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font for
417chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
418.PP
419The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font
420list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as
421a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font
422first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first.
423.PP
424In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at
425runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different
426fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this
427has been designed yet).
428.PP
429Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see \*(L"Can I switch the fonts at runtime?\*(R" later in this document).
430.PP
431\fIWhy does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?\fR
432.IX Subsection "Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?"
433.PP
434Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that character
435size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal use might
436contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode will avoid
437these characters. For characters that are just \*(L"a bit\*(R" too wide a special
438\&\*(L"careful\*(R" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent characters.
439.PP
440All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes,
441however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed bounding
442box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct way is to
443ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is wrong in these
444cases).
445.PP
446It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype,
447or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try using
448the \f(CW\*(C`\-lsp\*(C'\fR option to give the font more height. If that doesn't work, you
449might be forced to use a different font.
450.PP
451All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding
452box data is correct.
453.PP
454\fIHow can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?\fR
455.IX Subsection "How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?"
456.PP
457First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
458(\f(CW\*(C`TERM=rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
459make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
460rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
461.PP
462.Vb 2
463\& URxvt.colorBD: white
464\& URxvt.colorIT: green
465.Ve
466.PP
467\fISome programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?\fR
468.IX Subsection "Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?"
469.PP
470For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
471colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard
4728 colours (rxvt\-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of course, to fix
473these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very good reasons.
474.PP
475In the meantime, you can either edit your \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR terminfo
476definition to only claim 8 colour support or use \f(CW\*(C`TERM=rxvt\*(C'\fR, which will
477fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
478.PP
479\fICan I switch the fonts at runtime?\fR
480.IX Subsection "Can I switch the fonts at runtime?"
481.PP
482Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same
483effect as using the \f(CW\*(C`\-fn\*(C'\fR switch, and takes effect immediately:
387.PP 484.PP
388.Vb 1 485.Vb 1
486\& printf '\ee]50;%s\e007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
487.Ve
488.PP
489This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
490japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
491japanese fonts would only be in your way.
492.PP
493You can think of this as a kind of manual \s-1ISO\-2022\s0 switching.
494.PP
495\fIWhy do italic characters look as if clipped?\fR
496.IX Subsection "Why do italic characters look as if clipped?"
497.PP
498Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
499example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font \f(CW\*(C`xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
500Mono\*(C'\fR completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to
501enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
502.PP
503.Vb 2
504\& URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
505\& URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
506.Ve
507.PP
508\fICan I speed up Xft rendering somehow?\fR
509.IX Subsection "Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?"
510.PP
511Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as
512it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
513antialiasing (by appending \f(CW\*(C`:antialias=false\*(C'\fR), which saves lots of
514memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
515.PP
516\fIRxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?\fR
517.IX Subsection "Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?"
518.PP
519Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
520fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
521fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
522antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
523look best that way.
524.PP
525If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
526.PP
527\fIWhat's with this bold/blink stuff?\fR
528.IX Subsection "What's with this bold/blink stuff?"
529.PP
530If no bold colour is set via \f(CW\*(C`colorBD:\*(C'\fR, bold will invert text using the
531standard foreground colour.
532.PP
533For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the
534text blink when compiled with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-blinking\*(C'\fR. with standard
535colours. Without \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-blinking\*(C'\fR, the blink attribute will be
536ignored.
537.PP
538On \s-1ANSI\s0 colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
539foreground/background colors.
540.PP
541color0\-7 are the low-intensity colors.
542.PP
543color8\-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.
544.PP
545\fII don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?\fR
546.IX Subsection "I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?"
547.PP
548You can change the screen colors at run-time using \fI~/.Xdefaults\fR
549resources (or as long\-options).
550.PP
551Here are values that are supposed to resemble a \s-1VGA\s0 screen,
552including the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
553.PP
554.Vb 8
555\& URxvt.color0: #000000
556\& URxvt.color1: #A80000
557\& URxvt.color2: #00A800
558\& URxvt.color3: #A8A800
559\& URxvt.color4: #0000A8
560\& URxvt.color5: #A800A8
561\& URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
562\& URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
563.Ve
564.PP
565.Vb 8
566\& URxvt.color8: #000054
567\& URxvt.color9: #FF0054
568\& URxvt.color10: #00FF54
569\& URxvt.color11: #FFFF54
570\& URxvt.color12: #0000FF
571\& URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
572\& URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
573\& URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
574.Ve
575.PP
576And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by
577me) as \*(L"pretty girly\*(R".
578.PP
579.Vb 18
580\& URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
581\& URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
582\& URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
583\& URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
584\& URxvt.color0: #000000
585\& URxvt.color8: #8b8f93
586\& URxvt.color1: #dc74d1
587\& URxvt.color9: #dc74d1
588\& URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7
589\& URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7
590\& URxvt.color3: #dfe37e
591\& URxvt.color11: #dfe37e
592\& URxvt.color5: #9e88f0
593\& URxvt.color13: #9e88f0
594\& URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
595\& URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
596\& URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
597\& URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
598.Ve
599.PP
600\fIWhy do some characters look so much different than others?\fR
601.IX Subsection "Why do some characters look so much different than others?"
602.PP
603See next entry.
604.PP
605\fIHow does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?\fR
606.IX Subsection "How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?"
607.PP
608Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is
609fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
610your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want
611to display.
612.PP
613\&\fBrxvt-unicode\fR makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement
614font. Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks
615bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
616resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
617intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
618the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
619.PP
620In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list,
621e.g.:
622.PP
623.Vb 1
624\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -fn basefont,font2,font3...
625.Ve
626.PP
627When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base
628font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the
629next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
630search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X\-server.
631.PP
632The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the base
633font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which
634must be the same due to the way terminals work.
635.Sh "Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction"
636.IX Subsection "Keyboard, Mouse & User Interaction"
637\fIThe new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?\fR
638.IX Subsection "The new selection selects pieces that are too big, how can I select single words?"
639.PP
640If you want to select e.g. alphanumeric words, you can use the following
641setting:
642.PP
643.Vb 1
644\& URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([[:word:]]+)
645.Ve
646.PP
647If you click more than twice, the selection will be extended
648more and more.
649.PP
650To get a selection that is very similar to the old code, try this pattern:
651.PP
652.Vb 1
653\& URxvt.selection.pattern-0: ([^"&'()*,;<=>?@[\e\e\e\e]^`{|})]+)
654.Ve
655.PP
656Please also note that the \fILeftClick Shift-LeftClik\fR combination also
657selects words like the old code.
658.PP
659\fII don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?\fR
660.IX Subsection "I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I change/disable it?"
661.PP
662You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
663\&\fBperl-ext-common\fR resource to the empty string, which also keeps
664rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
665.PP
666If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
667identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the section
668\&\fB\s-1PREPACKAGED\s0 \s-1EXTENSIONS\s0\fR in the @@RXVT_NAME@@\fIperl\fR\|(3) manpage. For
669example, to disable the \fBselection-popup\fR and \fBoption-popup\fR, specify
670this \fBperl-ext-common\fR resource:
671.PP
672.Vb 1
673\& URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
674.Ve
675.PP
676This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
677extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
678scrollback search mode is triggered by \fBM\-s\fR. You can move it to any
679other combination either by setting the \fBsearchable-scrollback\fR resource:
680.PP
681.Vb 1
682\& URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
683.Ve
684.PP
685\fIThe cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?\fR
686.IX Subsection "The cursor moves when selecting text in the current input line, how do I switch this off?"
687.PP
688See next entry.
689.PP
690\fIDuring rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?\fR
691.IX Subsection "During rlogin/ssh/telnet/etc. sessions, clicking near the cursor outputs strange escape sequences, how do I fix this?"
692.PP
693These are caused by the \f(CW\*(C`readline\*(C'\fR perl extension. Under normal
694circumstances, it will move your cursor around when you click into the
695line that contains it. It tries hard not to do this at the wrong moment,
696but when running a program that doesn't parse cursor movements or in some
697cases during rlogin sessions, it fails to detect this properly.
698.PP
699You can permamently switch this feature off by disabling the \f(CW\*(C`readline\*(C'\fR
700extension:
701.PP
702.Vb 1
389\& URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,tabbed 703\& URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-readline
390.Ve 704.Ve
391.PP 705.PP
392It will also work fine with tabbing functionality of many window managers 706\fIMy numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?\fR
393or similar tabbing programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be 707.IX Subsection "My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?"
394embedded into other programs, as witnessed by \fIdoc/rxvt\-tabbed\fR or
395the upcoming \f(CW\*(C`Gtk2::URxvt\*(C'\fR perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt
396(murxvt) terminal as an example embedding application.
397.Sh "How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?"
398.IX Subsection "How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?"
399The version number is displayed with the usage (\-h). Also the escape
400sequence \f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 8 n\*(C'\fR sets the window title to the version number. When
401using the @@RXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the
402daemon.
403.Sh "I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem..."
404.IX Subsection "I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem..."
405The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
406patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but
407unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
408the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
409version (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt\-unicode>) and try to reproduce
410the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific to
411Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the Debian Bug
412Tracking System (use \f(CW\*(C`reportbug\*(C'\fR to report the bug).
413.PP 708.PP
414For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 709Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
415probably should use the Debian \s-1BTS\s0, too, because, after all, it's also a 710specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is caused
416bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that 711by the wrong \f(CW\*(C`TERM\*(C'\fR setting, although the details of wether and how
417might encounter the same issue. 712this can happen are unknown, as \f(CW\*(C`TERM=rxvt\*(C'\fR should offer a compatible
418.Sh "I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS \s-1XXX\s0, any recommendation?" 713keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
419.IX Subsection "I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?" 714helped.
420You should build one binary with the default options. \fIconfigure\fR
421now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
422runtime\-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling them,
423except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter should
424be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely more in
425the future) depends on it.
426.PP 715.PP
427You should not overwrite the \f(CW\*(C`perl\-ext\-common\*(C'\fR snd \f(CW\*(C`perl\-ext\*(C'\fR resources 716\fIMy Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working.\fR
428system-wide (except maybe with \f(CW\*(C`defaults\*(C'\fR). This will result in useful 717.IX Subsection "My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working."
429behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
430\&\f(CW\*(C`perl\-ext\-common\*(C'\fR resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
431perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
432.PP 718.PP
433If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal 719The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
434one with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-disable\-everything\*(C'\fR (very useful) and a maximal one with 720correctly, or you specified a \fBpreeditStyle\fR that is not supported by
435\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-everything\*(C'\fR (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of 721your input method. For example, if you specified \fBOverTheSpot\fR and
436encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used). 722your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys)
437.Sh "I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my \s-1OS\s0, is this safe?" 723does not support this (for instance because it is not visual), then
438.IX Subsection "I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?" 724rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
439It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
440install urxvt with privileges necessary for your \s-1OS\s0 now.
441.PP 725.PP
442When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork 726In this case either do not specify a \fBpreeditStyle\fR or specify more than
443into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some 727one pre-edit style, such as \fBOverTheSpot,Root,None\fR.
444systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
445immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
446privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
447things as perl interpreters, which might be \*(L"helpful\*(R" to attackers).
448.PP 728.PP
449This forking is done as the very first within \fImain()\fR, which is very early 729\fII cannot type \f(CI\*(C`Ctrl\-Shift\-2\*(C'\fI to get an \s-1ASCII\s0 \s-1NUL\s0 character due to \s-1ISO\s0 14755\fR
450and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before \fImain()\fR, or 730.IX Subsection "I cannot type Ctrl-Shift-2 to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755"
451things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should result in very 731.PP
452little risk. 732Either try \f(CW\*(C`Ctrl\-2\*(C'\fR alone (it often is mapped to \s-1ASCII\s0 \s-1NUL\s0 even on
733international keyboards) or simply use \s-1ISO\s0 14755 support to your
734advantage, typing <Ctrl\-Shift\-0> to get a \s-1ASCII\s0 \s-1NUL\s0. This works for other
735codes, too, such as \f(CW\*(C`Ctrl\-Shift\-1\-d\*(C'\fR to type the default telnet escape
736character and so on.
737.PP
738\fIMouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.\fR
739.IX Subsection "Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works."
740.PP
741Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
742some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
743heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A
744quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
745depressed.
746.PP
747\fIWhat's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?\fR
748.IX Subsection "What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?"
749.PP
750Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
751BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
752question) there are two standard values that can be used for
753Backspace: \f(CW\*(C`^H\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`^?\*(C'\fR.
754.PP
755Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the debian
756policy of using \f(CW\*(C`^?\*(C'\fR when unsure, because it's the one only only correct
757choice :).
758.PP
759Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value
760of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode wasn't
761started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the
762system value of `erase', which corresponds to \s-1CERASE\s0 in <termios.h>, will
763be used (which may not be the same as your stty setting).
764.PP
765For starting a new rxvt\-unicode:
766.PP
767.Vb 3
768\& # use Backspace = ^H
769\& $ stty erase ^H
770\& $ @@RXVT_NAME@@
771.Ve
772.PP
773.Vb 3
774\& # use Backspace = ^?
775\& $ stty erase ^?
776\& $ @@RXVT_NAME@@
777.Ve
778.PP
779Toggle with \f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 36 h\*(C'\fR / \f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 36 l\*(C'\fR.
780.PP
781For an existing rxvt\-unicode:
782.PP
783.Vb 3
784\& # use Backspace = ^H
785\& $ stty erase ^H
786\& $ echo -n "^[[36h"
787.Ve
788.PP
789.Vb 3
790\& # use Backspace = ^?
791\& $ stty erase ^?
792\& $ echo -n "^[[36l"
793.Ve
794.PP
795This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
796if you use Backspace = \f(CW\*(C`^H\*(C'\fR, make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
797properly reflects that.
798.PP
799The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace problem.
800To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys, the Delete
801key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the vt100 for Execute
802(\f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 3 ~\*(C'\fR) and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo.
803.PP
804Some other Backspace problems:
805.PP
806some editors use termcap/terminfo,
807some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H,
808\&\s-1GNU\s0 Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
809.PP
810Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
811.PP
812\fII don't like the key\-bindings. How do I change them?\fR
813.IX Subsection "I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?"
814.PP
815There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
816you have run \*(L"configure\*(R" with the \f(CW\*(C`\-\-disable\-resources\*(C'\fR option you can
817use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms.
818.PP
819Here's an example for a URxvt session started using \f(CW\*(C`@@RXVT_NAME@@ \-name URxvt\*(C'\fR
820.PP
821.Vb 20
822\& URxvt.keysym.Home: \e033[1~
823\& URxvt.keysym.End: \e033[4~
824\& URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \e033<C-'>
825\& URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \e033<C-/>
826\& URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \e033<C-;>
827\& URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \e033<C-`>
828\& URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \e033<C-,>
829\& URxvt.keysym.C-period: \e033<C-.>
830\& URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \e033<C-`>
831\& URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \e033<C-Tab>
832\& URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \e033<C-Return>
833\& URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \e033<S-Return>
834\& URxvt.keysym.S-space: \e033<S-Space>
835\& URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \e033<M-Up>
836\& URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \e033<M-Down>
837\& URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \e033<M-Left>
838\& URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \e033<M-Right>
839\& URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \e033<M-C- 0123456789 >
840\& URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \e033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
841\& URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\e033]701;zh_CN.GBK\e007
842.Ve
843.PP
844See some more examples in the documentation for the \fBkeysym\fR resource.
845.PP
846\fII'm using keyboard model \s-1XXX\s0 that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following map\fR
847.IX Subsection "I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following map"
848.PP
849.Vb 6
850\& KP_Insert == Insert
851\& F22 == Print
852\& F27 == Home
853\& F29 == Prior
854\& F33 == End
855\& F35 == Next
856.Ve
857.PP
858Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various possible
859keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as
860required for your particular machine.
861.Sh "Terminal Configuration"
862.IX Subsection "Terminal Configuration"
863\fIWhy doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?\fR
864.IX Subsection "Why doesn't rxvt-unicode read my resources?"
865.PP
866Well, why, indeed? It does, in a way very similar to other X
867applications. Most importantly, this means that if you or your \s-1OS\s0 loads
868resources into the X display (the right way to do it), rxvt-unicode will
869ignore any resource files in your home directory. It will only read
870\&\fI$HOME/.Xdefaults\fR when no resources are attached to the display.
871.PP
872If you have or use an \fI$HOME/.Xresources\fR file, chances are that
873resources are loaded into your X\-server. In this case, you have to
874re-login after every change (or run \fIxrdb \-merge \f(CI$HOME\fI/.Xresources\fR).
875.PP
876Also consider the form resources have to use:
877.PP
878.Vb 1
879\& URxvt.resource: value
880.Ve
881.PP
882If you want to use another form (there are lots of different ways of
883specifying resources), make sure you understand wether and why it
884works. If unsure, use the form above.
885.PP
453.Sh "When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?" 886\fIWhen I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?\fR
454.IX Subsection "When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?" 887.IX Subsection "When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?"
888.PP
455The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available 889The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely available
456as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises). 890as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same problem often arises).
457.PP 891.PP
458The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this can 892The correct solution for this problem is to install the terminfo, this can
459be done like this (with ncurses' infocmp): 893be done like this (with ncurses' infocmp):
… …
479\& URxvt.termName: rxvt 913\& URxvt.termName: rxvt
480.Ve 914.Ve
481.PP 915.PP
482If you don't plan to use \fBrxvt\fR (quite common...) you could also replace 916If you don't plan to use \fBrxvt\fR (quite common...) you could also replace
483the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one. 917the rxvt terminfo file with the rxvt-unicode one.
484.ie n .Sh """tic"" outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry." 918.PP
485.el .Sh "\f(CWtic\fP outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry." 919\fI\f(CI\*(C`tic\*(C'\fI outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry.\fR
486.IX Subsection "tic outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry." 920.IX Subsection "tic outputs some error when compiling the terminfo entry."
921.PP
487Most likely it's the empty definition for \f(CW\*(C`enacs=\*(C'\fR. Just replace it by 922Most likely it's the empty definition for \f(CW\*(C`enacs=\*(C'\fR. Just replace it by
488\&\f(CW\*(C`enacs=\eE[0@\*(C'\fR and try again. 923\&\f(CW\*(C`enacs=\eE[0@\*(C'\fR and try again.
489.ie n .Sh """bash""'s readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@." 924.PP
490.el .Sh "\f(CWbash\fP's readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@." 925\fI\f(CI\*(C`bash\*(C'\fI's readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@.\fR
491.IX Subsection "bash's readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@." 926.IX Subsection "bash's readline does not work correctly under @@RXVT_NAME@@."
927.PP
492See next entry. 928See next entry.
929.PP
493.Sh "I need a termcap file entry." 930\fII need a termcap file entry.\fR
494.IX Subsection "I need a termcap file entry." 931.IX Subsection "I need a termcap file entry."
932.PP
495One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating 933One reason you might want this is that some distributions or operating
496systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap 934systems still compile some programs using the long-obsoleted termcap
497library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry 935library (Fedora Core's bash is one example) and rely on a termcap entry
498for \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR. 936for \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR.
499.PP 937.PP
… …
527\& :sc=\eE7:se=\eE[27m:sf=^J:so=\eE[7m:sr=\eEM:st=\eEH:ta=^I:\e 965\& :sc=\eE7:se=\eE[27m:sf=^J:so=\eE[7m:sr=\eEM:st=\eEH:ta=^I:\e
528\& :te=\eE[r\eE[?1049l:ti=\eE[?1049h:ue=\eE[24m:up=\eE[A:\e 966\& :te=\eE[r\eE[?1049l:ti=\eE[?1049h:ue=\eE[24m:up=\eE[A:\e
529\& :us=\eE[4m:vb=\eE[?5h\eE[?5l:ve=\eE[?25h:vi=\eE[?25l:\e 967\& :us=\eE[4m:vb=\eE[?5h\eE[?5l:ve=\eE[?25h:vi=\eE[?25l:\e
530\& :vs=\eE[?25h: 968\& :vs=\eE[?25h:
531.Ve 969.Ve
532.ie n .Sh "Why does ""ls"" no longer have coloured output?" 970.PP
533.el .Sh "Why does \f(CWls\fP no longer have coloured output?" 971\fIWhy does \f(CI\*(C`ls\*(C'\fI no longer have coloured output?\fR
534.IX Subsection "Why does ls no longer have coloured output?" 972.IX Subsection "Why does ls no longer have coloured output?"
973.PP
535The \f(CW\*(C`ls\*(C'\fR in the \s-1GNU\s0 coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to 974The \f(CW\*(C`ls\*(C'\fR in the \s-1GNU\s0 coreutils unfortunately doesn't use terminfo to
536decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration 975decide wether a terminal has colour, but uses it's own configuration
537file. Needless to say, \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR is not in it's default file (among 976file. Needless to say, \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR is not in it's default file (among
538with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add: 977with most other terminals supporting colour). Either add:
539.PP 978.PP
… …
546.Vb 1 985.Vb 1
547\& alias ls='ls --color=auto' 986\& alias ls='ls --color=auto'
548.Ve 987.Ve
549.PP 988.PP
550to your \f(CW\*(C`.profile\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`.bashrc\*(C'\fR. 989to your \f(CW\*(C`.profile\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`.bashrc\*(C'\fR.
990.PP
551.Sh "Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?" 991\fIWhy doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?\fR
552.IX Subsection "Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?" 992.IX Subsection "Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. use the 88 colour mode?"
993.PP
553See next entry. 994See next entry.
995.PP
554.Sh "Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?" 996\fIWhy doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?\fR
555.IX Subsection "Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?" 997.IX Subsection "Why doesn't vim/emacs etc. make use of italic?"
998.PP
556See next entry. 999See next entry.
1000.PP
557.Sh "Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?" 1001\fIWhy are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?\fR
558.IX Subsection "Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?" 1002.IX Subsection "Why are the secondary screen-related options not working properly?"
1003.PP
559Make sure you are using \f(CW\*(C`TERM=rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR. Some pre-packaged 1004Make sure you are using \f(CW\*(C`TERM=rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR. Some pre-packaged
560distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode 1005distributions (most notably Debian GNU/Linux) break rxvt-unicode
561by setting \f(CW\*(C`TERM\*(C'\fR to \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\*(C'\fR, which doesn't have these extra 1006by setting \f(CW\*(C`TERM\*(C'\fR to \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\*(C'\fR, which doesn't have these extra
562features. Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian 1007features. Unfortunately, some of these (most notably, again, Debian
563GNU/Linux) furthermore fail to even install the \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR terminfo 1008GNU/Linux) furthermore fail to even install the \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR terminfo
564file, so you will need to install it on your own (See the question \fBWhen 1009file, so you will need to install it on your own (See the question \fBWhen
565I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?\fR on 1010I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?\fR on
566how to do this). 1011how to do this).
567.Sh "My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?" 1012.Sh "Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues"
568.IX Subsection "My numerical keypad acts weird and generates differing output?" 1013.IX Subsection "Encoding / Locale / Input Method Issues"
569Some Debian GNUL/Linux users seem to have this problem, although no
570specific details were reported so far. It is possible that this is caused
571by the wrong \f(CW\*(C`TERM\*(C'\fR setting, although the details of wether and how
572this can happen are unknown, as \f(CW\*(C`TERM=rxvt\*(C'\fR should offer a compatible
573keymap. See the answer to the previous question, and please report if that
574helped.
575.Sh "Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?" 1014\fIRxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?\fR
576.IX Subsection "Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?" 1015.IX Subsection "Rxvt-unicode does not seem to understand the selected encoding?"
1016.PP
577See next entry. 1017See next entry.
1018.PP
578.Sh "Unicode does not seem to work?" 1019\fIUnicode does not seem to work?\fR
579.IX Subsection "Unicode does not seem to work?" 1020.IX Subsection "Unicode does not seem to work?"
1021.PP
580If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but 1022If you encounter strange problems like typing an accented character but
581getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is 1023getting two unrelated other characters or similar, or if program output is
582subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings. 1024subtly garbled, then you should check your locale settings.
583.PP 1025.PP
584Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR setting as the 1026Rxvt-unicode must be started with the same \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR setting as the
… …
606Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system. 1048Then the locale you specified is not supported on your system.
607.PP 1049.PP
608If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then 1050If nothing works and you are sure that everything is set correctly then
609you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't 1051you will need to remember a little known fact: Some programs just don't
610support locales :( 1052support locales :(
611.Sh "Why do some characters look so much different than others?" 1053.PP
612.IX Subsection "Why do some characters look so much different than others?" 1054\fIHow does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?\fR
1055.IX Subsection "How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?"
1056.PP
613See next entry. 1057See next entry.
614.Sh "How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?"
615.IX Subsection "How does rxvt-unicode choose fonts?"
616Most fonts do not contain the full range of Unicode, which is
617fine. Chances are that the font you (or the admin/package maintainer of
618your system/os) have specified does not cover all the characters you want
619to display.
620.PP 1058.PP
621\&\fBrxvt-unicode\fR makes a best-effort try at finding a replacement 1059\fIIs there an option to switch encodings?\fR
622font. Often the result is fine, but sometimes the chosen font looks 1060.IX Subsection "Is there an option to switch encodings?"
623bad/ugly/wrong. Some fonts have totally strange characters that don't
624resemble the correct glyph at all, and rxvt-unicode lacks the artificial
625intelligence to detect that a specific glyph is wrong: it has to believe
626the font that the characters it claims to contain indeed look correct.
627.PP 1061.PP
628In that case, select a font of your taste and add it to the font list, 1062Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
629e.g.: 1063specific \*(L"utf\-8\*(R" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
1064\&\s-1UTF\-8\s0 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
1065.PP
1066The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for selecting
1067the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating this to all
1068applications so everybody agrees on character properties such as width
1069and code number. This mechanism is the \fIlocale\fR. Applications not using
1070that info will have problems (for example, \f(CW\*(C`xterm\*(C'\fR gets the width of
1071characters wrong as it uses it's own, locale-independent table under all
1072locales).
1073.PP
1074Rxvt-unicode uses the \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR locale category to select encoding. All
1075programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
1076interpretation of characters.
1077.PP
1078Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
1079is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
1080.PP
1081On most systems, the content of the \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR environment variable
1082contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
1083locale. Common names for locales are \f(CW\*(C`en_US.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`de_DE.ISO\-8859\-15\*(C'\fR,
1084\&\f(CW\*(C`ja_JP.EUC\-JP\*(C'\fR, i.e. \f(CW\*(C`language_country.encoding\*(C'\fR, but other forms
1085(i.e. \f(CW\*(C`de\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`german\*(C'\fR) are also common.
1086.PP
1087Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for
1088the encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings,
1089i.e. \f(CW\*(C`de_DE.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`ja_JP.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR are the normally same to
1090rxvt\-unicode.
1091.PP
1092If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
1093rxvt-unicode with the correct \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR category.
1094.PP
1095\fICan I switch locales at runtime?\fR
1096.IX Subsection "Can I switch locales at runtime?"
1097.PP
1098Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
1099rxvt\-unicode's idea of \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR.
630.PP 1100.PP
631.Vb 1 1101.Vb 1
632\& @@RXVT_NAME@@ -fn basefont,font2,font3... 1102\& printf '\ee]701;%s\e007' ja_JP.SJIS
633.Ve 1103.Ve
634.PP 1104.PP
635When rxvt-unicode sees a character, it will first look at the base 1105See also the previous answer.
636font. If the base font does not contain the character, it will go to the
637next font, and so on. Specifying your own fonts will also speed up this
638search and use less resources within rxvt-unicode and the X\-server.
639.PP 1106.PP
640The only limitation is that none of the fonts may be larger than the base 1107Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
641font, as the base font defines the terminal character cell size, which 1108one locale (e.g. \f(CW\*(C`de_DE.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR) but some programs don't support it
642must be the same due to the way terminals work. 1109(e.g. \s-1UTF\-8\s0). For example, I use this script to start \f(CW\*(C`xjdic\*(C'\fR, which
643.Sh "Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?" 1110first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
644.IX Subsection "Why do some chinese characters look so different than others?"
645This is because there is a difference between script and language \*(--
646rxvt-unicode does not know which language the text that is output is,
647as it only knows the unicode character codes. If rxvt-unicode first
648sees a japanese/chinese character, it might choose a japanese font for
649display. Subsequent japanese characters will use that font. Now, many
650chinese characters aren't represented in japanese fonts, so when the first
651non-japanese character comes up, rxvt-unicode will look for a chinese font
652\&\*(-- unfortunately at this point, it will still use the japanese font for
653chinese characters that are also in the japanese font.
654.PP 1111.PP
655The workaround is easy: just tag a chinese font at the end of your font 1112.Vb 3
656list (see the previous question). The key is to view the font list as 1113\& printf '\ee]701;%s\e007' ja_JP.SJIS
657a preference list: If you expect more japanese, list a japanese font 1114\& xjdic -js
658first. If you expect more chinese, put a chinese font first. 1115\& printf '\ee]701;%s\e007' de_DE.UTF-8
1116.Ve
659.PP 1117.PP
660In the future it might be possible to switch language preferences at 1118You can also use xterm's \f(CW\*(C`luit\*(C'\fR program, which usually works fine, except
661runtime (the internal data structure has no problem with using different 1119for some locales where character width differs between program\- and
662fonts for the same character at the same time, but no interface for this 1120rxvt\-unicode\-locales.
663has been designed yet).
664.PP 1121.PP
665Until then, you might get away with switching fonts at runtime (see \*(L"Can I switch the fonts at runtime?\*(R" later in this document). 1122\fIMy input method wants <some encoding> but I want \s-1UTF\-8\s0, what can I do?\fR
666.Sh "Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?" 1123.IX Subsection "My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?"
667.IX Subsection "Why does rxvt-unicode sometimes leave pixel droppings?"
668Most fonts were not designed for terminal use, which means that character
669size varies a lot. A font that is otherwise fine for terminal use might
670contain some characters that are simply too wide. Rxvt-unicode will avoid
671these characters. For characters that are just \*(L"a bit\*(R" too wide a special
672\&\*(L"careful\*(R" rendering mode is used that redraws adjacent characters.
673.PP 1124.PP
674All of this requires that fonts do not lie about character sizes, 1125You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of the
675however: Xft fonts often draw glyphs larger than their acclaimed bounding 1126terminal, using the resource \f(CW\*(C`imlocale\*(C'\fR:
676box, and rxvt-unicode has no way of detecting this (the correct way is to
677ask for the character bounding box, which unfortunately is wrong in these
678cases).
679.PP 1127.PP
680It's not clear (to me at least), wether this is a bug in Xft, freetype, 1128.Vb 1
681or the respective font. If you encounter this problem you might try using 1129\& URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
682the \f(CW\*(C`\-lsp\*(C'\fR option to give the font more height. If that doesn't work, you 1130.Ve
683might be forced to use a different font.
684.PP 1131.PP
685All of this is not a problem when using X11 core fonts, as their bounding 1132Now you can start your terminal with \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR and still
686box data is correct. 1133use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able to
1134input characters outside \f(CW\*(C`EUC\-JP\*(C'\fR in a normal way then, as your input
1135method limits you.
1136.PP
1137\fIRxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits.\fR
1138.IX Subsection "Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits."
1139.PP
1140Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the \s-1XIM\s0 protocol is racy by
1141design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
1142leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
1143exit time. \fBkinput2\fR (and derived input methods) generally succeeds,
1144while \fB\s-1SCIM\s0\fR (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however,
1145crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
1146.PP
1147So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
1148.Sh "Operating Systems / Package Maintaining"
1149.IX Subsection "Operating Systems / Package Maintaining"
1150\fII am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...\fR
1151.IX Subsection "I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem..."
1152.PP
1153The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
1154patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode (but
1155unfortunately this notice has been removed). Before reporting a bug to
1156the original rxvt-unicode author please download and install the genuine
1157version (<http://software.schmorp.de#rxvt\-unicode>) and try to reproduce
1158the problem. If you cannot, chances are that the problems are specific to
1159Debian GNU/Linux, in which case it should be reported via the Debian Bug
1160Tracking System (use \f(CW\*(C`reportbug\*(C'\fR to report the bug).
1161.PP
1162For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and
1163probably should use the Debian \s-1BTS\s0, too, because, after all, it's also a
1164bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for other users that
1165might encounter the same issue.
1166.PP
1167\fII am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS \s-1XXX\s0, any recommendation?\fR
1168.IX Subsection "I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any recommendation?"
1169.PP
1170You should build one binary with the default options. \fIconfigure\fR
1171now enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
1172runtime\-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling them,
1173except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl interpreter should
1174be enabled, as important functionality (menus, selection, likely more in
1175the future) depends on it.
1176.PP
1177You should not overwrite the \f(CW\*(C`perl\-ext\-common\*(C'\fR snd \f(CW\*(C`perl\-ext\*(C'\fR resources
1178system-wide (except maybe with \f(CW\*(C`defaults\*(C'\fR). This will result in useful
1179behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory, add an empty
1180\&\f(CW\*(C`perl\-ext\-common\*(C'\fR resource to the app-defaults file. This will keep the
1181perl interpreter disabled until the user enables it.
1182.PP
1183If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal
1184one with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-disable\-everything\*(C'\fR (very useful) and a maximal one with
1185\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-everything\*(C'\fR (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot of
1186encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely used).
1187.PP
1188\fII need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my \s-1OS\s0, is this safe?\fR
1189.IX Subsection "I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this safe?"
1190.PP
1191It should be, starting with release 7.1. You are encouraged to properly
1192install urxvt with privileges necessary for your \s-1OS\s0 now.
1193.PP
1194When rxvt-unicode detects that it runs setuid or setgid, it will fork
1195into a helper process for privileged operations (pty handling on some
1196systems, utmp/wtmp/lastlog handling on others) and drop privileges
1197immediately. This is much safer than most other terminals that keep
1198privileges while running (but is more relevant to urxvt, as it contains
1199things as perl interpreters, which might be \*(L"helpful\*(R" to attackers).
1200.PP
1201This forking is done as the very first within \fImain()\fR, which is very early
1202and reduces possible bugs to initialisation code run before \fImain()\fR, or
1203things like the dynamic loader of your system, which should result in very
1204little risk.
1205.PP
687.Sh "On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide." 1206\fIOn Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide.\fR
688.IX Subsection "On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide." 1207.IX Subsection "On Solaris 9, many line-drawing characters are too wide."
1208.PP
689Seems to be a known bug, read 1209Seems to be a known bug, read
690<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the 1210<http://nixdoc.net/files/forum/about34198.html>. Some people use the
691following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working: 1211following ugly workaround to get non-double-wide-characters working:
692.PP 1212.PP
693.Vb 1 1213.Vb 1
694\& #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x) 1214\& #define wcwidth(x) wcwidth(x) > 1 ? 1 : wcwidth(x)
695.Ve 1215.Ve
696.Sh "My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working."
697.IX Subsection "My Compose (Multi_key) key is no longer working."
698The most common causes for this are that either your locale is not set
699correctly, or you specified a \fBpreeditStyle\fR that is not supported by
700your input method. For example, if you specified \fBOverTheSpot\fR and
701your input method (e.g. the default input method handling Compose keys)
702does not support this (for instance because it is not visual), then
703rxvt-unicode will continue without an input method.
704.PP 1216.PP
705In this case either do not specify a \fBpreeditStyle\fR or specify more than
706one pre-edit style, such as \fBOverTheSpot,Root,None\fR.
707.ie n .Sh "I cannot type ""Ctrl\-Shift\-2"" to get an \s-1ASCII\s0 \s-1NUL\s0 character due to \s-1ISO\s0 14755"
708.el .Sh "I cannot type \f(CWCtrl\-Shift\-2\fP to get an \s-1ASCII\s0 \s-1NUL\s0 character due to \s-1ISO\s0 14755"
709.IX Subsection "I cannot type Ctrl-Shift-2 to get an ASCII NUL character due to ISO 14755"
710Either try \f(CW\*(C`Ctrl\-2\*(C'\fR alone (it often is mapped to \s-1ASCII\s0 \s-1NUL\s0 even on
711international keyboards) or simply use \s-1ISO\s0 14755 support to your
712advantage, typing <Ctrl\-Shift\-0> to get a \s-1ASCII\s0 \s-1NUL\s0. This works for other
713codes, too, such as \f(CW\*(C`Ctrl\-Shift\-1\-d\*(C'\fR to type the default telnet escape
714character and so on.
715.Sh "How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?"
716.IX Subsection "How can I keep rxvt-unicode from using reverse video so much?"
717First of all, make sure you are running with the right terminal settings
718(\f(CW\*(C`TERM=rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR), which will get rid of most of these effects. Then
719make sure you have specified colours for italic and bold, as otherwise
720rxvt-unicode might use reverse video to simulate the effect:
721.PP
722.Vb 2
723\& URxvt.colorBD: white
724\& URxvt.colorIT: green
725.Ve
726.Sh "Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?"
727.IX Subsection "Some programs assume totally weird colours (red instead of blue), how can I fix that?"
728For some unexplainable reason, some rare programs assume a very weird
729colour palette when confronted with a terminal with more than the standard
7308 colours (rxvt\-unicode supports 88). The right fix is, of course, to fix
731these programs not to assume non-ISO colours without very good reasons.
732.PP
733In the meantime, you can either edit your \f(CW\*(C`rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR terminfo
734definition to only claim 8 colour support or use \f(CW\*(C`TERM=rxvt\*(C'\fR, which will
735fix colours but keep you from using other rxvt-unicode features.
736.Sh "I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all." 1217\fII am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all.\fR
737.IX Subsection "I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all." 1218.IX Subsection "I am on FreeBSD and rxvt-unicode does not seem to work at all."
1219.PP
738Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol \f(CW\*(C`_\|_STDC_ISO_10646_\|_\*(C'\fR to be defined 1220Rxvt-unicode requires the symbol \f(CW\*(C`_\|_STDC_ISO_10646_\|_\*(C'\fR to be defined
739in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it, 1221in your compile environment, or an implementation that implements it,
740wether it defines the symbol or not. \f(CW\*(C`_\|_STDC_ISO_10646_\|_\*(C'\fR requires that 1222wether it defines the symbol or not. \f(CW\*(C`_\|_STDC_ISO_10646_\|_\*(C'\fR requires that
741\&\fBwchar_t\fR is represented as unicode. 1223\&\fBwchar_t\fR is represented as unicode.
742.PP 1224.PP
… …
762encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator). 1244encodings slightly different than the terminal emulator).
763.PP 1245.PP
764The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the 1246The rxvt-unicode author insists that the right way to fix this is in the
765system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry 1247system libraries once and for all, instead of forcing every app to carry
766complete replacements for them :) 1248complete replacements for them :)
1249.PP
767.Sh "I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc." 1250\fII use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc.\fR
768.IX Subsection "I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc." 1251.IX Subsection "I use Solaris 9 and it doesn't compile/work/etc."
1252.PP
769Try the diff in \fIdoc/solaris9.patch\fR as a base. It fixes the worst 1253Try the diff in \fIdoc/solaris9.patch\fR as a base. It fixes the worst
770problems with \f(CW\*(C`wcwidth\*(C'\fR and a compile problem. 1254problems with \f(CW\*(C`wcwidth\*(C'\fR and a compile problem.
1255.PP
771.Sh "How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?" 1256\fIHow can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?\fR
772.IX Subsection "How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?" 1257.IX Subsection "How can I use rxvt-unicode under cygwin?"
1258.PP
773rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using 1259rxvt-unicode should compile and run out of the box on cygwin, using
774the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no 1260the X11 libraries that come with cygwin. libW11 emulation is no
775longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a 1261longer supported (and makes no sense, either, as it only supported a
776single font). I recommend starting the X\-server in \f(CW\*(C`\-multiwindow\*(C'\fR or 1262single font). I recommend starting the X\-server in \f(CW\*(C`\-multiwindow\*(C'\fR or
777\&\f(CW\*(C`\-rootless\*(C'\fR mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the 1263\&\f(CW\*(C`\-rootless\*(C'\fR mode instead, which will result in similar look&feel as the
778old libW11 emulation. 1264old libW11 emulation.
779.PP 1265.PP
780At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any multi-byte 1266At the time of this writing, cygwin didn't seem to support any multi-byte
781encodings (you might try \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE=C\-UTF\-8\*(C'\fR), so you are likely limited 1267encodings (you might try \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE=C\-UTF\-8\*(C'\fR), so you are likely limited
782to 8\-bit encodings. 1268to 8\-bit encodings.
783.Sh "How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?"
784.IX Subsection "How does rxvt-unicode determine the encoding to use?"
785See next entry.
786.Sh "Is there an option to switch encodings?"
787.IX Subsection "Is there an option to switch encodings?"
788Unlike some other terminals, rxvt-unicode has no encoding switch, and no
789specific \*(L"utf\-8\*(R" mode, such as xterm. In fact, it doesn't even know about
790\&\s-1UTF\-8\s0 or any other encodings with respect to terminal I/O.
791.PP
792The reasons is that there exists a perfectly fine mechanism for selecting
793the encoding, doing I/O and (most important) communicating this to all
794applications so everybody agrees on character properties such as width
795and code number. This mechanism is the \fIlocale\fR. Applications not using
796that info will have problems (for example, \f(CW\*(C`xterm\*(C'\fR gets the width of
797characters wrong as it uses it's own, locale-independent table under all
798locales).
799.PP
800Rxvt-unicode uses the \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR locale category to select encoding. All
801programs doing the same (that is, most) will automatically agree in the
802interpretation of characters.
803.PP
804Unfortunately, there is no system-independent way to select locales, nor
805is there a standard on how locale specifiers will look like.
806.PP
807On most systems, the content of the \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR environment variable
808contains an arbitrary string which corresponds to an already-installed
809locale. Common names for locales are \f(CW\*(C`en_US.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR, \f(CW\*(C`de_DE.ISO\-8859\-15\*(C'\fR,
810\&\f(CW\*(C`ja_JP.EUC\-JP\*(C'\fR, i.e. \f(CW\*(C`language_country.encoding\*(C'\fR, but other forms
811(i.e. \f(CW\*(C`de\*(C'\fR or \f(CW\*(C`german\*(C'\fR) are also common.
812.PP
813Rxvt-unicode ignores all other locale categories, and except for
814the encoding, ignores country or language-specific settings,
815i.e. \f(CW\*(C`de_DE.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`ja_JP.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR are the normally same to
816rxvt\-unicode.
817.PP
818If you want to use a specific encoding you have to make sure you start
819rxvt-unicode with the correct \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR category.
820.Sh "Can I switch locales at runtime?"
821.IX Subsection "Can I switch locales at runtime?"
822Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which sets
823rxvt\-unicode's idea of \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE\*(C'\fR.
824.PP
825.Vb 1
826\& printf '\ee]701;%s\e007' ja_JP.SJIS
827.Ve
828.PP
829See also the previous answer.
830.PP
831Sometimes this capability is rather handy when you want to work in
832one locale (e.g. \f(CW\*(C`de_DE.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR) but some programs don't support it
833(e.g. \s-1UTF\-8\s0). For example, I use this script to start \f(CW\*(C`xjdic\*(C'\fR, which
834first switches to a locale supported by xjdic and back later:
835.PP
836.Vb 3
837\& printf '\ee]701;%s\e007' ja_JP.SJIS
838\& xjdic -js
839\& printf '\ee]701;%s\e007' de_DE.UTF-8
840.Ve
841.PP
842You can also use xterm's \f(CW\*(C`luit\*(C'\fR program, which usually works fine, except
843for some locales where character width differs between program\- and
844rxvt\-unicode\-locales.
845.Sh "Can I switch the fonts at runtime?"
846.IX Subsection "Can I switch the fonts at runtime?"
847Yes, using an escape sequence. Try something like this, which has the same
848effect as using the \f(CW\*(C`\-fn\*(C'\fR switch, and takes effect immediately:
849.PP
850.Vb 1
851\& printf '\ee]50;%s\e007' "9x15bold,xft:Kochi Gothic"
852.Ve
853.PP
854This is useful if you e.g. work primarily with japanese (and prefer a
855japanese font), but you have to switch to chinese temporarily, where
856japanese fonts would only be in your way.
857.PP
858You can think of this as a kind of manual \s-1ISO\-2022\s0 switching.
859.Sh "Why do italic characters look as if clipped?"
860.IX Subsection "Why do italic characters look as if clipped?"
861Many fonts have difficulties with italic characters and hinting. For
862example, the otherwise very nicely hinted font \f(CW\*(C`xft:Bitstream Vera Sans
863Mono\*(C'\fR completely fails in it's italic face. A workaround might be to
864enable freetype autohinting, i.e. like this:
865.PP
866.Vb 2
867\& URxvt.italicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:italic:autohint=true
868\& URxvt.boldItalicFont: xft:Bitstream Vera Sans Mono:bold:italic:autohint=true
869.Ve
870.Sh "My input method wants <some encoding> but I want \s-1UTF\-8\s0, what can I do?"
871.IX Subsection "My input method wants <some encoding> but I want UTF-8, what can I do?"
872You can specify separate locales for the input method and the rest of the
873terminal, using the resource \f(CW\*(C`imlocale\*(C'\fR:
874.PP
875.Vb 1
876\& URxvt.imlocale: ja_JP.EUC-JP
877.Ve
878.PP
879Now you can start your terminal with \f(CW\*(C`LC_CTYPE=ja_JP.UTF\-8\*(C'\fR and still
880use your input method. Please note, however, that you will not be able to
881input characters outside \f(CW\*(C`EUC\-JP\*(C'\fR in a normal way then, as your input
882method limits you.
883.Sh "Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits."
884.IX Subsection "Rxvt-unicode crashes when the X Input Method changes or exits."
885Unfortunately, this is unavoidable, as the \s-1XIM\s0 protocol is racy by
886design. Applications can avoid some crashes at the expense of memory
887leaks, and Input Methods can avoid some crashes by careful ordering at
888exit time. \fBkinput2\fR (and derived input methods) generally succeeds,
889while \fB\s-1SCIM\s0\fR (or similar input methods) fails. In the end, however,
890crashes cannot be completely avoided even if both sides cooperate.
891.PP
892So the only workaround is not to kill your Input Method Servers.
893.Sh "Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?"
894.IX Subsection "Rxvt-unicode uses gobs of memory, how can I reduce that?"
895Rxvt-unicode tries to obey the rule of not charging you for something you
896don't use. One thing you should try is to configure out all settings that
897you don't need, for example, Xft support is a resource hog by design,
898when used. Compiling it out ensures that no Xft font will be loaded
899accidentally when rxvt-unicode tries to find a font for your characters.
900.PP
901Also, many people (me included) like large windows and even larger
902scrollback buffers: Without \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-unicode3\*(C'\fR, rxvt-unicode will use
9036 bytes per screen cell. For a 160x?? window this amounts to almost a
904kilobyte per line. A scrollback buffer of 10000 lines will then (if full)
905use 10 Megabytes of memory. With \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-unicode3\*(C'\fR it gets worse, as
906rxvt-unicode then uses 8 bytes per screen cell.
907.Sh "Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?"
908.IX Subsection "Can I speed up Xft rendering somehow?"
909Yes, the most obvious way to speed it up is to avoid Xft entirely, as
910it is simply slow. If you still want Xft fonts you might try to disable
911antialiasing (by appending \f(CW\*(C`:antialias=false\*(C'\fR), which saves lots of
912memory and also speeds up rendering considerably.
913.Sh "Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?"
914.IX Subsection "Rxvt-unicode doesn't seem to anti-alias its fonts, what is wrong?"
915Rxvt-unicode will use whatever you specify as a font. If it needs to
916fall back to it's default font search list it will prefer X11 core
917fonts, because they are small and fast, and then use Xft fonts. It has
918antialiasing disabled for most of them, because the author thinks they
919look best that way.
920.PP
921If you want antialiasing, you have to specify the fonts manually.
922.Sh "Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works."
923.IX Subsection "Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works."
924Make sure that mouse reporting is actually turned off since killing
925some editors prematurely may leave the mouse in mouse report mode. I've
926heard that tcsh may use mouse reporting unless it otherwise specified. A
927quick check is to see if cut/paste works when the Alt or Shift keys are
928depressed.
929.Sh "What's with this bold/blink stuff?"
930.IX Subsection "What's with this bold/blink stuff?"
931If no bold colour is set via \f(CW\*(C`colorBD:\*(C'\fR, bold will invert text using the
932standard foreground colour.
933.PP
934For the standard background colour, blinking will actually make the
935text blink when compiled with \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-blinking\*(C'\fR. with standard
936colours. Without \f(CW\*(C`\-\-enable\-blinking\*(C'\fR, the blink attribute will be
937ignored.
938.PP
939On \s-1ANSI\s0 colours, bold/blink attributes are used to set high-intensity
940foreground/background colors.
941.PP
942color0\-7 are the low-intensity colors.
943.PP
944color8\-15 are the corresponding high-intensity colors.
945.Sh "I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?"
946.IX Subsection "I don't like the screen colors. How do I change them?"
947You can change the screen colors at run-time using \fI~/.Xdefaults\fR
948resources (or as long\-options).
949.PP
950Here are values that are supposed to resemble a \s-1VGA\s0 screen,
951including the murky brown that passes for low-intensity yellow:
952.PP
953.Vb 8
954\& URxvt.color0: #000000
955\& URxvt.color1: #A80000
956\& URxvt.color2: #00A800
957\& URxvt.color3: #A8A800
958\& URxvt.color4: #0000A8
959\& URxvt.color5: #A800A8
960\& URxvt.color6: #00A8A8
961\& URxvt.color7: #A8A8A8
962.Ve
963.PP
964.Vb 8
965\& URxvt.color8: #000054
966\& URxvt.color9: #FF0054
967\& URxvt.color10: #00FF54
968\& URxvt.color11: #FFFF54
969\& URxvt.color12: #0000FF
970\& URxvt.color13: #FF00FF
971\& URxvt.color14: #00FFFF
972\& URxvt.color15: #FFFFFF
973.Ve
974.PP
975And here is a more complete set of non-standard colors described (not by
976me) as \*(L"pretty girly\*(R".
977.PP
978.Vb 18
979\& URxvt.cursorColor: #dc74d1
980\& URxvt.pointerColor: #dc74d1
981\& URxvt.background: #0e0e0e
982\& URxvt.foreground: #4ad5e1
983\& URxvt.color0: #000000
984\& URxvt.color8: #8b8f93
985\& URxvt.color1: #dc74d1
986\& URxvt.color9: #dc74d1
987\& URxvt.color2: #0eb8c7
988\& URxvt.color10: #0eb8c7
989\& URxvt.color3: #dfe37e
990\& URxvt.color11: #dfe37e
991\& URxvt.color5: #9e88f0
992\& URxvt.color13: #9e88f0
993\& URxvt.color6: #73f7ff
994\& URxvt.color14: #73f7ff
995\& URxvt.color7: #e1dddd
996\& URxvt.color15: #e1dddd
997.Ve
998.Sh "How can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?"
999.IX Subsection "How can I start @@RXVT_NAME@@d in a race-free way?"
1000Try \f(CW\*(C`@@RXVT_NAME@@d \-f \-o\*(C'\fR, which tells @@RXVT_NAME@@d to open the
1001display, create the listening socket and then fork.
1002.Sh "What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?"
1003.IX Subsection "What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?"
1004Assuming that the physical Backspace key corresponds to the
1005BackSpace keysym (not likely for Linux ... see the following
1006question) there are two standard values that can be used for
1007Backspace: \f(CW\*(C`^H\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`^?\*(C'\fR.
1008.PP
1009Historically, either value is correct, but rxvt-unicode adopts the debian
1010policy of using \f(CW\*(C`^?\*(C'\fR when unsure, because it's the one only only correct
1011choice :).
1012.PP
1013Rxvt-unicode tries to inherit the current stty settings and uses the value
1014of `erase' to guess the value for backspace. If rxvt-unicode wasn't
1015started from a terminal (say, from a menu or by remote shell), then the
1016system value of `erase', which corresponds to \s-1CERASE\s0 in <termios.h>, will
1017be used (which may not be the same as your stty setting).
1018.PP
1019For starting a new rxvt\-unicode:
1020.PP
1021.Vb 3
1022\& # use Backspace = ^H
1023\& $ stty erase ^H
1024\& $ @@RXVT_NAME@@
1025.Ve
1026.PP
1027.Vb 3
1028\& # use Backspace = ^?
1029\& $ stty erase ^?
1030\& $ @@RXVT_NAME@@
1031.Ve
1032.PP
1033Toggle with \f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 36 h\*(C'\fR / \f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 36 l\*(C'\fR.
1034.PP
1035For an existing rxvt\-unicode:
1036.PP
1037.Vb 3
1038\& # use Backspace = ^H
1039\& $ stty erase ^H
1040\& $ echo -n "^[[36h"
1041.Ve
1042.PP
1043.Vb 3
1044\& # use Backspace = ^?
1045\& $ stty erase ^?
1046\& $ echo -n "^[[36l"
1047.Ve
1048.PP
1049This helps satisfy some of the Backspace discrepancies that occur, but
1050if you use Backspace = \f(CW\*(C`^H\*(C'\fR, make sure that the termcap/terminfo value
1051properly reflects that.
1052.PP
1053The Delete key is a another casualty of the ill-defined Backspace problem.
1054To avoid confusion between the Backspace and Delete keys, the Delete
1055key has been assigned an escape sequence to match the vt100 for Execute
1056(\f(CW\*(C`ESC [ 3 ~\*(C'\fR) and is in the supplied termcap/terminfo.
1057.PP
1058Some other Backspace problems:
1059.PP
1060some editors use termcap/terminfo,
1061some editors (vim I'm told) expect Backspace = ^H,
1062\&\s-1GNU\s0 Emacs (and Emacs-like editors) use ^H for help.
1063.PP
1064Perhaps someday this will all be resolved in a consistent manner.
1065.Sh "I don't like the key\-bindings. How do I change them?"
1066.IX Subsection "I don't like the key-bindings. How do I change them?"
1067There are some compile-time selections available via configure. Unless
1068you have run \*(L"configure\*(R" with the \f(CW\*(C`\-\-disable\-resources\*(C'\fR option you can
1069use the `keysym' resource to alter the keystrings associated with keysyms.
1070.PP
1071Here's an example for a URxvt session started using \f(CW\*(C`@@RXVT_NAME@@ \-name URxvt\*(C'\fR
1072.PP
1073.Vb 20
1074\& URxvt.keysym.Home: \e033[1~
1075\& URxvt.keysym.End: \e033[4~
1076\& URxvt.keysym.C-apostrophe: \e033<C-'>
1077\& URxvt.keysym.C-slash: \e033<C-/>
1078\& URxvt.keysym.C-semicolon: \e033<C-;>
1079\& URxvt.keysym.C-grave: \e033<C-`>
1080\& URxvt.keysym.C-comma: \e033<C-,>
1081\& URxvt.keysym.C-period: \e033<C-.>
1082\& URxvt.keysym.C-0x60: \e033<C-`>
1083\& URxvt.keysym.C-Tab: \e033<C-Tab>
1084\& URxvt.keysym.C-Return: \e033<C-Return>
1085\& URxvt.keysym.S-Return: \e033<S-Return>
1086\& URxvt.keysym.S-space: \e033<S-Space>
1087\& URxvt.keysym.M-Up: \e033<M-Up>
1088\& URxvt.keysym.M-Down: \e033<M-Down>
1089\& URxvt.keysym.M-Left: \e033<M-Left>
1090\& URxvt.keysym.M-Right: \e033<M-Right>
1091\& URxvt.keysym.M-C-0: list \e033<M-C- 0123456789 >
1092\& URxvt.keysym.M-C-a: list \e033<M-C- abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz >
1093\& URxvt.keysym.F12: command:\e033]701;zh_CN.GBK\e007
1094.Ve
1095.PP
1096See some more examples in the documentation for the \fBkeysym\fR resource.
1097.Sh "I'm using keyboard model \s-1XXX\s0 that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize."
1098.IX Subsection "I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys. How do I make use of them? For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following mappings that rxvt-unicode doesn't recognize."
1099.Vb 6
1100\& KP_Insert == Insert
1101\& F22 == Print
1102\& F27 == Home
1103\& F29 == Prior
1104\& F33 == End
1105\& F35 == Next
1106.Ve
1107.PP
1108Rather than have rxvt-unicode try to accommodate all the various possible
1109keyboard mappings, it is better to use `xmodmap' to remap the keys as
1110required for your particular machine.
1111.Sh "How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc."
1112.IX Subsection "How do I distinguish wether I'm running rxvt-unicode or a regular xterm? I need this to decide about setting colors etc."
1113rxvt and rxvt-unicode always export the variable \*(L"\s-1COLORTERM\s0\*(R", so you can
1114check and see if that is set. Note that several programs, \s-1JED\s0, slrn,
1115Midnight Commander automatically check this variable to decide whether or
1116not to use color.
1117.Sh "How do I set the correct, full \s-1IP\s0 address for the \s-1DISPLAY\s0 variable?"
1118.IX Subsection "How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?"
1119If you've compiled rxvt-unicode with \s-1DISPLAY_IS_IP\s0 and have enabled
1120insecure mode then it is possible to use the following shell script
1121snippets to correctly set the display. If your version of rxvt-unicode
1122wasn't also compiled with \s-1ESCZ_ANSWER\s0 (as assumed in these snippets) then
1123the \s-1COLORTERM\s0 variable can be used to distinguish rxvt-unicode from a
1124regular xterm.
1125.PP
1126Courtesy of Chuck Blake <cblake@BBN.COM> with the following shell script
1127snippets:
1128.PP
1129.Vb 12
1130\& # Bourne/Korn/POSIX family of shells:
1131\& [ ${TERM:-foo} = foo ] && TERM=xterm # assume an xterm if we don't know
1132\& if [ ${TERM:-foo} = xterm ]; then
1133\& stty -icanon -echo min 0 time 15 # see if enhanced rxvt or not
1134\& echo -n '^[Z'
1135\& read term_id
1136\& stty icanon echo
1137\& if [ ""${term_id} = '^[[?1;2C' -a ${DISPLAY:-foo} = foo ]; then
1138\& echo -n '^[[7n' # query the rxvt we are in for the DISPLAY string
1139\& read DISPLAY # set it in our local shell
1140\& fi
1141\& fi
1142.Ve
1143.Sh "How do I compile the manual pages for myself?"
1144.IX Subsection "How do I compile the manual pages for myself?"
1145You need to have a recent version of perl installed as \fI/usr/bin/perl\fR,
1146one that comes with \fIpod2man\fR, \fIpod2text\fR and \fIpod2html\fR. Then go to
1147the doc subdirectory and enter \f(CW\*(C`make alldoc\*(C'\fR.
1148.Sh "My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?"
1149.IX Subsection "My question isn't answered here, can I ask a human?"
1150Before sending me mail, you could go to \s-1IRC:\s0 \f(CW\*(C`irc.freenode.net\*(C'\fR,
1151channel \f(CW\*(C`#rxvt\-unicode\*(C'\fR has some rxvt-unicode enthusiasts that might be
1152interested in learning about new and exciting problems (but not FAQs :).
1153.SH "RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE" 1269.SH "RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE"
1154.IX Header "RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE" 1270.IX Header "RXVT TECHNICAL REFERENCE"
1155.SH "DESCRIPTION" 1271.SH "DESCRIPTION"
1156.IX Header "DESCRIPTION" 1272.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
1157The rest of this document describes various technical aspects of 1273The rest of this document describes various technical aspects of

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