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Comparing rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.pod (file contents):
Revision 1.61 by root, Tue Oct 25 20:04:59 2005 UTC vs.
Revision 1.64 by root, Sat Dec 24 12:55:17 2005 UTC

24 24
25=head1 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 25=head1 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
26 26
27=over 4 27=over 4
28 28
29=item Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
30
31I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause extra
32bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you can see
33that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables always being
34compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS) after startup. Even
35with C<--disable-everything>, this comparison is a bit unfair, as many
36features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding conversion, iso14755 etc.) are
37already in use in this mode.
38
39 text data bss drs rss filename
40 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
41 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
42
43When you C<--enable-everything> (which _is_ unfair, as this involves xft
44and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11 and my
45libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.
46
47 text data bss drs rss filename
48 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
49 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
50
51The very large size of the text section is explained by the east-asian
52encoding tables, which, if unused, take up disk space but nothing else
53and can be compiled out unless you rely on X11 core fonts that use those
54encodings. The BSS size comes from the 64k emergency buffer that my c++
55compiler allocates (but of course doesn't use unless you are out of
56memory). Also, using an xft font instead of a core font immediately adds a
57few megabytes of RSS. Xft indeed is responsible for a lot of RSS even when
58not used.
59
60Of course, due to every character using two or four bytes instead of one,
61a large scrollback buffer will ultimately make rxvt-unicode use more
62memory.
63
64Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k), this
65still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like gnome-terminal
66(21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or konsole (22200k + extra
6743180k in daemons that stay around after exit, plus half aminute of
68startup time, including the hundreds of warnings it spits out), it fares
69extremely well *g*.
70
71=item Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
72
73Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is: I had
74to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a fraction
75of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me). Put even
76shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
77
78My personal stance on this is that C++ is less portable than C, but in
79the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability limits
80are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale support and unix
81domain sockets, which are all less portable than C++ itself.
82
83Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write programs
84in C that use gobs of memory, an certainly possible to write programs in
85C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large libraries, but this is
86not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is what rxvt links against on my
87system with a minimal config:
88
89 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
90 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)
91 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)
92 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
93
94And here is rxvt-unicode:
95
96 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
97 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
98 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
99 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
100 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
101
102No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in statically),
103except maybe libX11 :)
104
105=item Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
106
107rxvt-unicode does not directly support tabs. It will work fine with
108tabbing functionality of many window managers or similar tabbing programs,
109and its embedding-features allow it to be embedded into other programs,
110as witnessed by F<doc/rxvt-tabbed> or the upcoming C<Gtk2::URxvt> perl
111module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt) terminal as an example
112embedding application.
113
29=item How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 114=item How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
30 115
31The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 116The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
32sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. 117sequence C<ESC [ 8 n> sets the window title to the version number. When
118using the @@RXVT_NAME@@c client, the version displayed is that of the
119daemon.
33 120
34=item I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 121=item I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
35 122
36The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large 123The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
37patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. Before 124patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. Before
2415 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences 2502 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences
2416 tripleclickwords 2503 tripleclickwords
2417 settable insecure mode 2504 settable insecure mode
2418 keysym remapping support 2505 keysym remapping support
2419 cursor blinking and underline cursor 2506 cursor blinking and underline cursor
2420 -embed and -pty-fd options 2507 -embed, -pty-fd and -hold options
2421 2508
2422=item --enable-iso14755 (default: on) 2509=item --enable-iso14755 (default: on)
2423 2510
2424Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see @@RXVT_NAME@@(1), or 2511Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see @@RXVT_NAME@@(1), or
2425F<doc/rxvt.1.txt>). Basic support (section 5.1) is enabled by 2512F<doc/rxvt.1.txt>). Basic support (section 5.1) is enabled by
2460Use Doug Lea's malloc - which is good for a production version 2547Use Doug Lea's malloc - which is good for a production version
2461See L<http://g.oswego.edu/dl/html/malloc.html> for details. 2548See L<http://g.oswego.edu/dl/html/malloc.html> for details.
2462 2549
2463=item --enable-smart-resize (default: on) 2550=item --enable-smart-resize (default: on)
2464 2551
2465Add smart growth/shrink behaviour when changing font size via from hot 2552Add smart growth/shrink behaviour when changing font size via hot
2466keys. This should keep in a fixed position the rxvt corner which is 2553keys. This should keep the window corner which is closest to a corner of
2467closest to a corner of the screen. 2554the screen in a fixed position.
2468 2555
2469=item --enable-pointer-blank (default: on) 2556=item --enable-pointer-blank (default: on)
2470 2557
2471Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive. 2558Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive.
2472 2559

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