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Revision 1.26 by root, Sat Dec 17 20:55:45 2005 UTC vs.
Revision 1.40 by root, Thu Jan 12 05:37:34 2006 UTC

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18 The newest version of this document is also available on the World Wide 18 The newest version of this document is also available on the World Wide
19 Web at 19 Web at
20 <http://cvs.schmorp.de/browse/*checkout*/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.html>. 20 <http://cvs.schmorp.de/browse/*checkout*/rxvt-unicode/doc/rxvt.7.html>.
21 21
22FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 22FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
23 I don't like the new selection/popups/hotkeys/perl, how do I
24 change/disable it?
25 You can disable the perl extension completely by setting the
26 perl-ext-common resource to the empty string, which also keeps
27 rxvt-unicode from initialising perl, saving memory.
28
29 If you only want to disable specific features, you first have to
30 identify which perl extension is responsible. For this, read the
31 section PREPACKAGED EXTENSIONS in the rxvtperl(3) manpage. For
32 example, to disable the selection-popup and option-popup, specify
33 this perl-ext-common resource:
34
35 URxvt.perl-ext-common: default,-selection-popup,-option-popup
36
37 This will keep the default extensions, but disable the two popup
38 extensions. Some extensions can also be configured, for example,
39 scrollback search mode is triggered by M-s. You can move it to any
40 other combination either by setting the searchable-scrollback
41 resource:
42
43 URxvt.searchable-scrollback: CM-s
44
45 Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
46 I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause
47 extra bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you
48 can see that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables
49 always being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS)
50 after startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is
51 a bit unfair, as many features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding
52 conversion, iso14755 etc.) are already in use in this mode.
53
54 text data bss drs rss filename
55 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
56 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
57
58 When you "--enable-everything" (which _is_ unfair, as this involves
59 xft and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11
60 and my libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.
61
62 text data bss drs rss filename
63 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
64 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
65
66 The very large size of the text section is explained by the
67 east-asian encoding tables, which, if unused, take up disk space but
68 nothing else and can be compiled out unless you rely on X11 core
69 fonts that use those encodings. The BSS size comes from the 64k
70 emergency buffer that my c++ compiler allocates (but of course
71 doesn't use unless you are out of memory). Also, using an xft font
72 instead of a core font immediately adds a few megabytes of RSS. Xft
73 indeed is responsible for a lot of RSS even when not used.
74
75 Of course, due to every character using two or four bytes instead of
76 one, a large scrollback buffer will ultimately make rxvt-unicode use
77 more memory.
78
79 Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k),
80 this still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like
81 gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or
82 konsole (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after
83 exit, plus half a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of
84 warnings it spits out), it fares extremely well *g*.
85
86 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
87 Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is:
88 I had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a
89 fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me).
90 Put even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
91
92 My personal stance on this is that C++ is less portable than C, but
93 in the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability
94 limits are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale
95 support and unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than
96 C++ itself.
97
98 Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write
99 programs in C that use gobs of memory, an certainly possible to
100 write programs in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large
101 libraries, but this is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is
102 what rxvt links against on my system with a minimal config:
103
104 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
105 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)
106 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)
107 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
108
109 And here is rxvt-unicode:
110
111 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
112 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
113 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
114 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
115 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
116
117 No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in
118 statically), except maybe libX11 :)
119
120 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
121 rxvt-unicode does not directly support tabs. It will work fine with
122 tabbing functionality of many window managers or similar tabbing
123 programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be embedded into
124 other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed or the upcoming
125 "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt)
126 terminal as an example embedding application.
127
23 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 128 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
24 The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 129 The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape
25 sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number. 130 sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number.
131 When using the rxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the
132 daemon.
26 133
27 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 134 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
28 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large 135 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
29 patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. 136 patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode.
30 Before reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please 137 Before reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please
… …
36 143
37 For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 144 For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and
38 probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's 145 probably should use the Debian BTS, too, because, after all, it's
39 also a bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for 146 also a bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for
40 other users that might encounter the same issue. 147 other users that might encounter the same issue.
148
149 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any
150 recommendation?
151 You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
152 enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
153 runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling
154 them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl
155 interpreter should be enabled, as important functionality (menus,
156 selection, likely more in the future) depends on it.
157
158 You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" snd "perl-ext"
159 resources system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will
160 result in useful behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory,
161 add an empty "perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file.
162 This will keep the perl interpreter disabled until the user enables
163 it.
164
165 If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal
166 one with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
167 "--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot
168 of encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely
169 used).
170
171 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this
172 safe?
173 Likely not. While I honestly try to make it secure, and am probably
174 not bad at it, I think it is simply unreasonable to expect all of
175 freetype + fontconfig + xft + xlib + perl + ... + rxvt-unicode
176 itself to all be secure. Also, rxvt-unicode disables some options
177 when it detects that it runs setuid or setgid, which is not nice.
178 Besides, with the embedded perl interpreter the possibility for
179 security problems easily multiplies.
180
181 Elevated privileges are only required for utmp and pty operations on
182 some systems (for example, GNU/Linux doesn't need any extra
183 privileges for ptys, but some need it for utmp support). It is
184 planned to mvoe this into a forked handler process, but this is not
185 yet done.
186
187 So, while setuid/setgid operation is supported and not a problem on
188 your typical single-user-no-other-logins unix desktop, always
189 remember that its an awful lot of code, most of which isn't checked
190 for security issues regularly.
41 191
42 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? 192 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data?
43 The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely 193 The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely
44 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same 194 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same
45 problem often arises). 195 problem often arises).
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1146 1296
1147 "Ps = 1011" (rxvt) 1297 "Ps = 1011" (rxvt)
1148 h Scroll to bottom when a key is pressed 1298 h Scroll to bottom when a key is pressed
1149 l Don't scroll to bottom when a key is pressed 1299 l Don't scroll to bottom when a key is pressed
1150 1300
1301 "Ps = 1021" (rxvt)
1302 h Bold/italic implies high intensity (see option -is)
1303 l Font styles have no effect on intensity (Compile styles)
1304
1151 "Ps = 1047" 1305 "Ps = 1047"
1152 h Use Alternate Screen Buffer 1306 h Use Alternate Screen Buffer
1153 l Use Normal Screen Buffer - clear Alternate Screen Buffer if returning from it 1307 l Use Normal Screen Buffer - clear Alternate Screen Buffer if returning from it
1154 1308
1155 "Ps = 1048" 1309 "Ps = 1048"
… …
1177 Ps = 10 Change colour of text foreground to Pt (NB: may change in future) 1331 Ps = 10 Change colour of text foreground to Pt (NB: may change in future)
1178 Ps = 11 Change colour of text background to Pt (NB: may change in future) 1332 Ps = 11 Change colour of text background to Pt (NB: may change in future)
1179 Ps = 12 Change colour of text cursor foreground to Pt 1333 Ps = 12 Change colour of text cursor foreground to Pt
1180 Ps = 13 Change colour of mouse foreground to Pt 1334 Ps = 13 Change colour of mouse foreground to Pt
1181 Ps = 17 Change colour of highlight characters to Pt 1335 Ps = 17 Change colour of highlight characters to Pt
1182 Ps = 18 Change colour of bold characters to Pt 1336 Ps = 18 Change colour of bold characters to Pt [deprecated, see 706]
1183 Ps = 19 Change colour of underlined characters to Pt 1337 Ps = 19 Change colour of underlined characters to Pt [deprecated, see 707]
1184 Ps = 20 Change default background to Pt 1338 Ps = 20 Change default background to Pt
1185 Ps = 39 Change default foreground colour to Pt. 1339 Ps = 39 Change default foreground colour to Pt.
1186 Ps = 46 Change Log File to Pt unimplemented 1340 Ps = 46 Change Log File to Pt unimplemented
1187 Ps = 49 Change default background colour to Pt. 1341 Ps = 49 Change default background colour to Pt.
1188 Ps = 50 Set fontset to Pt, with the following special values of Pt (rxvt) #+n change up n #-n change down n if n is missing of 0, a value of 1 is used empty change to font0 n change to font n 1342 Ps = 50 Set fontset to Pt, with the following special values of Pt (rxvt) #+n change up n #-n change down n if n is missing of 0, a value of 1 is used empty change to font0 n change to font n
1189 Ps = 55 Log all scrollback buffer and all of screen to Pt 1343 Ps = 55 Log all scrollback buffer and all of screen to Pt
1190 Ps = 701 Change current locale to Pt, or, if Pt is ?, return the current locale (Compile frills). 1344 Ps = 701 Change current locale to Pt, or, if Pt is ?, return the current locale (Compile frills).
1191 Ps = 703 Menubar command Pt (Compile menubar). 1345 Ps = 703 Menubar command Pt (Compile menubar).
1192 Ps = 704 Change colour of italic characters to Pt 1346 Ps = 704 Change colour of italic characters to Pt
1193 Ps = 705 Change background pixmap tint colour to Pt (Compile transparency). 1347 Ps = 705 Change background pixmap tint colour to Pt (Compile transparency).
1348 Ps = 706 Change colour of bold characters to Pt
1349 Ps = 707 Change colour of underlined characters to Pt
1194 Ps = 710 Set normal fontset to Pt. Same as Ps = 50. 1350 Ps = 710 Set normal fontset to Pt. Same as Ps = 50.
1195 Ps = 711 Set bold fontset to Pt. Similar to Ps = 50 (Compile styles). 1351 Ps = 711 Set bold fontset to Pt. Similar to Ps = 50 (Compile styles).
1196 Ps = 712 Set italic fontset to Pt. Similar to Ps = 50 (Compile styles). 1352 Ps = 712 Set italic fontset to Pt. Similar to Ps = 50 (Compile styles).
1197 Ps = 713 Set bold-italic fontset to Pt. Similar to Ps = 50 (Compile styles). 1353 Ps = 713 Set bold-italic fontset to Pt. Similar to Ps = 50 (Compile styles).
1198 Ps = 720 Move viewing window up by Pt lines, or clear scrollback buffer if Pt = 0 (Compile frills). 1354 Ps = 720 Move viewing window up by Pt lines, or clear scrollback buffer if Pt = 0 (Compile frills).
1199 Ps = 721 Move viewing window down by Pt lines, or clear scrollback buffer if Pt = 0 (Compile frills). 1355 Ps = 721 Move viewing window down by Pt lines, or clear scrollback buffer if Pt = 0 (Compile frills).
1356 Ps = 777 Call the perl extension with the given string, which should be of the form extension:parameters (Compile perl).
1200 1357
1201 1358
1202 1359
1203menuBar 1360menuBar
1204 The exact syntax used is *almost* solidified. In the menus, DON'T try to 1361 The exact syntax used is *almost* solidified. In the menus, DON'T try to
… …
1775 --enable-lastlog (default: on) 1932 --enable-lastlog (default: on)
1776 Write user and tty to lastlog file (used by programs like lastlogin) 1933 Write user and tty to lastlog file (used by programs like lastlogin)
1777 at start of rxvt execution. This option requires --enable-utmp to 1934 at start of rxvt execution. This option requires --enable-utmp to
1778 also be specified. 1935 also be specified.
1779 1936
1780 --enable-xpm-background (default: off) 1937 --enable-xpm-background (default: on)
1781 Add support for XPM background pixmaps. 1938 Add support for XPM background pixmaps.
1782 1939
1783 --enable-transparency (default: off) 1940 --enable-transparency (default: on)
1784 Add support for inheriting parent backgrounds thus giving a fake 1941 Add support for inheriting parent backgrounds thus giving a fake
1785 transparency to the term. 1942 transparency to the term.
1786 1943
1787 --enable-fading (default: on) 1944 --enable-fading (default: on)
1788 Add support for fading the text when focus is lost (requires 1945 Add support for fading the text when focus is lost (requires
… …
1790 1947
1791 --enable-tinting (default: on) 1948 --enable-tinting (default: on)
1792 Add support for tinting of transparent backgrounds (requires 1949 Add support for tinting of transparent backgrounds (requires
1793 "--enable-transparency"). 1950 "--enable-transparency").
1794 1951
1795 --enable-menubar (default: off) 1952 --enable-menubar (default: off) [DEPRECATED]
1796 Add support for our menu bar system (this interacts badly with 1953 Add support for our menu bar system (this interacts badly with
1797 dynamic locale switching currently). 1954 dynamic locale switching currently). This option is DEPRECATED and
1955 will be removed in the future.
1798 1956
1799 --enable-rxvt-scroll (default: on) 1957 --enable-rxvt-scroll (default: on)
1800 Add support for the original rxvt scrollbar. 1958 Add support for the original rxvt scrollbar.
1801 1959
1802 --enable-next-scroll (default: on) 1960 --enable-next-scroll (default: on)
… …
1826 Removes any handling of the delete key by us - let the X server do 1984 Removes any handling of the delete key by us - let the X server do
1827 it. 1985 it.
1828 1986
1829 --disable-resources 1987 --disable-resources
1830 Removes any support for resource checking. 1988 Removes any support for resource checking.
1831
1832 --enable-xgetdefault
1833 Make resources checking via XGetDefault() instead of our small
1834 version which only checks ~/.Xdefaults, or if that doesn't exist
1835 then ~/.Xresources.
1836
1837 Please note that nowadays, things like XIM will automatically pull
1838 in and use the full X resource manager, so the overhead of using it
1839 might be very small, if nonexistant.
1840 1989
1841 --enable-strings (default: off) 1990 --enable-strings (default: off)
1842 Add support for our possibly faster memset() function and other 1991 Add support for our possibly faster memset() function and other
1843 various routines, overriding your system's versions which may have 1992 various routines, overriding your system's versions which may have
1844 been hand-crafted in assembly or may require extra libraries to link 1993 been hand-crafted in assembly or may require extra libraries to link
… …
1856 A non-exhaustive list of features enabled by "--enable-frills" 2005 A non-exhaustive list of features enabled by "--enable-frills"
1857 (possibly in combination with other switches) is: 2006 (possibly in combination with other switches) is:
1858 2007
1859 MWM-hints 2008 MWM-hints
1860 EWMH-hints (pid, utf8 names) and protocols (ping) 2009 EWMH-hints (pid, utf8 names) and protocols (ping)
1861 seperate underline colour 2010 seperate underline colour (-underlineColor)
1862 settable border widths and borderless switch 2011 settable border widths and borderless switch (-w, -b, -bl)
1863 settable extra linespacing 2012 settable extra linespacing /-lsp)
1864 iso-14755-2 and -3, and visual feedback 2013 iso-14755-2 and -3, and visual feedback
1865 backindex and forwardindex escape sequence 2014 backindex and forwardindex escape sequence
1866 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences 2015 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences
1867 tripleclickwords 2016 tripleclickwords (-tcw)
1868 settable insecure mode 2017 settable insecure mode (-insecure)
1869 keysym remapping support 2018 keysym remapping support
1870 cursor blinking and underline cursor 2019 cursor blinking and underline cursor (-cb, -uc)
1871 -embed and -pty-fd options 2020 XEmbed support (-embed)
2021 user-pty (-pty-fd)
2022 hold on exit (-hold)
2023 skip builtin block graphics (-sbg)
2024 sgr modes 90..97 and 100..107
1872 2025
1873 --enable-iso14755 (default: on) 2026 --enable-iso14755 (default: on)
1874 Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see rxvt(1), or doc/rxvt.1.txt). 2027 Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see rxvt(1), or doc/rxvt.1.txt).
1875 Basic support (section 5.1) is enabled by "--enable-frills", while 2028 Basic support (section 5.1) is enabled by "--enable-frills", while
1876 support for 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 is enabled with this switch. 2029 support for 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 is enabled with this switch.
… …
1909 corner of the screen in a fixed position. 2062 corner of the screen in a fixed position.
1910 2063
1911 --enable-pointer-blank (default: on) 2064 --enable-pointer-blank (default: on)
1912 Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive. 2065 Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive.
1913 2066
2067 --enable-perl (default: off)
2068 Enable an embedded perl interpreter. See the rxvtperl(3) manpage
2069 (doc/rxvtperl.txt) for more info on this feature, or the files in
2070 src/perl-ext/ for the extensions that are installed by default. The
2071 perl interpreter that is used can be specified via the "PERL"
2072 environment variable when running configure.
2073
1914 --with-name=NAME (default: urxvt) 2074 --with-name=NAME (default: urxvt)
1915 Set the basename for the installed binaries, resulting in "urxvt", 2075 Set the basename for the installed binaries, resulting in "urxvt",
1916 "urxvtd" etc.). Specify "--with-name=rxvt" to replace with "rxvt". 2076 "urxvtd" etc.). Specify "--with-name=rxvt" to replace with "rxvt".
1917 2077
1918 --with-term=NAME (default: rxvt-unicode) 2078 --with-term=NAME (default: rxvt-unicode)

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