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Revision 1.24 by root, Tue Oct 25 20:04:59 2005 UTC vs.
Revision 1.39 by root, Wed Jan 11 23:08:54 2006 UTC

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 Isn't rxvt supposed to be small? Don't all those features bloat?
24 I often get asked about this, and I think, no, they didn't cause
25 extra bloat. If you compare a minimal rxvt and a minimal urxvt, you
26 can see that the urxvt binary is larger (due to some encoding tables
27 always being compiled in), but it actually uses less memory (RSS)
28 after startup. Even with "--disable-everything", this comparison is
29 a bit unfair, as many features unique to urxvt (locale, encoding
30 conversion, iso14755 etc.) are already in use in this mode.
31
32 text data bss drs rss filename
33 98398 1664 24 15695 1824 rxvt --disable-everything
34 188985 9048 66616 18222 1788 urxvt --disable-everything
35
36 When you "--enable-everything" (which _is_ unfair, as this involves
37 xft and full locale/XIM support which are quite bloaty inside libX11
38 and my libc), the two diverge, but not unreasnobaly so.
39
40 text data bss drs rss filename
41 163431 2152 24 20123 2060 rxvt --enable-everything
42 1035683 49680 66648 29096 3680 urxvt --enable-everything
43
44 The very large size of the text section is explained by the
45 east-asian encoding tables, which, if unused, take up disk space but
46 nothing else and can be compiled out unless you rely on X11 core
47 fonts that use those encodings. The BSS size comes from the 64k
48 emergency buffer that my c++ compiler allocates (but of course
49 doesn't use unless you are out of memory). Also, using an xft font
50 instead of a core font immediately adds a few megabytes of RSS. Xft
51 indeed is responsible for a lot of RSS even when not used.
52
53 Of course, due to every character using two or four bytes instead of
54 one, a large scrollback buffer will ultimately make rxvt-unicode use
55 more memory.
56
57 Compared to e.g. Eterm (5112k), aterm (3132k) and xterm (4680k),
58 this still fares rather well. And compared to some monsters like
59 gnome-terminal (21152k + extra 4204k in separate processes) or
60 konsole (22200k + extra 43180k in daemons that stay around after
61 exit, plus half a minute of startup time, including the hundreds of
62 warnings it spits out), it fares extremely well *g*.
63
64 Why C++, isn't that unportable/bloated/uncool?
65 Is this a question? :) It comes up very often. The simple answer is:
66 I had to write it, and C++ allowed me to write and maintain it in a
67 fraction of the time and effort (which is a scarce resource for me).
68 Put even shorter: It simply wouldn't exist without C++.
69
70 My personal stance on this is that C++ is less portable than C, but
71 in the case of rxvt-unicode this hardly matters, as its portability
72 limits are defined by things like X11, pseudo terminals, locale
73 support and unix domain sockets, which are all less portable than
74 C++ itself.
75
76 Regarding the bloat, see the above question: It's easy to write
77 programs in C that use gobs of memory, an certainly possible to
78 write programs in C++ that don't. C++ also often comes with large
79 libraries, but this is not necessarily the case with GCC. Here is
80 what rxvt links against on my system with a minimal config:
81
82 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
83 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaadde000)
84 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab01d000)
85 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
86
87 And here is rxvt-unicode:
88
89 libX11.so.6 => /usr/X11R6/lib/libX11.so.6 (0x00002aaaaabc3000)
90 libgcc_s.so.1 => /lib/libgcc_s.so.1 (0x00002aaaaada2000)
91 libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00002aaaaaeb0000)
92 libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00002aaaab0ee000)
93 /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 (0x00002aaaaaaab000)
94
95 No large bloated libraries (of course, none were linked in
96 statically), except maybe libX11 :)
97
98 Does it support tabs, can I have a tabbed rxvt-unicode?
99 rxvt-unicode does not directly support tabs. It will work fine with
100 tabbing functionality of many window managers or similar tabbing
101 programs, and its embedding-features allow it to be embedded into
102 other programs, as witnessed by doc/rxvt-tabbed or the upcoming
103 "Gtk2::URxvt" perl module, which features a tabbed urxvt (murxvt)
104 terminal as an example embedding application.
105
23 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using? 106 How do I know which rxvt-unicode version I'm using?
24 The version number is displayed with the usage (-h). Also the escape 107 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. 108 sequence "ESC [ 8 n" sets the window title to the version number.
109 When using the rxvtc client, the version displayed is that of the
110 daemon.
26 111
27 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem... 112 I am using Debian GNU/Linux and have a problem...
28 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large 113 The Debian GNU/Linux package of rxvt-unicode in sarge contains large
29 patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode. 114 patches that considerably change the behaviour of rxvt-unicode.
30 Before reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please 115 Before reporting a bug to the original rxvt-unicode author please
36 121
37 For other problems that also affect the Debian package, you can and 122 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 123 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 124 also a bug in the Debian version and it serves as a reminder for
40 other users that might encounter the same issue. 125 other users that might encounter the same issue.
126
127 I am maintaining rxvt-unicode for distribution/OS XXX, any
128 recommendation?
129 You should build one binary with the default options. configure now
130 enables most useful options, and the trend goes to making them
131 runtime-switchable, too, so there is usually no drawback to enbaling
132 them, except higher disk and possibly memory usage. The perl
133 interpreter should be enabled, as important functionality (menus,
134 selection, likely more in the future) depends on it.
135
136 You should not overwrite the "perl-ext-common" snd "perl-ext"
137 resources system-wide (except maybe with "defaults"). This will
138 result in useful behaviour. If your distribution aims at low memory,
139 add an empty "perl-ext-common" resource to the app-defaults file.
140 This will keep the perl interpreter disabled until the user enables
141 it.
142
143 If you can/want build more binaries, I recommend building a minimal
144 one with "--disable-everything" (very useful) and a maximal one with
145 "--enable-everything" (less useful, it will be very big due to a lot
146 of encodings built-in that increase download times and are rarely
147 used).
148
149 I need to make it setuid/setgid to support utmp/ptys on my OS, is this
150 safe?
151 Likely not. While I honestly try to make it secure, and am probably
152 not bad at it, I think it is simply unreasonable to expect all of
153 freetype + fontconfig + xft + xlib + perl + ... + rxvt-unicode
154 itself to all be secure. Also, rxvt-unicode disables some options
155 when it detects that it runs setuid or setgid, which is not nice.
156 Besides, with the embedded perl interpreter the possibility for
157 security problems easily multiplies.
158
159 Elevated privileges are only required for utmp and pty operations on
160 some systems (for example, GNU/Linux doesn't need any extra
161 privileges for ptys, but some need it for utmp support). It is
162 planned to mvoe this into a forked handler process, but this is not
163 yet done.
164
165 So, while setuid/setgid operation is supported and not a problem on
166 your typical single-user-no-other-logins unix desktop, always
167 remember that its an awful lot of code, most of which isn't checked
168 for security issues regularly.
41 169
42 When I log-in to another system it tells me about missing terminfo data? 170 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 171 The terminal description used by rxvt-unicode is not as widely
44 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same 172 available as that for xterm, or even rxvt (for which the same
45 problem often arises). 173 problem often arises).
1146 1274
1147 "Ps = 1011" (rxvt) 1275 "Ps = 1011" (rxvt)
1148 h Scroll to bottom when a key is pressed 1276 h Scroll to bottom when a key is pressed
1149 l Don't scroll to bottom when a key is pressed 1277 l Don't scroll to bottom when a key is pressed
1150 1278
1279 "Ps = 1021" (rxvt)
1280 h Bold/italic implies high intensity (see option -is)
1281 l Font styles have no effect on intensity (Compile styles)
1282
1151 "Ps = 1047" 1283 "Ps = 1047"
1152 h Use Alternate Screen Buffer 1284 h Use Alternate Screen Buffer
1153 l Use Normal Screen Buffer - clear Alternate Screen Buffer if returning from it 1285 l Use Normal Screen Buffer - clear Alternate Screen Buffer if returning from it
1154 1286
1155 "Ps = 1048" 1287 "Ps = 1048"
1177 Ps = 10 Change colour of text foreground to Pt (NB: may change in future) 1309 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) 1310 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 1311 Ps = 12 Change colour of text cursor foreground to Pt
1180 Ps = 13 Change colour of mouse foreground to Pt 1312 Ps = 13 Change colour of mouse foreground to Pt
1181 Ps = 17 Change colour of highlight characters to Pt 1313 Ps = 17 Change colour of highlight characters to Pt
1182 Ps = 18 Change colour of bold characters to Pt 1314 Ps = 18 Change colour of bold characters to Pt [deprecated, see 706]
1183 Ps = 19 Change colour of underlined characters to Pt 1315 Ps = 19 Change colour of underlined characters to Pt [deprecated, see 707]
1184 Ps = 20 Change default background to Pt 1316 Ps = 20 Change default background to Pt
1185 Ps = 39 Change default foreground colour to Pt. 1317 Ps = 39 Change default foreground colour to Pt.
1186 Ps = 46 Change Log File to Pt unimplemented 1318 Ps = 46 Change Log File to Pt unimplemented
1187 Ps = 49 Change default background colour to Pt. 1319 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 1320 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 1321 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). 1322 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). 1323 Ps = 703 Menubar command Pt (Compile menubar).
1192 Ps = 704 Change colour of italic characters to Pt 1324 Ps = 704 Change colour of italic characters to Pt
1193 Ps = 705 Change background pixmap tint colour to Pt (Compile transparency). 1325 Ps = 705 Change background pixmap tint colour to Pt (Compile transparency).
1326 Ps = 706 Change colour of bold characters to Pt
1327 Ps = 707 Change colour of underlined characters to Pt
1194 Ps = 710 Set normal fontset to Pt. Same as Ps = 50. 1328 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). 1329 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). 1330 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). 1331 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). 1332 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). 1333 Ps = 721 Move viewing window down by Pt lines, or clear scrollback buffer if Pt = 0 (Compile frills).
1334 Ps = 777 Call the perl extension with the given string, which should be of the form extension:parameters (Compile perl).
1200 1335
1201 1336
1202 1337
1203menuBar 1338menuBar
1204 The exact syntax used is *almost* solidified. In the menus, DON'T try to 1339 The exact syntax used is *almost* solidified. In the menus, DON'T try to
1775 --enable-lastlog (default: on) 1910 --enable-lastlog (default: on)
1776 Write user and tty to lastlog file (used by programs like lastlogin) 1911 Write user and tty to lastlog file (used by programs like lastlogin)
1777 at start of rxvt execution. This option requires --enable-utmp to 1912 at start of rxvt execution. This option requires --enable-utmp to
1778 also be specified. 1913 also be specified.
1779 1914
1780 --enable-xpm-background (default: off) 1915 --enable-xpm-background (default: on)
1781 Add support for XPM background pixmaps. 1916 Add support for XPM background pixmaps.
1782 1917
1783 --enable-transparency (default: off) 1918 --enable-transparency (default: on)
1784 Add support for inheriting parent backgrounds thus giving a fake 1919 Add support for inheriting parent backgrounds thus giving a fake
1785 transparency to the term. 1920 transparency to the term.
1786 1921
1787 --enable-fading (default: on) 1922 --enable-fading (default: on)
1788 Add support for fading the text when focus is lost (requires 1923 Add support for fading the text when focus is lost (requires
1790 1925
1791 --enable-tinting (default: on) 1926 --enable-tinting (default: on)
1792 Add support for tinting of transparent backgrounds (requires 1927 Add support for tinting of transparent backgrounds (requires
1793 "--enable-transparency"). 1928 "--enable-transparency").
1794 1929
1795 --enable-menubar (default: off) 1930 --enable-menubar (default: off) [DEPRECATED]
1796 Add support for our menu bar system (this interacts badly with 1931 Add support for our menu bar system (this interacts badly with
1797 dynamic locale switching currently). 1932 dynamic locale switching currently). This option is DEPRECATED and
1933 will be removed in the future.
1798 1934
1799 --enable-rxvt-scroll (default: on) 1935 --enable-rxvt-scroll (default: on)
1800 Add support for the original rxvt scrollbar. 1936 Add support for the original rxvt scrollbar.
1801 1937
1802 --enable-next-scroll (default: on) 1938 --enable-next-scroll (default: on)
1826 Removes any handling of the delete key by us - let the X server do 1962 Removes any handling of the delete key by us - let the X server do
1827 it. 1963 it.
1828 1964
1829 --disable-resources 1965 --disable-resources
1830 Removes any support for resource checking. 1966 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 1967
1841 --enable-strings (default: off) 1968 --enable-strings (default: off)
1842 Add support for our possibly faster memset() function and other 1969 Add support for our possibly faster memset() function and other
1843 various routines, overriding your system's versions which may have 1970 various routines, overriding your system's versions which may have
1844 been hand-crafted in assembly or may require extra libraries to link 1971 been hand-crafted in assembly or may require extra libraries to link
1856 A non-exhaustive list of features enabled by "--enable-frills" 1983 A non-exhaustive list of features enabled by "--enable-frills"
1857 (possibly in combination with other switches) is: 1984 (possibly in combination with other switches) is:
1858 1985
1859 MWM-hints 1986 MWM-hints
1860 EWMH-hints (pid, utf8 names) and protocols (ping) 1987 EWMH-hints (pid, utf8 names) and protocols (ping)
1861 seperate underline colour 1988 seperate underline colour (-underlineColor)
1862 settable border widths and borderless switch 1989 settable border widths and borderless switch (-w, -b, -bl)
1863 settable extra linespacing 1990 settable extra linespacing /-lsp)
1864 iso-14755-2 and -3, and visual feedback 1991 iso-14755-2 and -3, and visual feedback
1865 backindex and forwardindex escape sequence 1992 backindex and forwardindex escape sequence
1866 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences 1993 window op and some xterm/OSC escape sequences
1867 tripleclickwords 1994 tripleclickwords (-tcw)
1868 settable insecure mode 1995 settable insecure mode (-insecure)
1869 keysym remapping support 1996 keysym remapping support
1870 cursor blinking and underline cursor 1997 cursor blinking and underline cursor (-cb, -uc)
1871 -embed and -pty-fd options 1998 XEmbed support (-embed)
1999 user-pty (-pty-fd)
2000 hold on exit (-hold)
2001 skip builtin block graphics (-sbg)
2002 sgr modes 90..97 and 100..107
1872 2003
1873 --enable-iso14755 (default: on) 2004 --enable-iso14755 (default: on)
1874 Enable extended ISO 14755 support (see rxvt(1), or doc/rxvt.1.txt). 2005 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 2006 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. 2007 support for 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 is enabled with this switch.
1902 --enable-dlmalloc (default: off) 2033 --enable-dlmalloc (default: off)
1903 Use Doug Lea's malloc - which is good for a production version See 2034 Use Doug Lea's malloc - which is good for a production version See
1904 <http://g.oswego.edu/dl/html/malloc.html> for details. 2035 <http://g.oswego.edu/dl/html/malloc.html> for details.
1905 2036
1906 --enable-smart-resize (default: on) 2037 --enable-smart-resize (default: on)
1907 Add smart growth/shrink behaviour when changing font size via from 2038 Add smart growth/shrink behaviour when changing font size via hot
1908 hot keys. This should keep in a fixed position the rxvt corner which 2039 keys. This should keep the window corner which is closest to a
1909 is closest to a corner of the screen. 2040 corner of the screen in a fixed position.
1910 2041
1911 --enable-pointer-blank (default: on) 2042 --enable-pointer-blank (default: on)
1912 Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive. 2043 Add support to have the pointer disappear when typing or inactive.
2044
2045 --enable-perl (default: off)
2046 Enable an embedded perl interpreter. See the rxvtperl(3) manpage
2047 (doc/rxvtperl.txt) for more info on this feature, or the files in
2048 src/perl-ext/ for the extensions that are installed by default. The
2049 perl interpreter that is used can be specified via the "PERL"
2050 environment variable when running configure.
1913 2051
1914 --with-name=NAME (default: urxvt) 2052 --with-name=NAME (default: urxvt)
1915 Set the basename for the installed binaries, resulting in "urxvt", 2053 Set the basename for the installed binaries, resulting in "urxvt",
1916 "urxvtd" etc.). Specify "--with-name=rxvt" to replace with "rxvt". 2054 "urxvtd" etc.). Specify "--with-name=rxvt" to replace with "rxvt".
1917 2055

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