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XRDB(1)                                                                                              XRDB(1)



NAME
       xrdb - X server resource database utility

SYNOPSIS
       xrdb [-option ...] [filename]

DESCRIPTION
       Xrdb is used to get or set the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER property on the root window of screen
       0, or the SCREEN_RESOURCES property on the root window of any or all screens, or everything combined.
       You would normally run this program from your X startup file.

       Most X clients use the RESOURCE_MANAGER and SCREEN_RESOURCES properties to get user preferences about
       color, fonts, and so on for applications.  Having this information in the server (where it is  avail-able available
       able  to  all clients) instead of on disk, solves the problem in previous versions of X that required
       you to maintain defaults files on every machine that you might  use.   It  also  allows  for  dynamic
       changing of defaults without editing files.

       The  RESOURCE_MANAGER  property  is used for resources that apply to all screens of the display.  The
       SCREEN_RESOURCES property on each screen specifies additional (or overriding) resources  to  be  used
       for  that  screen.   (When  there  is  only  one  screen,  SCREEN_RESOURCES is normally not used, all
       resources are just placed in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.)

       The file specified by filename (or the contents from standard input if - or no filename is given)  is
       optionally  passed  through the C preprocessor with the following symbols defined, based on the capa-bilities capabilities
       bilities of the server being used:

       SERVERHOST=hostname
               the hostname portion of the display to which you are connected.

       SRVR_name
               the  SERVERHOST  hostname  string  turned  into  a  legal  identifier.   For  example,   "my-dpy.lcs.mit.edu" "mydpy.lcs.mit.edu"
               dpy.lcs.mit.edu" becomes SRVR_my_dpy_lcs_mit_edu.

       HOST=hostname
               the same as SERVERHOST.

       DISPLAY_NUM=num
               the number of the display on the server host.

       CLIENTHOST=hostname
               the name of the host on which xrdb is running.

       CLNT_name
               the   CLIENTHOST   hostname   string   turned   into   a   legal  identifier.   For  example,
               "expo.lcs.mit.edu" becomes CLNT_expo_lcs_mit_edu.

       RELEASE=num
               the vendor release number for the server.   The  interpretation  of  this  number  will  vary
               depending on VENDOR.

       REVISION=num
               the X protocol minor version supported by this server (currently 0).

       VERSION=num
               the X protocol major version supported by this server (should always be 11).

       VENDOR="vendor"
               a string literal specifying the vendor of the server.

       VNDR_name
               the  VENDOR  name  string  turned  into  a legal identifier.  For example, "MIT X Consortium"
               becomes VNDR_MIT_X_Consortium.

       EXT_name
               A symbol is defined for each protocol extension supported  by  the  server.   Each  extension
               string name is turned into a legal identifier.  For example, "X3D-PEX" becomes EXT_X3D_PEX.

       NUM_SCREENS=num
               the total number of screens.

       SCREEN_NUM=num
               the number of the current screen (from zero).

       BITS_PER_RGB=num
               the  number of significant bits in an RGB color specification.  This is the log base 2 of the
               number of distinct shades of each primary that the hardware can generate.  Note that it  usu-ally usually
               ally is not related to PLANES.

       CLASS=visualclass
               one  of StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor, PseudoColor, TrueColor, DirectColor.  This is the
               visual class of the root window.

       CLASS_visualclass=visualid
               the visual class of the root window in a form you can #ifdef on.  The value is the numeric id
               of the visual.

       COLOR   defined only if CLASS is one of StaticColor, PseudoColor, TrueColor, or DirectColor.

       CLASS_visualclass_depth=num
               A  symbol is defined for each visual supported for the screen.  The symbol includes the class
               of the visual and its depth; the value is the numeric id of the visual.  (If  more  than  one
               visual  has  the same class and depth, the numeric id of the first one reported by the server
               is used.)

       HEIGHT=num
               the height of the root window in pixels.

       WIDTH=num
               the width of the root window in pixels.

       PLANES=num
               the number of bit planes (the depth) of the root window.

       X_RESOLUTION=num
               the x resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.

       Y_RESOLUTION=num
               the y resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.

       SRVR_name, CLNT_name, VNDR_name, and EXT_name identifiers are formed by changing all characters other
       than letters and digits into underscores (_).

       Lines that begin with an exclamation mark (!) are ignored and may be used as comments.

       Note that since xrdb can read from standard input, it can be used to the change the contents of prop-erties properties
       erties directly from a terminal or from a shell script.

OPTIONS
       xrdb program accepts the following options:

       -help   This option (or any unsupported option) will cause  a  brief  description  of  the  allowable
               options and parameters to be printed.

       -display display
               This option specifies the X server to be used; see X(7).  It also specifies the screen to use
               for the -screen option, and it specifies the  screen  from  which  preprocessor  symbols  are
               derived for the -global option.

       -all    This  option  indicates that operation should be performed on the screen-independent resource
               property (RESOURCE_MANAGER), as well as the screen-specific  property  (SCREEN_RESOURCES)  on
               every screen of the display.  For example, when used in conjunction with -query, the contents
               of all properties are output.  For -load, -override and -merge, the input file  is  processed
               once for each screen.  The resources which occur in common in the output for every screen are
               collected, and  these  are  applied  as  the  screen-independent  resources.   The  remaining
               resources  are  applied  for  each  individual per-screen property.  This the default mode of
               operation.

       -global This option indicates that the operation should only be performed on  the  screen-independent
               RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

       -screen This  option  indicates  that  the operation should only be performed on the SCREEN_RESOURCES
               property of the default screen of the display.

       -screens
               This option indicates that the operation should be performed on the SCREEN_RESOURCES property
               of  each screen of the display.  For -load, -override and -merge, the input file is processed
               for each screen.

       -n      This option indicates that changes to the specified properties (when used with -load,  -over-ride -override
               ride  or  -merge) or to the resource file (when used with -edit) should be shown on the stan-dard standard
               dard output, but should not be performed.

       -quiet  This option indicates that warning about duplicate entries should not be displayed.

       -cpp filename
               This option specifies the pathname of the C preprocessor program to be used.   Although  xrdb
               was  designed  to  use  CPP, any program that acts as a filter and accepts the -D, -I, and -U
               options may be used.

       -nocpp  This option indicates that xrdb should not run the input file through a  preprocessor  before
               loading it into properties.

       -symbols
               This  option  indicates  that  the  symbols  that  are defined for the preprocessor should be
               printed onto the standard output.

       -query  This option indicates that the current contents of the specified properties should be printed
               onto  the  standard output.  Note that since preprocessor commands in the input resource file
               are part of the input file, not part of the property, they won't appear in  the  output  from
               this  option.  The -edit option can be used to merge the contents of properties back into the
               input resource file without damaging preprocessor commands.

       -load   This option indicates that the input should be loaded as the new value of the specified prop-erties, properties,
               erties,  replacing  whatever  was  there  (i.e.   the old contents are removed).  This is the
               default action.

       -override
               This option indicates that the input should be added to, instead of  replacing,  the  current
               contents of the specified properties.  New entries override previous entries.

       -merge  This  option  indicates  that  the  input should be merged and lexicographically sorted with,
               instead of replacing, the current contents of the specified properties.

       -remove This option indicates that the specified properties should be removed from the server.

       -retain This option indicates that the server should be instructed not to reset if xrdb is the  first
               client.   This  should never be necessary under normal conditions, since xdm and xinit always
               act as the first client.

       -edit filename
               This option indicates that the contents of the specified properties should be edited into the
               given  file,  replacing any values already listed there.  This allows you to put changes that
               you have made to your defaults back into your resource file, preserving any comments or  pre-processor preprocessor
               processor lines.

       -backup string
               This  option  specifies a suffix to be appended to the filename used with -edit to generate a
               backup file.

       -Dname[=value]
               This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is used to define symbols for use  with
               conditionals such as #ifdef.

       -Uname  This  option  is  passed through to the preprocessor and is used to remove any definitions of
               this symbol.

       -Idirectory
               This option is passed through to the preprocessor and is  used  to  specify  a  directory  to
               search for files that are referenced with #include.

FILES
       Generalizes ~/.Xdefaults files.

SEE ALSO
       X(7), appres(1), listres(1), Xlib Resource Manager documentation, Xt resource documentation

ENVIRONMENT
       DISPLAY to figure out which display to use.

BUGS
       The  default  for  no  arguments  should be to query, not to overwrite, so that it is consistent with
       other programs.

AUTHORS
       Bob Scheifler, Phil Karlton, rewritten from the original by Jim Gettys



X Version 11                                     xrdb 1.0.5                                          XRDB(1)

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