XRDB(1)                        X Version 11                         XRDB(1)
                                 Release 6.1



 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      xrdb - X server resource database utility

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

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      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
      available 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 capabilities 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" 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.





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      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
              usually 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



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              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 properties directly from a
              terminal or from a shell script.

 OPTIONS    [Toc]    [Back]
      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(1).  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.




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      -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, -override or -merge) or to the resource
              file (when used with -edit) should be shown on the standard
              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 properties, 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



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              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 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 preprocessor 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

      -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    [Toc]    [Back]
      Generalizes ~/.Xdefaults files.

 SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]
      X(1), Xlib Resource Manager documentation, Xt resource documentation

 ENVIRONMENT    [Toc]    [Back]
      DISPLAY to figure out which display to use.

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





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 AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]
      Bob Scheifler, Phil Karlton, rewritten from the original by Jim Gettys


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