Bob Proulx wrote: > Siard wrote: > > Camaleón wrote: > > > But if I set the font face and font size from "~/.Xresources" it > > > seems to be omitted (no warning nor error, but the font does not > > > change) :-? > > > > As far as I remember, ~/.Xdefaults should be used instead since a > > few years. > > Actually it is the other way around. In the beginning it was > .Xdefaults (and actually still is) but now it is .Xresources. But the > reasoning isn't simple. There are something like six different unique > places that applications can get resource information. Some of those > override others and some do not. It isn't pretty nor simple. > > The .Xdefaults file is used by default from the X server unless there > is data set by 'xrdb'. In which case the .Xdefault file is ignored. > You read that right, it is the default but mostly ignored. > > Normally in the session startup the xrdb program is called to load a > personal .Xresources file or a system Xresources file. Therefore for > the 99.44% of us (a number I just made up from reading an ivory soap > package) reading this mailing list that are running X will have data > loaded from xrdb and the .Xdefaults file will be ignored. The rest > will have started X using 'xinit' and have total control with the > $HOME/.xinitrc file. (And I can't remember what the 'startx' script > does. You can browse the script to figure it out.) > > Normally by default in Debian the X startup flow will start with the > /etc/X11/Xsession script which chains through the script > /etc/X11/Xsession.d/30x11-common_xresources which runs xrdb and loads > up resources from the /etc/X11/Xresources/* and the $HOME/.Xresources > file if it exists. Because of that you typically want to make > resource changes to ~/.Xresources and then reload it with xrdb. > Changes to the file do not take effect until loaded. > > xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources > > That works to modify or add resources. But of course if you are > deleting them then you will need to dump them first, remove the ones > you want to remote, and then load the result. Because if you load > your ~/.Xresources then you also drop all of the resources from > /etc/X11/Xresources/* which are merged in. (Whew! That is too much > to know! My brain hurts.) > > I say normally by default because a lot of users do not run a Debian > default X environment through gdm/kdm/xdm and instead start X using > either xinit or startx from the command line. This allows complete > customization and of course many of those users will never have called > xrdb and therefore will actually default to the .Xdefaults file. (I > had to add this paragraph or otherwise each and every one of those > unique users would have commented upon it.) > > Now by this point you may have forgotten some important questions. > Here is the important questions you should be asking. Why have > .Xdefaults *and* .Xresources? Why is .Xresources newer? What is the > advantage of .Xresources over .Xdefaults? Why is it preferred? > > The answer is that .Xdefaults is a local file in your home directory. > But X is designed as a network transparent windowing system. If you > throw your display onto a different network host then it won't have > access to your $HOME/.Xdefaults file on the other machine. (Unless > you are also using something like NFS. But that is a different > story.) If you have a different $HOME on a different host then you > will have to set your fonts and colors and such all over again on that > other host. But wait it gets worse. If you have a display that is > large and a display that is small then both are forced to use the same > .Xdefaults. It's a problem. [Plus if that happens to be a shared > account (more common when X was designed) then you get to fight over > the settings with other users of that account.] > > Instead the Xresources set through xrdb is a property of your display. > One display that is large can set small fonts. Another display that > is small can set large fonts. You can have one set of defaults when > logged in with your desktop and a different set of defaults when > connected using a smartphone/pda with a small screen. The resources > are available over the network. When the application queries it for > resources they are all in one place and available from your display. > This solves most of the problems of a $HOME/.Xdefaults file.
Interesting information, which I will keep for future reference. It explains why ~/.Xresources was ignored since I moved from gdm to the console to start X. It also explains why ~/.Xmodmap was ignored since then, so I had to add 'xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap' as an extra startup command. BTW, I start X with just a script that has some startup commands and starts the WM or DE. E.g., /usr/local/fluxbox-session contains: #! /bin/sh /usr/bin/unclutter -idle 2 & xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap & /usr/bin/xbindkeys & /usr/bin/fluxbox /usr/local/kde-session contains: #! /bin/sh /usr/bin/unclutter -idle 2 & xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap & /usr/bin/startkde -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110207210527.70d9e748.shiems...@kpnplanet.nl
