Manual: xrdb

XRDB(1)						   General Commands Manual					     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 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  prop‐
       erty.)

       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.

       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 dis‐
	       tinct 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 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
       xrdb program accepts the following options:

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

       -version
	       This option will cause the xrdb version to be printed and the program to exit without  performing  any  other
	       operations.

       -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 (RE‐
	       SOURCE_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 de‐
	       fault 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 per‐
	       formed.

       -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.

       -undef  This option is passed to the C preprocessor if used. It prevents it  from  predefining  any  system  specific
	       macros.

       -E      This option indicates that any cpp command run and the output from it should be shown on standard output.  If
	       -nocpp  was  also  specified,  the input file will be shown as read.  The specified changes will also be per‐
	       formed unless the -n option is also specified.

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

       -query  This option indicates that the current contents of the specified properties should be printed onto the  stan‐
	       dard  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.

       -get name
	       This option indicates that the current content of the property matching name should be printed onto the stan‐
	       dard output.

       -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 properties.  New entries override previous entries.

       -merge  This option indicates that the input should be merged and lexicographically sorted with, instead	 of  replac‐
	       ing, 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, re‐
	       placing 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 #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
       Xrdb does not load any files on its own, but many desktop environments use xrdb to load ~/.Xresources files  on	ses‐
       sion startup to initialize the resource database, as a generalized replacement for ~/.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 1.2.2						     XRDB(1)