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 prop-
       erty 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  pre-
       processor 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  (cur-
               rently 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,  True-
               Color,  DirectColor.  This is the visual class of the root win-
               dow.

       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, True-
               Color, 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  vis-
               ual  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  parameters  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  (RESOURCE_MANAGER),  as
               well  as  the  screen-specific  property  (SCREEN_RESOURCES) on
               every screen of the display.  For example, when  used  in  con-
               junction  with  -query, the contents of all properties are out-
               put.  For -load, -override and -merge, the input file  is  pro-
               cessed once for each screen.  The resources which occur in com-
               mon 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 per-
               formed on the screen-independent RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

       -screen This option indicates that the operation should  only  be  per-
               formed  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 pro-
               gram 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 pre-
               vents it from predefining any system specific macros.

       -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 speci-
               fied 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
               properties.  New entries override previous entries.

       -merge  This option indicates that the input should be merged and lexi-
               cographically  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  prop-
               erties should be edited into the given file, replacing any val-
               ues 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 session 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 1.1.0                           XRDB(1)
