Re: Emacs and ~/.Xdefaults

[chl@tbit.dk (Christian Lynbech on satellite)]

I am no expert on X11 ressources, but here is a few ideas. Beware that
this is based on a mental image I have built for myself which may have
anywhere between 0 and 100 % resemblance to reality.

First note that X11 distinguishes between an applications *class* and
its *name*.

So you could try writing

	Emacs.background: Black

To set a default for all applications in the Emacs class.

I guess that lowercase entries are then referring to actual
application names. The (resource) name of an application defaults to
the executables name, but may be modified with the standard X11 option
of -name. Thus you could also have written:

	foobar.background: Black

and then invoke emacs as

	emacs -name foobar -title my-foobar

The -title is just to set the titlebar of the window.

This may also explain why the "emacs." setting was working from
.xsession but not with fvwm. You were referring to the name, but if
fvwm somehow changes this (resource wise), you will be in trouble.

You can experiment from a shell. Apparently, emacs looks into
.Xdefaults whenever it starts. Just add -q to avoid reading your
.emacs.

You could also handle this from within your .emacs. You could say
stuff such as:

      (if (eq window-system 'x)
	  (progn
	    (setq default-frame-alist 
		  (cons (cons '(background-color . "white")
			'(foreground-color . "black")
			default-frame-alist )))
	    (modify-frame-parameters nil default-frame-alist)))



---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
Christian Lynbech          | Ericsson Telebit A/S                       
Fax:   +45 8628 8186       | Fabrikvej 11, DK-8260 Viby J
Phone: +45 8738 2228       | email: chl@tbit.dk --- URL: http://www.tbit.dk
---------------------------+--------------------------------------------------
Hit the philistines three times over the head with the Elisp reference manual.
                                        - petonic@hal.com (Michael A. Petonic)