Re: Trying to use the Droid fonts in xterm
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
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