Re: Sanest way to make emacs behave on a Solaris OS

[Dan Espen]

Bob Proulx <bob@proulx.com> writes:

> Emanuel Berg wrote:
>> Bob Proulx writes:
>> > Use of .Xdefaults is rather superseded by the .Xresources file.
>> > The difference between the two is subtle.  But .Xresources tends
>> > to be preferred because of the way that it is applied.  The
>> > .Xresources is applied to the $DISPLAY through xrdb.  The
>> > .Xdefaults is applied through the presence in the $HOME
>> > directory, but only if the xrdb is empty.  So once you have a
>> > .Xresources the .Xdefaults is no longer used.
>> 
>> That's interesting. On my school's Solaris/SunOS, in my home
>> directory, there wasn't any .Xresources to begin with, but there
>> was an .Xdefaults. It would have been interesting to examine the
>> the contents of that file, but I was so eager to try the
>> .Xresources solution that I just deleted the .Xdefaults, to be
>> sure it didn't influence in any way. And now, you're saying that
>> was unnecessary, because it is only applied if there isn't a
>> populated xrdb/.Xresources. You live, you learn.
>
> The difference is a little subtle if you are not in a situation to
> notice how they are different from each other.  Let me give an
> example.
>
> You and I are both working on a server machine for some task using a
> shared login.  (Let's not debate the shared login aspect.  Much of
> this was set up decades ago.  At one time on local private friendly
> networks that was very commonly done.  And this also applies to a
> single user with different device displays too.)
>
> You log into the machine and either tunnel X with ssh -X or you set
> DISPLAY and allow it to forward raw to your desktop display.  I do the
> same.  Say that I like white on black text and you like black on white
> text.  However this could be any given customization.  It is only
> important that we like different things.  We both start up the same
> graphics application for the purposes of the shared task.
>
> An alternative difference could be that you are working on a very
> large widescreen monitor and want to set sizes, fonts, dpi, to match
> your large screen.  I am working off of a 7 inch tablet and wish to
> set sizes, fonts, dpi, to match my more limited work space.  Just for
> another example.

Shared logins?  Makes no sense to me.
Where is the security in that.



Anyway, since you brought up dealing with different monitor sizes
here's how I deal with rxvt on different terminal sizes using
xrdb and X-resources:

#if ( HEIGHT == 900 )     /* Traditional Sparc */
Rxvt.geometry: 80x55
#elif ( HEIGHT == 1024 )  /* Sparc 21 inch */
Rxvt.geometry: 80x65
#elif ( HEIGHT == 768 )   /* Exceed in 1024x768 mode */
Rxvt.geometry: 80x47
#else                     /* I have no idea... */
Rxvt.geometry: 80x40
#endif

The man page reveals other values you can access besides HEIGHT.

Another person mentioned running xrdb and reading an .Xdefaults file.
A common problem with .Xdefaults is that it can rapidly accumulate
huge amounts of junk.

Here's how I deal with that in my .xinitrc:

  cat $HOME/xdef/*.ad | xrdb -load

The xdef directory contains:

Emacs.ad
exmh.ad
xterm.ad
etc.

Makes it easy to remove things you no longer use.

-- 
Dan Espen