xrdb (X resource database manager) is a program used for accessing the
X resources
In the X Window System, the X resources are parameters of computer programs such as the name of the font used in the Button (computing), buttons, the background color of Menu (computing), menus, etc. They are used in conjunction with or as an alte ...
of a server. Its main use is to read a set of resources from a file and store them in the server at startup.
This program can access the resources in both read and write mode. In particular, it can read the resources stored in the server and can store a set of resources on the server, replacing or adding to the previous ones. It can operate either on the general display resources or on the ones specific to a screen. The main use of xrdb is however to load the resources when the X
display server is started. For example, the instruction
xrdb -load $HOME/.Xresources can be placed in scripts that are executed when the server is started to read the user preferences from the file
.Xresources in his home directory.
The original version of xrdb was written by
Jim Gettys
Jim Gettys (born 15 October 1953) is an American computer programmer.
Activity
Gettys worked at Digital Equipment Corporation, DEC's Cambridge Research Laboratory.
He is one of the original developers of the X Window System at MIT and worked ...
and later rewritten by Bob Scheifler and Phil Karlton.
See also
*
X resources
*
X Window System
The X Window System (X11, or simply X) is a windowing system for bitmap displays, common on Unix-like operating systems.
X originated as part of Project Athena at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984. The X protocol has been at ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
xrdb man page* http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xrdb/
X Window System