We value your feedback.
Take our survey and automatically be enter to win anyone of the following:
Yeti Cooler, Amazon eGift Card, and Movie eGift Card!
COURSE of the MONTH
13 days, 12 hours left to enrollBecome a Premium Member and unlock a new, free course in leading technologies each month.
Solved
Is there a global Xdefaults?
Posted on 2000-02-23
I installed a newer version of Xfig, and to get proper color, I added "*customize -color" to my .Xdefaults file.
This is a very general option, which is good to have there for everyone. However, I have about 100 users on my system, so editing everyones .Xdefaults is a bit of work. (Sure, I already did it with "for" and echo >>", but nevertheless...)
So, I'm wondering if there is a global system-wide .Xdefaults where I can put this (and other) options, much like /etc/profile, where I can add e.g. a PATH to all users without modifying every single $HOME/.bash_profile.
Many thanks,
Anders Blom
blom@teorfys.lu.se
This is a very general option, which is good to have there for everyone. However, I have about 100 users on my system, so editing everyones .Xdefaults is a bit of work. (Sure, I already did it with "for" and echo >>", but nevertheless...)
So, I'm wondering if there is a global system-wide .Xdefaults where I can put this (and other) options, much like /etc/profile, where I can add e.g. a PATH to all users without modifying every single $HOME/.bash_profile.
Many thanks,
Anders Blom
blom@teorfys.lu.se
[X]
Welcome to Experts Exchange
Add your voice to the tech community where 5M+ people just like you are talking about what matters.
- Help others & share knowledge
- Earn cash & points
- Learn & ask questions
-
3
-
3
7 Comments
Look at 'man xrdb', I think that will cover what you want. Different window managers handle resources differently, so you need to use something like this to set global resources for X sessions.
What distro are you using? the customization -color has been in the RedHat ~/.Xdefaults for ages.
Anyway, I don't think there is a global Xdefaults that you will find on any distro. Still many distros have created one. E.g. RedHat's xdm /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession script looks for "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/
This tells you how to find one on your system. Do you use xdm/kdm/gdm? Go to their directory in /etc/X11/ and search through the session scripts for the place that they look for. Edit or create that file. If the session script doesn't look for a global Xdefaults then create one yourself at a handy place and read it in from the session script with "xrdb -merge /path/to/your/Xdefaults/".
Anyway, I don't think there is a global Xdefaults that you will find on any distro. Still many distros have created one. E.g. RedHat's xdm /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession script looks for "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/
This tells you how to find one on your system. Do you use xdm/kdm/gdm? Go to their directory in /etc/X11/ and search through the session scripts for the place that they look for. Edit or create that file. If the session script doesn't look for a global Xdefaults then create one yourself at a handy place and read it in from the session script with "xrdb -merge /path/to/your/Xdefaults/".
Thanks for your speedy reply!
I'm using RedHat 6.1 now but many users' dotfiles date back to very old Slackware days. I think the /etc/skel dir is outdated, and needs to be remade.
The structure of /etc/X11 is tricky, with soft-links left and right and a lot of "defaults" files. It was rather difficult to figure out if I was using gdm or xdm, since all "defaults" files pointed to xdm, but when I ran "ps -aux | grep xdm" there was nothing (but gdm there was). Maybe this is because I'm administrating the server through ssh from another machine. I'll check when I actaully get on the machine itself.
What are the "session scripts" named?
As you see, I'm not a novice but not an expert either, but I'm learning. That is why some parts of my questions may seem very simple. Thanks again for taking your time to assist!
/Anders
I'm using RedHat 6.1 now but many users' dotfiles date back to very old Slackware days. I think the /etc/skel dir is outdated, and needs to be remade.
The structure of /etc/X11 is tricky, with soft-links left and right and a lot of "defaults" files. It was rather difficult to figure out if I was using gdm or xdm, since all "defaults" files pointed to xdm, but when I ran "ps -aux | grep xdm" there was nothing (but gdm there was). Maybe this is because I'm administrating the server through ssh from another machine. I'll check when I actaully get on the machine itself.
What are the "session scripts" named?
As you see, I'm not a novice but not an expert either, but I'm learning. That is why some parts of my questions may seem very simple. Thanks again for taking your time to assist!
/Anders
Thanks for your speedy reply!
I'm using RedHat 6.1 now but many users' dotfiles date back to very old Slackware days. I think the /etc/skel dir is outdated, and needs to be remade.
The structure of /etc/X11 is tricky, with soft-links left and right and a lot of "defaults" files. It was rather difficult to figure out if I was using gdm or xdm, since all "defaults" files pointed to xdm, but when I ran "ps -aux | grep xdm" there was nothing (but gdm there was). Maybe this is because I'm administrating the server through ssh from another machine. I'll check when I actaully get on the machine itself.
What are the "session scripts" named?
As you see, I'm not a novice but not an expert either, but I'm learning. That is why some parts of my questions may seem very simple. Thanks again for taking your time to assist!
/Anders
I'm using RedHat 6.1 now but many users' dotfiles date back to very old Slackware days. I think the /etc/skel dir is outdated, and needs to be remade.
The structure of /etc/X11 is tricky, with soft-links left and right and a lot of "defaults" files. It was rather difficult to figure out if I was using gdm or xdm, since all "defaults" files pointed to xdm, but when I ran "ps -aux | grep xdm" there was nothing (but gdm there was). Maybe this is because I'm administrating the server through ssh from another machine. I'll check when I actaully get on the machine itself.
What are the "session scripts" named?
As you see, I'm not a novice but not an expert either, but I'm learning. That is why some parts of my questions may seem very simple. Thanks again for taking your time to assist!
/Anders
Sorry, I don't have gdm installed on any of my machines, but I know it's config dir is /etc/X11/gdm under RedHat. You must be able to find the scripts there.
Sorry for being slow... I couldn't figure out which of gdm or xdm was actually my window manager. Now I think I got it:
In /etc/X11/gdm/Sessions there is a softlink Default which executes /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession and in that script I found "xrdb -merge ..." which I think will do the trick for me!
Also: sorry for the multiposting -- Netscape reposted the data form when I hit Reload.
Thanks!
In /etc/X11/gdm/Sessions there is a softlink Default which executes /etc/X11/xdm/Xsession and in that script I found "xrdb -merge ..." which I think will do the trick for me!
Also: sorry for the multiposting -- Netscape reposted the data form when I hit Reload.
Thanks!
Featured Post
Just getting started with Linux? Here's a quick start guide that has 7 commands that we believe will come in handy.
Question has a verified solution.
If you are experiencing a similar issue, please ask a related question
SSH (Secure Shell) - Tips and Tricks
As you all know SSH(Secure Shell) is a network protocol, which we use to access/transfer files securely between two networked devices. SSH was actually designed as a replacement for insecure protocols that sen…
It’s 2016. Password authentication should be dead — or at least close to dying. But, unfortunately, it has not traversed Quagga stage yet. Using password authentication is like laundering hotel guest linens with a washboard — it’s Passé.
Learn how to find files with the shell using the find and locate commands.
Use locate to find a needle in a haystack.: With locate, check if the file still exists.: Use find to get the actual location of the file.:
How to Install VMware Tools in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 (RHEL 6.4) Step-by-Step Tutorial
Suggested Courses
Course of the Month13 days, 12 hours left to enroll
801 members asked questions and received personalized solutions in the past 7 days.
Join the community of 500,000 technology professionals and ask your questions.