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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
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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!
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