faq

multi-tabed terminal based on rxvt

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			Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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Q:  I have a question...
Q:  What exactly is the name of this project, materm or mrxvt?
Q:  Why not use GNU screen? It has provided the multi-screen features!
Q:  Why not use gnome-terminal/konsole? They have provided the functionality of
    mrxvt!
Q:  How to build mrxvt, since I cannot find the configure script as usual!?
Q:  Shift+Left/Right do not always work. Ctrl+Shift+6 does not do anything.
    Some other keyboard shortcut do not work either.
Q:  I just upgraded to mrxvt-0.5.x, and feature XXX doesn't work anymore.
Q:  When I run mrxvt from command line, it outputs lots of verbose text. How to
    disable it?
Q:  I do not have root privilege on my system. Can I install mrxvt, and what are
    the restrictions if I install it as normal user?
Q:  When I run mrxvt with multiple tabs, why does the output of the `w' command
    shows many users are using the system?
Q:  I dislike the default mrxvt font, so I have installed some new fonts, like
    the Verdana font. But when I run mrxvt with option `-fn verdana', mrxvt
    complains that it cannot find the verdana font! What is wrong?
Q:  When I want to use Chinese (or Korea/Japanese) encoding and font, executing
    command `mrxvt -km gb -mfont fontname' is not working! For example, it
    complains that -km is a bad option.
Q:  I have ~/.Xdefaults and ~/.mrxvtrc, which one is the first to be read?
Q:  How do I input Chinese (or Korea/Japanese) in mrxvt?
Q:  I execute mrxvt with CJK encoding and X11 fonts. But sometimes CJK
    characters are not display completely, or there are some extra pixels left
    after the CJK characters.
Q:  Does mrxvt support UTF-8 locale/encoding method?
Q:  I use UTF-8 as default encoding method, but mrxvt does not support it. So
    can I start mrxvt with other encoding method, e.g., zh_CN.GB2312 without
    changing the default encoding method?
Q:  I run mrxvt with `-o 25' option, but the window is not translucent!
Q:  When I run mrxvt in transparent mode or background image mode, can I make
    the background a little darker?
Q:  Why the tinting does not work after I set the tint color in command line or
    ~/.mrxvtrc?
Q:  I am tired with the current tinting color, can I change the color without
    restart mrxvt?
Q:  How to start mrxvt with multiple tabs initially?
Q:  How do I let each tab execute different applications when mrxvt starts?
Q:  How to change the title of a tab after mrxvt starts?
Q:  My Control-Left / Right and Home / End keys do not work properly in some
    applications.
Q:  How do I set the tab title to the current command?
Q:  How to dynamically change the title of the mrxvt window so that it is the
    same as the current active tab when I switch to a new tab?
Q:  Why cannot I close a tab? The close button is grey!
Q:  Is there any keyboard combination to manipulate the tabs?
Q:  Mrxvt default hotkey ctrl+shift+minus conflicts with Emacs. How can I
    disable this mrxvt default hotkey?
Q:  How to enable freetype font, or, say the XFT support?
Q:  After I use freetype font, the text rendering speed seems to slow down a
    lot! How to improve the speed?
Q:  After I use freetype font, the line space seems too large. Is there any way
    to narrow down the line space?
Q:  Can I change the color of tab background and text?
Q:  I notice that sometimes there is a dash-dot frame around the title of
    inactive tabs. What has happened? Is it a bug?
Q:  I notice that the inactive tab is highlighted by the dash-dot frame, but
    after I switch to it, I see nothing happened. What is wrong with it?
Q:  I like to use command line options to create a new tab in the current mrxvt
    terminal and execute some commands. For example, if I run command `mrxvt
    --new-tab -e pine' in a mrxvt terminal, the current terminal will open a new
    tab and run pine in it. Can you implement it for me?
Q:  I like to use context menu when I right click in the terminal window. For
    example, to copy/paste text. Can you support it?
Q:  Will you rewrite mrxvt using C++? The object oriented feature of C++ can
    make mrxvt much modular.
Q:  How do I know which mrxvt version I'm using?
Q:  Mouse cut/paste suddenly no longer works.
Q:  What's with this bold/blink stuff? I can never get blinking text!
Q:  I don't like the screen colors.  How do I change them?
Q:  What's with the strange Backspace/Delete key behaviour?
Q:  Why doesn't the Backspace key work on my Linux machine?
Q:  I don't like the key-bindings.  How do I change them?
Q:  I'm using keyboard model XXX that has extra Prior/Next/Insert keys.  How do
    I make use of them?  For example, the Sun Keyboard type 4 has the following
    mappings that mrxvt doesn't recognize.
Q:  How do I distinguish if I'm running mrxvt or a regular xterm? I need this to
    decide about setting colors etc.
Q:  How do I set the correct, full IP address for the DISPLAY variable?
Q:  Can I search the scroll back buffer?
Q:  Where is the CVS repository of mrxvt?
Q:  I find a bug, or I would like to see a new feature in mrxvt, how to report
    it?

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		   Frequently Asked Questions with answers :)
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Q:  I have a question...

A:  Have you read the README, README.configure, INSTALL, FAQ, TIPS, man page...?
    Before asking a question, please read through these documents for potential
    answers.

    Here is a good tutorial to ask questions:

	http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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Q:  What exactly is the name of this project, materm or mrxvt?

A:  The current official name of this project is mrxvt (I honestly hope Rui
    Carmo will not reclaim the ownership of mrxvt because he is the first person
    who tried to hack a multi-tab rxvt on Cygwin and got this name for his
    project. Here is the link of his work:
    http://the.taoofmac.com/space/Projects/mrxvt).

    As stated in README, in the beginning, the project name was materm - derived
    from the project multi-aterm. And this was the name when I registered the
    project at sourceforge. Unfortunately it is not easy to rename materm to
    mrxvt at sourceforge. This is why we keep materm as the name at sourceforge.

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Q:  Why not use GNU screen? It has provided the multi-screen features!

A:  Because I do not like GNU screen. ;-)  People have their own flavors. Plus,
    mrxvt provides some features that GNU screen lacks, e.g., use mouse click to
    switch from different tabs... :p

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Q:  Why not use gnome-terminal/konsole? They have provided the functionality of
    mrxvt!

A:  Because they are heavy, slow, and depend on too many libraries. For example,
    gnome-terminal 2.6.1 in the Slackware -current tree depends on
    58 libraries, konsole of KDE 3.3 in the gentoo depends on 41 libraries,
    mrxvt with all features only depends on 19 libraries, and this number can be
    further reduced to 5 (of course you need to strip out some features, like
    background image ;-))!! Since all I need is a fast and lightweight X
    terminal emulator supporting multi-tabs, I decide to create mrxvt by myself.

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Q:  How to build mrxvt, since I cannot find the configure script as usual!?

A:  Have you read the INSTALL file?

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Q:  Shift+Left/Right do not always work. Ctrl+Shift+6 does not do anything.
    Some other keyboard shortcut do not work either.

A:  Do not report these issues as bugs. They most certainly are NOT. As of
    mrxvt-0.5.0, a lot have changed, this includes a few default keyboard
    shortcut sequences.

    Shift+Left/Right by default is only bound when you are in the primary
    screen. This is because good editors (i.e. Vim) use this keyboard
    combination to move between words. This of course can be changed by adding
    the following lines to your ~/.mrxvtrc

	Mrxvt.macro.Shift+Left:		GotoTab -1
	Mrxvt.macro.Shift+Right:	GotoTab +1

    but we recommend you use Ctrl+PgUP/PgDn or Ctrl+Shift+h/l to switch tabs
    instead.

    About Ctrl+Shift+6: Vim uses this sequence to switch to the "alternate"
    file. However when you press it in mrxvt, it seems to do nothing. This is
    because pressing Ctrl+Shift+6 by default moves the current tab to position
    6.

    Most terminal applications we know of so far can NOT tell the difference
    between Ctrl+Shift+number and Ctrl+number. Thus pressing Ctrl+6 in Vim will
    switch to the alternate buffer, so mrxvt can safely swallow the Ctrl+Shift+6
    keystroke.

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Q:  I just upgraded to mrxvt-0.5.x, and feature XXX doesn't work anymore.

A:  Don't panic! Something is possibly different in the latest release.

    The following are the changes you need to be most wary of when upgrading to
    mrxvt-4.x to 0.5.x:

	1. Background tinting works differently when compiled with XRender
	   support (enabled by default in 0.5.0). Now if you want your
	   background tinted to a specific color, you need to set the tintColor
	   resource to that color, and NOT the mask (as you had to in 0.4.x).
	   Specifically, if you want a dark tint, then set tintColor to #000000
	   (in 0.4.x you would set it to #ffffff).

	   Also keep in mind that very bright colors (e.g. #ffffff) are not very
	   transparent and not good for tinting.

	2. The default terminal name is now "rxvt" and not "xterm". On systems
	   with badly configured termcap / terminfo entries for "rxvt", this
	   will cause NUMEROUS ncurses based programs to behave very badly
	   (including bash!). If you have any problems, ask your Linux vendor to
	   fix this! Or wimp out and set the termName resource to "xterm" in
	   your ~/.mrxvtrc

	3. The old "hotkey" feature has been disabled. The new "macro" feature
	   in 0.5.0 extends the functionality of the old "hotkey" feature.

	4. The menu syntax for actions from 0.5.x is incompatible with the
	   syntax from earlier versions. See the man page for details.

	5. The keysym resource is disabled by default (use macros instead).

	6. A few default key-bindings were changed (mainly to adhere to the
	   convention that terminal programs should use Ctrl-Shift modifiers for
	   all it's shortcuts, and let the window manager / child process use
	   other modifier combinations).
	   
	   For example the Shift+Left / Shift+Right macros to switch tabs are
	   enabled ONLY in the primary screen (i.e. they will not work when you
	   are running Vim). Vim uses Shift+Left/Right to move between words, so
	   we do not override this behaviour in Vim.
	   
	   Read the man page and /etc/mrxvt/mrxvtrc for a complete list and
	   description of the macros defined in 0.5.x.

	7. A few escape sequences (controlling creation / movement of tabs) have
	   been disabled for security reasons. The functions can of course be
	   accessed using keyboard macros or the popup-menus.

	8. Escape sequences generated by function keys / modified cursor keys
	   have now been changed to produce exactly the same escape sequences as
	   Xterm does. (If you don't like this, then undefine the macro
	   XTERM_KEYS in src/feature.h). As a result of this, to get Ctrl+Left /
	   Right working in your shell, change ~/.inputrc the way you would for
	   Xterm (not rxvt). This is described later on in this FAQ.

	9. The option --tabShell, --cmdInitTabs have been removed. The options
	   --initTermNum and --vt%d.xx have been marked as obsolete.

	   Mrxvt-0.5.0 has a new "profile" feature intended to replace the above
	   options. Here settings are associated to a "profile" instead of a
	   tab. Tabs can be created on demand with any desired profile. (The
	   earlier design led to some unresolvable bugs when the user moved
	   tabs). Migrating to profiles is easy:

	       1. Replace the old vt%d.xx resources with profile%d.xx. remember
		  that the profile%d resources refer to the PROFILE number, and
		  not the TAB number.

	       2. To open a new tab with profile number N use the macro "NewTab
		  -N". E.g.

		    Mrxvt.macro.Ctrl+Shift+F1:  NewTab -1
		    Mrxvt.macro.Ctrl+Shift+F2:  NewTab -2
		    Mrxvt.macro.Ctrl+Shift+F3:  NewTab -3
		    Mrxvt.macro.Ctrl+Shift+F4:  NewTab -4

	       3. Finally replace your initTermNumber option with
		  initProfileList. The argument to initProfileList is a comma
		  separated list of profiles you want opened in new tabs on
		  startup.

    A more complete list of changes is in the ChangeLog, and in the Subversion
    logs.

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Q:  When I run mrxvt from command line, it outputs lots of verbose text. How to
    disable it?

A:  You probably have configured mrxvt with debug support. You need to
    reconfigure mrxvt to disable debug support and rebuild it, like the
    following:

	$ ./configure --enable-whatever-options --disable-debug $ make

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Q:  I do not have root privilege on my system. Can I install mrxvt, and what are
    the restrictions if I install it as normal user?

A:  Surely you can install mrxvt without root privilege. You can configure mrxvt
    with --prefix=/home/youraccount and install it. Or you can simply copy the
    mrxvt program to anywhere you wish. Mrxvt only requires setuid root in order
    to write to utmp/wtmp/lastlog. If you do not have root privilege, you will
    only lose this feature.

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Q:  When I run mrxvt with multiple tabs, why does the output of the `w' command
    shows many users are using the system?

A:  This is because each mrxvt tab logs itself in an entry of the utmp file. If
    you do not want this feature, remove the setuid permission from mrxvt binary
    and do not build mrxvt with utempter support.

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Q:  I dislike the default mrxvt font, so I have installed some new fonts, like
    the Verdana font. But when I run mrxvt with option `-fn verdana', mrxvt
    complains that it cannot find the verdana font! What is wrong?

A:  There are two types of fonts in X Window System, the ancient X11 bitmap
    fonts and the new freetype fonts. Mrxvt is capable to use either type of
    fonts.
    
    The X11 bitmap fonts have a special format of names. You can execute command
    `xlsfonts | more' to get a complete list of all X11 bitmap fonts installed
    in your system, and pick one you like. Or you can execute program `xfontsel'
    to pick one, which shows you the look of the font nicely. As you can see,
    the font name is in a special format like the following example. That is why
    mrxvt complains if you only provide the name of the font:

	-adobe-courier-bold-o-normal--14-140-75-75-m-90-iso8859-1

    The freetype fonts are much simpler to handle. You only need to give the
    font family name to `-xftfn' option, there is not a magic format like X11
    font. You can specify other characteristics of the freetype font using other
    related options.

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Q:  When I want to use Chinese (or Korea/Japanese) encoding and font, executing
    command `mrxvt -km gb -mfont fontname' is not working! For example, it
    complains that -km is a bad option.

A:  Most probably, you have not enabled gb/big5/kanji/korea options when you
    configure the mrxvt. These options are turned off by default. Reconfigure
    mrxvt to enable these options and rebuild it like the following:

	$ ./configure --enable-cjk --enable-whatever-other-options
	$ make
	$ su
	$ make install

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Q:  I have ~/.Xdefaults and ~/.mrxvtrc, which one is the first to be read?

A:  ~/.mrxvtrc will be the one to be read, and ~/.Xdefaults is ignored. Mrxvt
    tries to read three resources files in sequence: ~/.mrxvtrc, ~/.Xdefaults
    and ~/.Xresources. If either one is successfully opened, the rest are
    ignored.

    Very soon the ~/.Xdefaults and ~/.Xresources files will not be used by
    mrxvt, and we recomend you call your config file ~/.mrxvtrc.

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Q:  How do I input Chinese (or Korea/Japanese) in mrxvt?

A:  First of all, you need to to enable the language options for
    Chinese/Korea/Japanese as the above question when you configure mrxvt. You
    also needs to enable the XIM option (--enable-xim).