Understanding resources

Loading new values into the resource database

If you want to add new resource values to the resource database without overriding the current values, you must use the -merge option with the xrdb client.

For example, to add new resources that are stored in a file called myresources, you would enter:

xrdb -merge myresources

As another example, if you wanted to configure subsequent versions of scoterm to display scroll bars, you could use standard input and enter:

xrdb -merge
ScoTerm*scrollBar: True

When you are finished, press <Ctrl>d to end the standard input.

Any new resource specifications that you add during a Graphical Environment session will not affect any clients that are currently running. If you want your current clients to reflect your new resource settings, you need to restart them.

NOTE: If you add a new resource specification but do not see the behavior you expect, it may be that a more specific resource specification has already been loaded into the resource database, and not that you used the -merge option incorrectly.

If your specifications do not seem to work, use the -query option to list the current values in the resource database. Check this list for any conflicting resource specifications.

Next topic: Saving new specifications in a resource file
Previous topic: Examining the contents of the resource database

© 2003 Caldera International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SCO OpenServer Release 5.0.7 -- 11 February 2003