Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cwjcc!gatech!mcnc!godot!sherouse
From: sherouse@godot.radonc.unc.edu (George W. Sherouse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Captain Defaults vs. the Resource Mangler from Outer Space
Keywords: someone's had too much to think..
Message-ID: <993@godot.radonc.unc.edu>
Date: 13 Nov 88 20:10:25 GMT
Organization: Radiation Oncology, NCMH/UNC, Chapel Hill
Lines: 58


It seemed simple enough.  One machine, one set of defaults.  What a
concept!

I like to have one set of default resources *per machine*.  Godot is
green on black, Molasses is yellow on black, Zarquon is cyan on black,
etc.  Not just login xterms, either.  Everything.  This helps keep my
simple mind on the straight and narrow.  For instance, I don't reboot
the wrong machine quite as often as I used to.  (Think I'll try out
this new kernel... /etc/shutdown -r now...  [Shrieks from other room]
Ack!  NO, NO, I MEANT THAT ONE. [grumbles] *@#! windows...)

Since the X10 days I have set up .Xdefaults with something like

.foreground:	some_color
.border:	some_complementary_color
.background:	black

where some*_color is different on each machine.  I can then run a
startup script like the following on ANY machine and get the same
happy results.  Any new clients I start will show up with the proper
color coding since they look up resources from .Xdefaults on the
machines where they are executing and I will stay only acceptably
confused.

--- Begin startup script
twm &
xset c 100 &
xsetroot -bitmap /usr/include/X11/bitmaps/xlogo32 -bg "dark slate grey" -fg "dim grey" &
xclock -digital -geometry 215x35-0+0 -display `hostname`:0 &
xcalc -rpn -geometry 246x161-0-0 -display `hostname`:0 &
rsh godot "/usr/bin/X11/xload -geometry 180x60+0+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh mo "/usr/bin/X11/xload -geometry 180x60+180+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh zarquon "/usr/bin/X11/xload -geometry 180x60+360+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh bartleby "/usr/bin/xload -update 1 -geometry 180x60+540+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh godot "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -i -ls -n godot -geometry 80x60+0-0 \#+100+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh mo "/usr/bin/X11/xterm  -i -ls -n molasses -geometry 80x60+130-0 \#+280+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh zarquon "/usr/bin/X11/xterm  -i -ls -n zarquon -geometry 80x60+260-0 \#+460+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh bartleby "/usr/bin/xterm  -ic -ls -n bartleby -geometry 80x60-0-0 \#+640+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh godot "/usr/bin/X11/xbiff -geometry +720+0 -display `hostname`:0" &
rsh godot "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -i -ls -n godot -geometry 80x40+170+140 \#+720+50 -display `hostname`:0" &
--- End startup script

Enter xdm, the evil hunchman of the Resource Mangler.  .Xdefaults is
passe, .Xresources is hip.  However, the ugly truth which I have
managed to extract by convolving some experimental results with Jim
Fulton's tutorial is that if you use the resource manager at all (for
instance to customize xdm) then your .Xdefaults files ON ALL MACHINES
are forever ignored.  Further, there appears to be no way to specify
to the resource manager that all clients on a given (remote) machine
have the same resource defaults.  The resource names are at least one
hierarchical step short; rather than program.name.subname.etc it seems
to me they need to be originating_host*program.name.subname.etc.

Or have I missed something?

Anxiously awaiting words of enlightenment...
- George