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Xresources

Stow package for ~/.Xresources. Linux/X11 only — used by URxvt, xterm, and other X11 apps that read the resource database.

Table of contents

Palette: Wombat

A dark-background terminal palette derived from the Wombat color scheme.

SlotColor
*background#161616 (near-black)
*foreground#ffffff
color0..7normal palette (black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white)
color8..15bright palette

Defined as full *colorN: rgb:RR/GG/BB entries so they apply to any X client reading the resource database, not just URxvt.

URxvt

Non-default settings:

ResourceValueWhy
URxvt*font / boldFontxft:Consolas:size=12Consolas-based; needs MS fonts installed
URxvt*depth32enable ARGB visuals (real transparency)
URxvt*transparenttrue + shading: 10translucent terminal
URxvt*bufferedtruedouble-buffered redraw
URxvt*cursorBlinktrue
URxvt*saveLines65535large scrollback
URxvt*scrollBarfalse
URxvt*scrollTtyOutputfalsedon’t jump on program output
URxvt*scrollTtyKeypresstruejump on keypress
URxvt*scrollWithBuffertruescrollback follows new lines while at the bottom
URxvt*secondaryScreentrue + secondaryScroll: falsealt-screen apps don’t pollute scrollback
URxvt*loginShelltruespawn as a login shell
URxvt*inheritPixmaptrueinherit root pixmap (for true transparency vs. shading)

xterm

Lighter touch — xterm is mostly used as a fallback.

ResourceValue
xterm*faceNameConsolas:style=Regular:size=12
xterm*loginShelltrue
xterm*saveLines65535
xterm*charClasscustom word-class string so double-click selects URLs and paths
xterm*boldModefalse
xterm*eightBitInputfalse (so Alt doesn’t get encoded)

Xft (font rendering)

Xft.antialias:  true
Xft.autohint:   false
Xft.dpi:        92
Xft.hinting:    true
Xft.hintstyle:  hintslight
Xft.lcdfilter:  lcddefault
Xft.rgba:       rgb

The DPI is hard-coded to 92 here, but i3/.config/i3/config runs xrandr --dpi 165 on autostart, which can override. Reconcile per host if you care.

Activating changes

xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources       # apply without restarting X
# or
xrdb ~/.Xresources              # replace the database wholesale

Already-running terminals won’t pick up changes until restart.

Fresh-machine setup

apt install rxvt-unicode-256color   # for URxvt; xterm ships with most X installs
stow Xresources                     # symlinks ~/.Xresources
xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

Not stowed by default by bootstrap-debian.sh — only relevant on graphical Linux machines.