Eterm (1)

Eterm [options]

Eterm – version 0.9.6 – is a color vt102 terminal emulator intended as an xterm(1) replacement. It is designed with a Freedom of Choice philosophy, leaving as much power, flexibility, and freedom as possible in the hands of the user. It is designed to look good and work well, but takes a feature-rich approach rather than one of minimalism. Eterm uses Imlib for advanced graphic abilities. See below for details.

The Eterm options are listed below. In keeping with the freedom-of-choice philosophy, options may be eliminated or default values chosen at compile-time, so options and defaults listed may not accurately reflect the version installed on your system.

Options that do not take a parameter (besides -h and --help) are boolean. If you use the POSIX (short) option, you are forcing the parameter to "true". If you use the long option, you can use any of the accepted boolean values, which are "yes", "on", "1", and "true" to turn the option on, or "no", "off", "0", or "false" to turn the option off. The same is true for boolean values in the configuration file.

-t theme, --theme theme

Load specified theme. Consult the FAQ for more details on what constitutes an Eterm theme.

-X conffile, --config-file conffile

Use an alternative user config file name. Otherwise Eterm uses the default, which is user.cfg. The theme config file is always theme.cfg.

-d displayname, --display displayname

Attempt to open a window on the named X display displayname. In the absence of this option, the display specified by the DISPLAY environment variable is used.

--debug level

Show debugging output. level is an integer between 0 and 5 which determines how verbose the debugging output is.

--install

Tells Eterm to install its own colormap rather than using the default one.

-h, --help

Print out a message describing available options.

--version

Print Eterm version and compile-time configuration.

-r, --reverse-video

Reverse video, swaps the foreground and background colors.

-b color, --background-color color

Set color as the background color. NOTE: this will actually be the foreground color if reverse video is also selected.

-f color, --foreground-color color

Set color as the foreground (text) color. NOTE: this will actually be the background color if reverse video is also selected.

--color0 color

...

--color15 color

Use color as color X.

--colorBD color

Use color as the bold color.

--colorUL color

Use color as the underline color.

--pointer-color color

Use color as the pointer color.

-c color, --cursor-color color

Use color as the cursor color.

--cursor-text-color color

Use color as the cursor text color.

-g geom, --geometry geom

Window geometry as Width x Height+X coord+Y coord, i.e 100x200+0+100

-i,--iconic

Start in iconified state (only if the window manager supports iconification).

-n name, --name name

Sets name of current instance to name. This will affect the icon title and the window title string unless they are otherwise explicitly set.

-T title, --title title

Sets window's title text to title.

--icon-name text

Sets the icon title text to text.

-B type, --scrollbar-type type

Specifies the type scrollbar style should be used. type can be any of motif, xterm, or next.

--scrollbar-width width

Set the width of the scrollbar, in pixels, to width. Eterm does not impose any restrictions on this value, but it should be reasonable.

-D desktop, --desktop desktop

Starts the Eterm on the specified desktop. desktop should be an integer between 0 and your highest-numbered desktop. NOTE: You must have a GNOME-compliant window manager for this feature to work. Please see http://www.gnome.org/devel/gnomewm/ for more information on the _WIN_WORKSPACE property and how to support it.

--line-space num

Size of the extra gap, in pixels, to provide between lines in the terminal window.

--bold-font font

Sets the bold text font to font.

-F font, --font font

Sets the normal text font to font.

--default-font-index num

Specifies the index of the default (normal) text font.

--font1 font

...

--font4 font

Sets the font at the specified index (1-4) to font.

--proportional

Specifies that the font in use is proportional and requests standard deviation-based character cell spacing. Terminals must use fixed-width character cells to maintain proper columnal alignment, even when proportionally-spaced fonts are in use. Some proportionally-spaced fonts vary greatly between the minimum and maximum character widths. This option chooses a character cell size which is up to two standard deviations above the average character width but will not exceed the maximum width of the largest glyph. Note that characters larger than the chosen cell width will overwrite (or be overwritten by) other characters and may tend to leave pixel droppings. This behavior is an expected side-effect of an imperfect scenario. If you object to this behavior, do not use this option.

--font-fx effects

Specifies the effects to apply to the terminal window font. The value of effects is a single string containing a series of corner/color pairs. These pairs define toward which corner a drop shadow of each character should be made, and what color that shadow will be. The corner is specified first using the following keywords: top_left or tl, top_right or tr, bottom_left or bl, and bottom_right or br. Each corner specifier is then followed by a color.

There are also several shortcuts for doing common effects. You can get a single-color outline by using the keyword outline followed by a color. A single-color drop shadow is also available using the keyword shadow followed by an optional corner specifier (bottom_right being the default) and a color. For a 3-D embossed look, use emboss dark_color light_color. The opposite effect, a carved-out look, can be obtained with carved dark_color light_color. (Of course, with those last two, the 3-D look will only work if you choose the light and dark colors wisely.)

Finally, for no font effects at all, simply specify the keyword none.

The default value is bottom_right black which yields a black drop shadow, greatly improving the visibility of lightly-colored fonts on top of light spots in a background image. Note that font effects are not active in solid color mode.

-P pic, --background-pixmap pic

Use pic as the background image. pic can be in any format that Imlib understands. Currently this means just about anything, including JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, PPM, etc. The image is tiled by default. To specify alternate geometry, follow the filename with an @ sign and the geometry string. Image geometry is specified as @wxh+x+y:ops where w and h are the horizontal/vertical scaling percentages, x and y are the horizontal/vertical alignment percentages, and ops is a colon-delimited list of operations: tiled (to tile the image), propscaled (for proportional scaling). Note that these operations can be combined for various effects.

-I pic, --icon pic

Sets the icon pixmap file to pic. Works similarly to the -P option above.

--up-arrow-pixmap pic

As above, except the scrollbar's up-arrow is set.

--down-arrow-pixmap pic

As above, except the scrollbar's down-arrow is set.

--trough-pixmap pic

As above, except the scrollbar's background (trough) is set.

--anchor-pixmap pic

As above, except the scrollbar's anchor image is set.

--menu-pixmap pic

As above, except the menu background image is set.

-O, --trans

This gives a pseudo-transparent Eterm. The image is taken directly from the root window, so any requests for changing the pixmap are ignored. If you do not use Enlightenment (http://www.enlightenment.org/) as your window manager (or another compliant window manager...I have been told that WindowMaker works also), you will need to use the Esetroot program (found in the utils/ directory) to set your root background image.

-0, --itrans

Activate the immotile transparency optimization for transparent Eterm windows. Note that this does NOT activate transparency; you must still include the -O or --trans option. This option should be used on transparent windows which are shaded or tinted and which do not move around on the desktop much. See the Mon Mar 6 21:11:13 PST 2000 ChangeLog entry for a more detailed explanation.

--viewport-mode

This activates a special Eterm mode which is hard to describe in words. Basically, imagine the effect you get with pseudo-transparency, where the desktop background moves through the Eterm window as you move the window, so that it always aligns with the desktop image. Now, imagine the same effect, but the image used isn't the desktop image but any pixmap you choose. The image is scaled or tiled up to the size of the desktop, and dragging the Eterm around the screen reveals different portions of the image as you move, much like a small viewport window in a ship or submarine does. The effect is especially keen if you open several Eterms in this mode with the same image.

--shade percentage

Shade the background image/transparency by a specified percentage.

--tint mask

--tint color

Tints the background pixmap (either an image file or the transparent portion can be shaded). The mask is an integer, usually specified in hexadecimal in the form 0xRRGGBB, where RR, GG, and BB are hexadecimal numbers between 00 and ff (0 and 255 decimal) which represent the brightness of the image's red, green, and blue values, respectively. A value of 00 will mask that color out entirely, while a value of ff will not change that color at all.

You may also specify an X color such as grey75 or MidnightBlue or #babb7f instead of a mask.

--cmod brightness [ contrast [ gamma ] ]

Specifies a color modifier to apply to the image overall. Each of the three values is a number greater than or equal to 0. The numbers can be specified as decimal, octal (if preceded by "0"), or hexadecimal (if preceded by "0x"). A value of 256 (0x100) represents 100%, or "leave that value unchanged." 0 represents 0%, 512 (0x200) is 200%, etc. However, be aware that overflow can occur with excessively high values. Only the brightness value is required for this option. Keep in mind, though, that you must specify brightness with contrast, and both of these with gamma.

--cmod-red brightness [ contrast [ gamma ] ]

Same as above, except that the modifier applies to the red values of the image.

--cmod-green brightness [ contrast [ gamma ] ]

Same as above, except that the modifier applies to the green values of the image.

--cmod-blue brightness [ contrast [ gamma ] ]

Same as above, except that the modifier applies to the blue values of the image.

-p newpath, --path newpath

Sets the pic search path. When the --background-pixmap or other pixmap options are used, this path will be used to find the image.

--cache size

Specify the size in bytes for the Imlib2 cache.

-N list, --anim list

Specifies an animation list to be use in cycling the background pixmap. The list consists of two or more words. The first word defines the delay, in seconds, between updates of the background. This should be set to a reasonable value to insure that Eterm doesn't spend all its time rendering backgrounds. All remaining words specify background images and have the same syntax as the -P option above, including the optional geometry string.

-M font, --mfont font

Sets the normal multibyte text font to font.

--mfont1 font

...

--mfont4 font

Sets multibyte font X to font.

--mencoding encoding

Sets multichar encoding mode (eucj or sjis or euckr)

--input-method method

Sets XIM input method

--preedit-type type

Sets XIM preedit type

-l, --login-shell

Makes the new shell a login shell.

-s, --scrollbar

Enables the scrollbar. (Default)

-u, --utmp-logging

Tries to enable proper utmp logging. For this to work, Eterm probably needs to run setuid or setgid, usually setuid root.

-v, --visual-bell

Enables the "visual bell". Means the window will flash or blink rather than beep.

-H, --home-on-output

Jump to bottom on output.

--home-on-input

Jump to bottom on input.

-q, --no-input

Keeps Eterm from accepting keyboard input, and keeps the window manager from focusing it. Useful for log tailers and such.

--scrollbar-right

Display scrollbar on the right hand side.

--scrollbar-floating

Display the scrollbar without a trough.

--scrollbar-popup

Display the scrollbar only when the Eterm window is focused.

-x, --borderless

This option forces Eterm to have no borders.

-S, --sticky

Start Eterm as a sticky window (shows on all desktops)

-m, --map-alert

Un-iconify on beep.

-8, --meta8

Causes the Meta key to set the 8th bit in the char.

--double-buffer

Rather than drawing text directly onto the window, this option causes Eterm to allocate an additional pixmap the size of the terminal window into which the background *and* the text are rendered. This pixmap is then set as the window background. Double-buffering uses additional memory in the X server, but it allows Eterm to ignore expose events so redraws are faster.

--no-cursor

Disables the text cursor.

--pause

After the child process terminates, Eterm will wait for a keypress before exiting.

--xterm-select

Duplicate's xterm's treatment of cutchars. The only real difference is what happens when you double click on a single cutchar between two words. If this option is on, only that single character gets selected. If it is off, that character is selected along with the two words. The latter behavior is useful for double-clicking on the space between someone's first and last names, or the @ sign in an e-mail address, etc.

--select-line

If activated, this option causes a triple click to select the entire line from beginning to end. If off, a triple-click selects just from the current word to the end of the line.

--select-trailing-spaces

Determines whether or not trailing spaces in a selection are maintained (on) or discarded (off).

--report-as-keysyms

Reports certain keystrokes as keysyms and modifiers rather than escape sequences. NOTE: This option is intended for use only with programs that support this special Eterm mode. Do not enable it unless you are executing a program which uses this mode.

--buttonbar

Toggle the display of all buttonbars.

--resize-gravity

If true, Eterm will automatically detect the nearest corner, and font-change resizes will cause the Eterm window to gravitate toward that corner.

--overstrike-bold

If true (default), Eterm will simulate a bold font by printing each character twice, offsetting the second pass by one pixel. This makes the characters seem thicker without the need for a special font. You may wish to disable this if you use a specific color for bold.

--bold-brightens-foreground

If true (default), Eterm will use the "bold" ANSI color attribute to brighten the foreground color by using the high-intensity colors (8 through 15) rather than the low-intensity colors (0 through 7). Note that having a specific color selected for bold will override this.

--blink-brightens-background

If true (default), Eterm will use the "blink" ANSI color attribute to brighten the background color by using the high-intensity colors (8 through 15) rather than the low-intensity colors (0 through 7).

--colors-suppress-bold

If true (default), any colored text (that is, any text not rendered using the default foreground color) will not be given any other special treatment for bolding (e.g., bold font or bold overstrike).

--big-font-key keysym

Specify a keysym to increase the font size. Default is Shift and the + key on the keypad. Ctrl-> or Meta-> may also work (if you #define one of the hotkeys in src/feature.h).

--small-font-key keysym

Specify a keysym to decrease the font size. Default is Shift and the - key on the keypad. Ctrl-< or Meta-< may also work (if you #define one of the hotkeys in src/feature.h).

--meta-mod num

Specify which X modifier (1-5) to treat as the Meta key. See xmodmap(1) and the output of xmodmap -pm for more details.

--alt-mod num

Same as --meta-mod, but for the Alt key.

--numlock-mod num

Same as --meta-mod, but for the NumLock key.

--greek-keyboard mode

Use Greek keyboard mapping (iso or ibm).

--app-keypad

Start Eterm in application keypad mode (as opposed to normal keypad mode).

--app-cursor

Start Eterm in application cursor key mode (as opposed to normal cursor key mode).

-L num, --save-lines num

Set the number of lines in the scrollback buffer to num.

-a size, --min-anchor-size size

Specifies the minimum size, in pixels high, of the scrollbar anchor. NOTE: This causes abnormal scrolling behavior when combined with large scrollback buffers!

-w width, --border-width width

Set the window's border width to width. The border this controls is the gap between the edge of the X window and the edge of the terminal window; this has nothing to do with the window border's your window manager supplies.

--print-pipe pipe

The pipe for the PrintScreen function.

--cut-chars separators

The seperators for double-click selection.

--finished-title title

Specifies the string Eterm should add to its title bar if --pause is specified and the child process completes.

--finished-text text

Same as above, but displays text in the terminal window.

--term-name TERM

Use TERM for the value $TERM.

--pipe-name pipe

Specifies a named pipe from which to display output. This is useful for systems where syslog output goes to a named pipe, like /dev/xconsole on Debian.

-a line, --attribute line

This option is used to pass config file attributes on the command line. line should be a single string, so you will almost certainly have to quote it. The first word of line must be the context (see config file section below) which should parse the rest of the line. So, for example, you could specify the foreground color like so: -a 'color foreground blue'. Or you could add a binding: -a 'actions bind anymod button1 to script exit'. Note that this option may only be used with config file attributes that are not context-sensitive; i.e., menus and imageclasses cannot be specified using this option.

-C, --console

Grab console messages. Depending on your system, Eterm may need to be setuid root to do this.

-e command, --exec command

Execute command rather than a shell. Forces Eterm mode.

-U URL, --url URL

Pick up a "screen" session at URL rather than a local (-U "") one. URLs look like so (screen://[email protected]:port/screen_options), with all parts optional, defaulting to "screen://current_user@localhost:22/-RDD". Forces Escreen mode, overrides --exec. Note that only screen-options (see "man screen") are allowed; do not pass a command (with or without arguments) here: to pass a command to the screen-session, use screen [<options>] <command> [<args>] instead.

-Z lclport:fw:fwport,delay, --fw lclport:fw:fwport,delay

The URL given to -U is in an intranet behind firewall fw so we'll build an SSH-tunnel to that firewall (to port 22/SSH, or fwport if given) from our local machine (using any available port-number, or lclport if given). Then, after delay seconds (or a sensible default if not given), we will try to open a screen session on the host behind the firewall using ssh -p localport ... localhost screen cf. ssh -L

Eterm is built on the philosophy of Freedom of Choice. Each user should be able to choose the environment in which he or she wishes to exist, and the tools used should support that. In accordance with that philosophy, Eterm is extremely configurable. Eterm supports a concept called "themes," which should be familiar to users of Enlightenment, icewm, or Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT. The general concept of a theme is a collection of resources that change as many aspects of a programs look and feel as possible. For example, an Enlightenment theme allows you to customize menus, window borders, desktops, icons, iconbars, and everything else about how E looks and feels.

An Eterm theme consists of a primary configuration file, always called "theme.cfg", residing in a directory bearing the same name as the theme. This directory must be a child of one of the directories specified by CONFIG_SEARCH_PATH in src/feature.h. The theme may also contain additional configuration files referenced by the primary theme.cfg file, as well as pixmaps, menu files, documentation, etc., which are allowable as extensions to the minimum requirement of an Eterm theme.

By convention and default, Eterm themes should be stored under ~/.Eterm/themes/<theme_name>/ or /usr/share/Eterm/themes/<theme_name>.

Eterm now supports the existence of a user configuration file as a suppliment to the theme configuration file. The default name for this file is user.cfg, and it follows the exact same syntax as any other configuration file. It is searched for using the same algorithm used for the theme.cfg file, and any settings in the user.cfg will override any previous values for those settings defined by the theme. Thus, it is recommended that any user.cfg files not be complete config files, but rather only contain those values which the user wishes to explicitly override.

NOTE: If you have a user.cfg file in the Eterm theme directory or in ~/.Eterm/, it will override any previous settings, even if you are running a different theme. For example, if you run the trans theme, but ~/.Eterm/themes/Eterm/user.cfg has a mode line which sets the image mode to "image" rather than "trans," you will not get transparency. This is why user.cfg files should be kept small and only override settings that you know you want to enforce. If, on the other hand, you were running the trans theme and had a user.cfg file in the trans theme (or in ~/.Eterm/themes/trans/), that user.cfg would be found before the one in the Eterm theme.

Almost all command line options can be enabled/disabled in the theme's configuration file (the default is /usr/share/Eterm/themes/Eterm/theme.cfg). The next section contains details on the format and usage of the configuration file.

Since Eterm 0.9.6 is based on the concept of themes, it is vital that you have a thorough understanding of the previous section before taking on this one. The previous section and this one were written by the same person who wrote the Eterm code which handles options, config files, and themes, so it's probably the most authoritative documentation on the subject you're going to find.

From here on out, I will assume you've read the above text and know how to change the default value for the theme. It is highly recommended that you have a copy of the Eterm theme config file that comes with Eterm handy while you read this documentation.

Okay, first the general idea. The theme.cfg file is composed of comments and non-comments. Comments begin with a pound sign and continue to the end of the line. Lines of whitespace are also ignored. The rest of the file is the config stuff, which is divided into sections (called "contexts") and variables (called "attributes"). There are several contexts which are listed below in sections. Each attribute must be inside a certain context to be valid. For instance, while the "foreground" attribute is perfectly acceptable in the color context, it would be rejected if found in, say, the toggles context. This allows for better organization of the config file as well as for multiple contexts to have attributes of the same name (like the scrollbar attributes in the color and toggles section).

Each context must be enclosed in a begin...end pair that specifies the type of section. The statement "begin toggles" starts the toggles context, and the next "end" statement would terminate it. (You'll notice that some "end" statements have the context name after them. This is for readability only; any text after the word "end" is ignored.)

The rest of this section will contain a step-by-step analysis of the config file, including what can go in each section. Note that some attributes (and even entire contexts) may not be available depending on what support was compiled into Eterm by the person who built it.

MAGIC NUMBER

The first line of the config file must contain a "magic number" type line that lets Eterm verify that it's reading an Eterm config file and not something else (like an Enlightenment 0.13 and earlier config file). The line should look like this:

<Eterm-VERSION>

where VERSION is the Eterm version for which the config file is intended. For example, config files written for Eterm 0.9 should have "<Eterm-0.9>" as their first line, followed immediately by a newline.

COLOR CONTEXT

This context contains color specifications. With the exception of the terminal colors 0-15, all colors should be either a valid color name or an RGB string as outlined in the X11(7) man page.

foreground color

Use color for the foreground (text) color.

background color

Use color for the background color.

cursor color

Use color for the cursor color.

cursor_text color

Use color for the cursor text color.

pointer color

Use color for the mouse pointer color.

video { normal | reverse }

normal will not reverse the foreground and background colors. reverse (meaning reverse video) will.

color num color

Set terminal color num (0-15) to the color name, string, or set of 3 decimal/hex/octal RGB values specified by color.

color { bd | ul } color

Set terminal bold (bd) or underline (ul) color to the color name, string, or set of 3 decimal/hex/octal RGB values specified by color.

ATTRIBUTES CONTEXT

This context contains X11 attributes. Most of these are dependent upon the cooperation of the window manager.

geometry geom

Use the geometry string geom to specify the startup geometry. geom should be in the format WxH+X+Y where W is the width, H is the height, and +X and +Y are the X and Y offsets. If the signs on X and Y are positive, the coordinates are offsets (in pixels) from the left and top, respectively, of the screen. If the signs are negative, the offsets are relative to the right and bottom of the screen, respectively.

title title

Use title as the text in the title bar of the Eterm window.

name name

Use name as the resource name of the Eterm window.

iconname name

Use name as the icon name of the Eterm window icon.

desktop num

Start Eterm on desktop num. NOTE: This requires a GNOME-compliant Window Manager. Please see http://www.gnome.org/devel/gnomewm/ for more information on the _WIN_WORKSPACE property and how to support it.

scrollbar_type type

Use a scrollbar with the type style. type can be any of motif, xterm, or next.

scrollbar_width num

Use a scrollbar that is num pixels wide.

font num font

font bold font

Set the numth font, or the bold font, to font.

font default num

Specifies that the numth font should be considered the "default" font.

font proportional boolean

Specifies that the font in use is proportional and requests standard deviation-based character cell spacing. Terminals must use fixed-width character cells to maintain proper columnal alignment, even when proportionally-spaced fonts are in use. Some proportionally-spaced fonts vary greatly between the minimum and maximum character widths. This option chooses a character cell size which is up to two standard deviations above the average character width but will not exceed the maximum width of the largest glyph. Note that characters larger than the chosen cell width will overwrite (or be overwritten by) other characters and may tend to leave pixel droppings. This behavior is an expected side-effect of an imperfect scenario. If you object to this behavior, do not use this option.

font fx effects

Specifies the effects to apply to the terminal window font. The value of effects is a single string containing a series of corner/color pairs. These pairs define toward which corner a drop shadow of each character should be made, and what color that shadow will be. The corner is specified first using the following keywords: top_left or tl, top_right or tr, bottom_left or bl, and bottom_right or br. Each corner specifier is then followed by a color.

There are also several shortcuts for doing common effects. You can get a single-color outline by using the keyword outline followed by a color. A single-color drop shadow is also available using the keyword shadow followed by an optional corner specifier (bottom_right being the default) and a color. For a 3-D embossed look, use emboss dark_color light_color. The opposite effect, a carved-out look, can be obtained with carved dark_color light_color. (Of course, with those last two, the 3-D look will only work if you choose the light and dark colors wisely.)

Finally, for no font effects at all, simply specify the keyword none.

The default value is bottom_right black which yields a black drop shadow, greatly improving the visibility of lightly-colored fonts on top of light spots in a background image. Note that font effects are not active in solid color mode.

IMAGECLASSES CONTEXT

This context contains global image attributes. It also provides the parent context for defining images via the "image" context.

icon filename

Use filename as the icon image for the Eterm window. filename can be an absolute path, relative to the current theme, or relative to one of the directories in the path attribute listed below.

cache num

Sets the Imlib2 cache size to num bytes. The default is 0.

path directory_list

Specifies a colon-delimited list of directories relative to which Eterm should search for image and menu files. The syntax for directory_list is precisely the same as that of the $PATH environment variable in UNIX shells.

anim interval images ...

Specifies an animation list to be use in cycling the background pixmap. The interval defines the delay, in seconds, between updates of the background. This should be set to a reasonable value to insure that Eterm doesn't spend all its time rendering backgrounds. All the images specify background images and have the same syntax as the -P option above, including the optional geometry string.

IMAGE CONTEXT

This context defines all the attributes of a particular image. There can be (and usually are) several image contexts per theme, one for each class of image.

type class

Specifies the type, or class, of the image that is going to be defined in that context. This MUST be the first attribute defined in the image context. Valid classes are: background, trough, anchor, up_arrow, down_arrow, left_arrow, right_arrow, menu, menuitem, submenu, button, and buttonbar. Note that the left and right arrows, while valid, don't do anything just yet. All the subsequent attributes up to the next type definition will be applied to that image class.

mode initial_mode [ allow allowed_modes ]

Specifies the initial mode for this image class as well as the modes which the image class is allowed to use. initial_mode is the mode that the image will have on startup (unless overridden by command-line options. allowed_modes is a list of one or more modes. The image will be prevented from switching to any mode not listed in the allow section. If the allow section is omitted entirely, the image will never be permitted to change from the initial_mode. If no mode line is specified for an image class, the default is equivalent to mode solid allow solid. Valid mode names are image (to use an image), trans (for transparency), viewport (for viewport mode), auto (for auto mode, which requires Enlightenment 0.16 or better), and solid (which is a solid color only).

state { normal | selected | clicked | disabled }

This sets the state of the image you are about to define. Up until the next state attribute that is encountered (or until you change types), all attributes will apply to that particular state of the image. You should at minimum define the normal state of the image. It will be used as the default if the attributes for the other states are not specified. However, each image state has self-contained options. Therefore, if you define multiple states for an image class, you must define ALL attributes needed by that state. The sample themes supplied with Eterm demonstrate how to define 1-, 2-, 3-, and 4-state images.

The above attributes affect the image class as a whole. All remaining attributes in this context affect only the current state of the image class.

color fg bg

Sets the foreground and background colors for this imageclass. The foreground color is used for text, and the background color is used for the object itself. If an invalid color is specified, the default value for fg is white, and the default for bg is black.

file filename

Sets the filename from which to load the image file. This is used for the image mode. If you allow the image mode for your image, don't forget to supply an image file! Note that you can also supply an image geometry string here by adding an @ symbol and the geometry string to the end of the filename. See below for the syntax of the geometry string. filename must be an absolute path or a path relative to one of the directories in the path attribute. Note that the image is verified and loaded when this attribute is encountered during parsing.

geom image_geometry

Specifies the geometry and geometry-related operations which are to be applied to the image. This attribute only applies to image classes using the image mode. Image geometry is specified as wxh+x+y:ops where w and h are the horizontal/vertical scaling percentages, x and y are the horizontal/vertical alignment percentages, and ops is a colon-delimited list of operations: tiled (to tile the image), propscaled (for proportional scaling). Note that these operations can be combined for various effects.

cmod { image | red | green | blue } brightness [ contrast [ gamma ] ]

colormod { image | red | green | blue } brightness [ contrast [ gamma ] ]

Specifies a color modifier to apply to the image. The second keyword determines whether the modifier will be applied to the image overall, the red values, the green values, or the blue values. Each of the three parameters is a number greater than or equal to 0. The numbers can be specified as decimal, octal (if preceded by "0"), or hexadecimal (if preceded by "0x"). A value of 256 (0x100) represents 100%, or "leave that value unchanged." 0 represents 0%, 512 (0x200) is 200%, etc. However, be aware that overflow can occur with excessively high values. Only the brightness value is required for this option. Keep in mind, though, that you must specify brightness with contrast, and both of these with gamma.

border left right top bottom

Specifies that the image has borders which should not be scaled with the rest of the image. This is primarily used for images that have a beveled look, so that the bevel will not end up getting scaled and lose the bevel effect. All four parameter values are in pixels, just like the equivalent options for E themes and Gtk+ pixmap themes.

bevel { up | down } left right top bottom

Adds a bevel to an image class. This can be done to any image class using the image or trans modes. The parameters are pixel values which represent the width of each edge of the bevel. This is especially useful if you want to use tiled images or transparency for the arrow or anchor scrollbar widgets, or for menus.

padding left right top bottom

This is used only for the submenu image class. It defines the amount of pixels on each side to reserve so that the text will not overwrite part of the image. Works just like the same option in Enlightenment themes.

MENU CONTEXT

This context is used to create a menu. There is one instance of this context per menu, and the menus should be defined in submenu-menu order; i.e., any menu that refers to another menu (as its submenu) should be defined after the submenu is defined. Within the menu context, there should be a menuitem subcontext for each menu item (with the exception of the shorthand for separators).

title menu_title

This specifies the title for the menu to be defined. This MUST be the first attribute given after the "begin menu". The title must be unique amongst all the menus. It may contain spaces, but don't forget to enclose it in single or double quotes if it does. Any future references to the menu will use the title.

font font_name

Tells Eterm to use font_name as the font for this menu. If not given, the default terminal font is used.

sep or -

These symbols can be used as shorthand to insert a separator into the menu.

MENUITEM CONTEXT

This is a subcontext of the menu context which creates a single item for a menu. There can be (and usually are) several menuitem contexts per menu.

text label

This is the text that is displayed for this menuitem. It is left-justified in the menu window. It can have spaces, but enclose label in quotes if it does.

rtext label

This is text which is right-justified next to the menuitem text. This is generally used to show what keystrokes correspond to a particular menu item, like "C-x C-c" for the "Exit" menuitem in an Emacs menu.

action { string | echo | submenu | script } param

action separator

Specifies the action to occur when the menuitem is chosen. If you specify separator, nothing else is needed. The other action types require a parameter, param. string specifies a string to be sent to Eterm for handling (escape codes, for example). echo specifies a string to be sent to the client program (for sending commands to a shell, or keystrokes to an application like emacs or mutt). If you use either of these action types, param will be parsed for escape codes (\a, C-, and the like) before being sent. submenu specifies a submenu which should be displayed when this item is selected, and param is the title of the submenu to show. The submenu must have already been defined. The script action type executes the Eterm-builtin script contained in param. See the section below for more details on the builtin Eterm functions allowed for this action type.

ACTION CONTEXT

Actions are key or mouse button bindings which activate certain behaviors. Any action that can be triggered through an escape code can be bound to a key or mouse button, with or without modifiers. You can also bind menus to keystrokes or mouse buttons.

bind [ modifiers ] { keysym | button } to { string | echo | menu | script } param

Binds a keysym or a mouse button to an action. The action syntax follows the keyword to and is identical to the syntax used for menus (see above). There can be any number of modifiers (so long as the combination is reasonable) but only one keysym or button. Valid modifiers are ctrl, shift, lock, mod1 through mod5, alt, meta, and anymod (which allows any modifier). If none are given, the keypress must not have modifier keys in use or the action will not be triggered. Use anymod to allow any arbitrary modifier key to be used. The keysym can be given in text (case-sensitive) or as a hex number. buttons should be specified as button1 through button5. Also note that alt and meta will be equivalent to one or more of mod1 through mod5, as well as perhaps each other, based on your modifier settings. You can view these settings using xmodmap -pm. See also the alt_mod and meta_mod options below.

BUTTON_BAR CONTEXT

The buttonbar is an addition to Eterm 0.9.1 which allows users to have a fully-customizeable buttonbar at the top or bottom of each terminal window. Buttons on the buttonbar can be used just like menuitems; they can popup menus (like a menubar), or they can activate any other action a menuitem can.

font font

Specifies the font in which button labels will be displayed.

dock { top | bottom | no }

Specify whether or not to dock the buttonbar, and if so, whether to dock it at the top or the bottom of the Eterm window. Note that only top and bottom are currently enabled.

visible boolean

Toggle whether or not this particular buttonbar will be visible on startup.

button [ text ] [ icon filename ] action { string | echo | menu | script } param

Binds an action to a button. The usage of param and the action types work the same here as they do for menuitems. Also note that you may specify some text or an icon or both, but you cannot omit both.

MULTICHAR CONTEXT

Behavior for multi-byte fonts and encodings are defined here. This context does not exist by default.

encoding { eucj | sjis | euckr | big5 | gb | iso-10646 }

Specifies the encoding method. Patches to support other encoding methods are encouraged.

font num font

Set the numth multichar font to font.

XIM CONTEXT

This context controls locale-based behavior.

input_method input_method

Specify your input method program of choice.

preedit_type { OverTheSpot | OffTheSpot | Root }

Specify your preedit type of choice.

ESCREEN CONTEXT

This context allows for customizations specific to Escreen mode. See the Escreen section below for more details.

url protocol://user@host:port/params

Connect to (or create) a particular screen session via a URL-type construct. Standard URL rules apply. The protocol should be either screen (the default) or twin. If user, host, and/or port are specified, an ssh connection is made to the remote server using the given login information. The default is to create/attach to a local session.

Any params that are given are passed directly to the underlying protocol and are separated from each other by a plus sign (+).

firewall localport:firewall:remoteport

Bounce the connection through a firewall via ssh.

delay secs

Specify the amount of time to wait before sending the screen/twin initialization sequence. This is required to insure that the remote session has been established prior to sending the init sequence.

bbar_font font

Font to use for the Escreen buttonbar. The default is -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal--10-*-*-*-p-*-iso8859-1.

bbar_dock { top | bottom | no }

Dock the Escreen buttonbar as specified. Note that only top and bottom are currently enabled.

TOGGLES CONTEXT

This context contains boolean variables which can be toggled on or off. Valid values for the attributes in this section are "yes", "on", "1", and "true" to turn the option on, or "no", "off", "0", or "false" to turn the option off. These values are denoted by boolean. They all default to false unless otherwise noted.

map_alert boolean

If true, Eterm will un-iconify itself when it receives a beep (ASCII 0x07).

visual_bell boolean

If true, Eterm will flash rather than sending a beep.

login_shell boolean

If true, Eterm will prepend '-' to the shell name when calling it. Depending on your shell, this may modify its startup behavior.

scrollbar boolean

This turns on and off the display of the scrollbar. Default is on.

utmp_logging boolean

If true, Eterm will attempt to make an entry in the utmp file to record the login information. Eterm may need to run privileged to do this.

meta8 boolean

Toggles the interpretation of the Meta key setting the 8th bit in a character.

iconic boolean

If true, Eterm will launch as an icon.

home_on_output boolean

Zoom to the bottom of the scrollback buffer on output.

home_on_input boolean

Zoom to the bottom of the scrollback buffer on input.

no_input boolean

If true, Eterm will not accept any keyboard input and will ask the window manager to not allow it to be focused.

scrollbar_floating boolean

If true, the scrollbar will have no trough.

scrollbar_right boolean

If true, Eterm will put the scrollbar on the right of the window (default is left).

scrollbar_popup boolean

If true, Eterm will hide the scrollbar when the Eterm window loses focus and restore it when focus is regained. Default is to not change the scrollbar state based on focus.

borderless boolean

If true, Eterm will run with no window borders. This also means that the window can not be moved or resized. You will want to specify a geometry with this attribute.

double_buffer boolean

Rather than drawing text directly onto the window, this causes Eterm to allocate an additional pixmap the size of the terminal window into which the background *and* the text are rendered. This pixmap is then set as the window background. Double-buffering uses additional memory in the X server, but it allows Eterm to ignore expose events so redraws are faster.

no_cursor boolean

If true, Eterm will not display a text cursor.

pause boolean

After the child process terminates, Eterm will wait for a keypress before exiting.

xterm_select boolean

Duplicate's xterm's treatment of cutchars. The only real difference is what happens when you double click on a single cutchar between two words. If this option is on, only that single character gets selected. If it is off, that character is selected along with the two words. The latter behavior is useful for double-clicking on the space between someone's first and last names, or the @ sign in an e-mail address, etc.

select_line boolean

If true, this attribute causes a triple click to select the entire line from beginning to end. If false (default), a triple-click selects from the current word to the end of the line.

select_trailing_spaces boolean

If true, this attribute causes spaces at the end of a line to be included as part of the selection text when selecting. The default is to strip these trailing spaces.

report_as_keysyms boolean

Reports certain keystrokes as keysyms and modifiers rather than escape sequences. NOTE: This option is intended for use only with programs that support this special Eterm mode. Do not enable it unless you are executing a program which uses this mode.

itrans boolean

immotile_trans boolean

Toggles the immotile transparency optimization for transparent Eterm windows. Note that this does NOT activate transparency; you must still activate "trans" mode for the background image. This option should be used on transparent windows which are shaded or tinted and which do not move around on the desktop much. See the Mon Mar 6 21:11:13 PST 2000 ChangeLog entry for a more detailed explanation.

buttonbar boolean

Toggle the display of all buttonbars.

resize_gravity boolean

If true, Eterm will automatically detect the nearest corner, and font-change resizes will cause the Eterm window to gravitate toward that corner.

overstrike_bold boolean

If true (default), Eterm will simulate a bold font by printing each character twice, offsetting the second pass by one pixel. This makes the characters seem thicker without the need for a special font. You may wish to disable this if you use a specific color for bold.

bold_brightens_foreground boolean

If true (default), Eterm will use the "bold" ANSI color attribute to brighten the foreground color by using the high-intensity colors (8 through 15) rather than the low-intensity colors (0 through 7). Note that having a specific color selected for bold will override this.

blink_brightens_background boolean

If true (default), Eterm will use the "blink" ANSI color attribute to brighten the background color by using the high-intensity colors (8 through 15) rather than the low-intensity colors (0 through 7).

colors_suppress_bold boolean

If true (default), any colored text (that is, any text not rendered using the default foreground color) will not be given any other special treatment for bolding (e.g., bold font or bold overstrike).

sticky boolean

If true, Eterm will make its window sticky (shows on all desktops).

KEYBOARD CONTEXT

This context contains keyboard-related configuration options.

smallfont_key keysym

Specify a keysym to decrease the font size. Default is Shift and the - key on the keypad. Ctrl-< or Meta-< may also work (if you #define one of the hotkeys in src/feature.h).

bigfont_key keysym

Specify a keysym to increase the font size. Default is Shift and the + key on the keypad. Ctrl-> or Meta-> may also work (if you #define one of the hotkeys in src/feature.h).

keysym keysym string

Define keysym keysym to send string instead of its default. keysym must be between 0xff00 and 0xffff or Eterm will complain.

meta_mod num

Specify which X modifier (1-5) to treat as the Meta key. See xmodmap(1) and the output of xmodmap -pm for more details.

alt_mod num

Same as meta_mod, but for the Alt key.

numlock_mod num

Same as meta_mod, but for the NumLock key.

greek boolean { iso | ibm }

Turn on/off greek keyboard support, and set which greek mode to use.

app_keypad boolean

Turn on/off application keypad mode on startup.

app_cursor boolean

Turn on/off application cursor key mode on startup.

MISC CONTEXT

This context contains miscellaneous attributes that really didn't belong anywhere else.

print_pipe command

Set the command to which to pipe print requests (printscreen) to command.

save_lines num

Set the number of lines in the scrollback buffer to num.

cut_chars string

Define the characters used as word delimiters to the characters contained in string.

min_anchor_size num

Sets the minimum size, in pixels, of the scrollbar anchor (the part your mouse grabs onto and moves around) to num.

border_width num

Sets the width of the border between the text window and the X window to num.

line_space num

Put num pixels' worth of space between each row of the terminal window.

finished_title title

Specifies that title should be displayed in the title bar of a paused Eterm when the child process has completed.

finished_text text

Specifies that text should be displayed in the terminal window of a paused Eterm when the child process has completed.

term_name name

Use name as the $TERM environment variable, which controls which termcap/terminfo entry gets used. The default is Eterm.

exec command

Rather than executing a shell, this will cause Eterm to spawn command as its child process. You can only have one of these!

BUILT-IN FUNCTIONS

Eterm has a set of built-in functions which are available in config files. Each one accepts zero or more parameters and outputs a series of zero or more words. "Words" are defined in shell terms; i.e., words are separated by whitespace, and single or double quotes can be used to encapsulate words which contain whitespace themselves. You also employ backquotes to execute a command whose output can become part of the config file itself or can be passed to a built-in function as its parameter list. Built-in functions and backquotes may be used anywhere their output would be valid. Built-in functions are prefixed with the % character.

%appname()

Returns the application name, a hyphen, and the version number. Currently this is the string Eterm-0.9.6.

%exec(command)

Executes command and returns the result. Basically it's exactly like using backquotes.

%get(variable)

Retrieve the value of a config file variable. Refer to the %put() function below.

%put(variable value)

Create a config variable named variable and assign it the value of value. The value can then subsequently be retrieved using %get(variable)

%random(params)

This function randomly chooses one of the words which compose params and returns that. The default themes that come with Eterm use this function to choose random backgrounds, but backgrounds aren't the only things that can be randomized with this function. You can randomize anything...colors, toggles, fonts, tinting, etc.

%version()

Returns the version number. Currently this is the string 0.9.6.

PREPROCESSING

Eterm supports the %include file directive to allow for separation of the configuration information into multiple files. Eterm will load and parse file just like any other config file, but will treat its contents as if they replaced the directive itself.

You may also request that the config file be run through an external preprocessor (such as m4 or cpp) before Eterm reads it. This is done via the %preproc command directive. You may specify anything you like for command so long as it accepts input on STDIN and sends output to STDOUT. See the menus.cfg file in the default chooser theme for an example.

SCRIPT FUNCTIONS

One of the action types which can be bound to keypresses, mouse buttons, menuitems, or buttonbar buttons is a script. The script must be a single word (i.e., containing no spaces or enclosed in quotes) and consists of one or more calls to the script functions below. Each call is separated from the next by a semicolon (;). Function parameters are enclosed in parentheses; the parentheses are optional if no parameters are to be passed. Commas and/or whitespace separate parameters from each other.

copy(buffer)

Copies the current selection to the specified clipboard or cut buffer. buffer is either a number 0-7, in which case the selection is copied to the cut buffer specified, or one of the words clipboard, primary, or secondary (or any initial substring thereof), in which case the selection is copied to the specified clipboard. You may omit buffer, in which case the default buffer is primary (XA_PRIMARY in Xlib-speak).

echo(string)

Send the specified string to the subcommand. Exactly equivalent to the echo action.

es_display(cmd, params)

Aliases: es_disp

This is a master function which permits manipulation of Escreen displays through the use of a series of subcommands. The specified cmd determines what, if any, params are permitted. Available subcommands are:

goto - Switch to the specified display (0-9)

prev - Switch to the previous display

next - Switch to the next display

toggle - Toggle display

new - Create a new display. A name for the new display may be passed as a parameter, or ask to prompt the user for the name.

rename - Change the name of the current display. A name for the new display may be passed as a parameter, or ask to prompt the user for the name.

kill - Terminate the current (or specified) display.

watch - Toggle monitoring of the current/specified display for activity.

scrollback - View the scrollback for the current/specified display.

es_region(cmd, params)

Aliases: es_reg es_win es_window

This is a master function which permits manipulation of Escreen display regions through the use of a series of subcommands. The specified cmd determines what, if any, params are permitted. Available subcommands are:

goto - Switch to the specified region (0-9)

prev - Switch to the previous region

next - Switch to the next region

toggle - Toggle region

new - Create a new region. A name for the new region may be passed as a parameter, or ask to prompt the user for the name.

rename - Change the name of the current region. A name for the new region may be passed as a parameter, or ask to prompt the user for the name.

kill - Terminate the current (or specified) region.

only - Maximize the current/specified region to the full display.

watch - Toggle monitoring of the current/specified region for activity.

scrollback - View the scrollback for the current/specified region.

es_statement(statement)

Execute an Escreen (screen/twin) command directly.

es_reset()

Aliases: es_rst

Reset the Escreen session

exec_dialog(command)

The same as exec/spawn, but this function presents the user with a dialog box in which she can edit/confirm the command to be run and specify additional parameters if needed.

exit(message)

exit(code)

Aliases: die quit

Exit Eterm with an optional message or an integer return code. Either parameter may be specified, but not both. If neither is specified, a code of 0 (zero) is the default.

kill(signal)

Sends the specified signal to Eterm's primary child process (either your shell, or whatever you specify for Eterm to execute). For the time being, signal must be numeric. SIGTERM is the default if signal is omitted.

msgbox(message)

Displays a small dialog box containing message and waits for a keypress before continuing.

nop()

Does absolutely nothing except waste time. :-)

paste(buffer)

Pastes the contents of the specified clipboard or cut buffer into the terminal window. buffer is either a number 0-7, in which case the selection is pasted from the cut buffer specified, or one of the words clipboard, primary, or secondary (or any initial substring thereof), in which case the contents of the specified clipboard are pasted. You may omit buffer, in which case the default buffer is primary (XA_PRIMARY in Xlib-speak).

save(type, filename)

Save the current theme/user configuration. type can be either user or theme; the default is user. filename is the file to which the settings should be saved. It may contain a path which is either absolute or relative to the theme directory. The default filename for user is user.cfg, and the default filename for theme is theme.cfg.

save_buff(filename)

Dumps the contents of the scrollback buffer to the specified file.

scroll(n)

Scrolls backward or forward in the scrollback buffer. n is a floating point number followed by an optional unit specifier. The unit specifier is one of: lines or l; pages or p; or buffers or b. The floating point number may be separated from the unit specifier by whitespace or a comma, but it is not required. The floating point number should be positive to scroll down (forward) and negative to scroll up (backward). For example, the key sequence Shift-PgUp is equivalent to scroll(-1p). You may also specify fractional quantities, such as scroll(0.5p) to scroll down half a page. The default unit if not specified is lines.

search(str)

Presents a dialog box into which the user may enter a search term. The default value is set to str. All occurances of the specified search string are highlighted in the scrollback buffer, and Eterm jumps back to the most recent one. Searching again with the same keyword will clear the previous highlighting.

spawn(command)

Aliases: exec

Spawns a secondary child process to execute command, or Eterm if no value is passed.

string(string)

The specified string is parsed via Eterm. This is exactly identical to the string action.

Escreen is a screen/twin interface layer which allows Eterm to interoperate with GNU screen and with Massimiliano Ghilardi's twin software. This allows Eterm to support multiple subshell sessions within a single window. On the surface, this feature works similarly to the "tabbed" sessions offered by programs like konsole and multi-gnome-terminal. However, Escreen has the advantage of being an interface to existing software, thus providing additional capabilities like multiple regions per display, detach/reattach capability, seamless remote session support, firewall support, and more.

Escreen support is still somewhat experimental and is thus not compiled into Eterm by default. To enable it, you must compile with --enable-escreen and/or --enable-etwin (depending on whether you have screen, twin, or both). If you installed from a package, you can use Eterm --version and check for either +ESCREEN (enabled) or -ESCREEN (disabled).

For best results, if you wish to use Escreen mode, do so by invoking Eterm with the Escreen theme (Eterm -t Escreen). This theme supplies default key bindings, the basic Escreen menu, color definitions, etc. for use by the Escreen engine. Most importantly, it supplies the required url parameter in order to invoke Escreen mode.

Consult the README.Escreen file for more in-depth discussion of Escreen mode.

Michael Jennings ([email protected])

Eterm Home Page -- http://www.eterm.org/

Author's Home Page -- http://www.kainx.org/