DOTSLASHLINUX

Configuring rxvt-unicode (urxvt)

In this article I’ll show you how to get your urxvt daemon up and running, and give you a nice configuration file for urxvtc to use!

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1- Installation

Gentoo Linux:

emerge --sync && emerge -av x11-terms/rxvt-unicode

Void Linux:

xbps-install -Su && xbps-install -S rxvt-unicode

Arch Linux:

pacman -Syu rxvt-unicode

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2- Starting the urxvt daemon

Once urxvt is installed, we should enable and start its daemon.Assuming you’ve read our xinit configuration guide, paste the following line of span in your ~/.xinitrc just before your dwm or openbox session:

urxvtd --quiet --opendisplay --fork &

This will start the urxvt daemon every time the X server is started via startx.

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3- Configuring urxvtc

Let’s face it, urxvt looks hideous out of the box with that super small font and that scroll bar. Luckily, it supports xft fonts, which means we can do a whole lot to it.

Here’s this useful piece of code:

urxvtc -bg black -fg white -sr -fn "xft:DejaVu Sans Mono:pixelsize=15,style=Book"

This will start the urxvt client(s), with the following options (black background color, white text color, scrollbar to the right side, DejaVu Sans Book font with a size of 15 pixels).

You need to have dejavu fonts installed in order for this to work. You can always change these options to your liking.

Now keep in mind that whenever you need to launch urxvtc you need to use these options, so it’s highly recommended that you map them to your prefered shortcut keys.

Another configuration made especially for use in dwm on gentoo (paste it in your ~/.Xresources):

urxvt*font:                 xft:xos4 Terminus:size=10

urxvt*termName:             rxvt
urxvt*background:           #33393b
urxvt*foreground:           white
urxvt*scrollBar:            false

URxvt.perl-ext-common:      default,matcher
URxvt.url-launcher:         /usr/bin/xdg-open
URxvt.matcher.button:       1

Xft*dpi:                    96
Xft*antialias:              true
Xft*hinting:                true
Xft*hintstyle:              hintfull
Xft*rgba:                   rgb

URxvt.transparent:          false
URxvt.tintColor:            #54487a
URxvt.shading:              100
URxvt.inheritPixmap:        false
URxvt.fading:               100

URxvt.saveLines:            50000
URxvt.cursorBlink:          1

URxvt*scrollTtyOutput: 	    false
URxvt*scrollWithBuffer:     true
URxvt*scrollTtyKeypress:    true

URxvt*color0:      	        #000000
URxvt*color8:      	        #666666

URxvt*color1:               #9e1828
URxvt*color9:      	        #cf6171

URxvt*color2:      	        #aece92
URxvt*color10:     	        #c5f779

URxvt*color3:      	        #968a38
URxvt*color11:     	        #fff796

URxvt*color4:      	        #414171
URxvt*color12:     	        #4186be

URxvt*color5:      	        #963c59
URxvt*color13:     	        #cf9ebe

URxvt*color6:      	        #418179
URxvt*color14:     	        #71bebe

URxvt*color7:      	        #bebebe
URxvt*color15:     	        #ffffff

Don’t forget that URxvt.urlLauncher is deprecated, use URxvt.url-launcher instead.

If these settings aren’t being loaded (or are reset), then add the following to your .xinitrc file:

[[ -f ~/.Xresources ]] && xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

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(Optional) Mapping urxvtc to a shortcut key on dwm

Let’s start by adding this to the commands section:

/* commands */
static const char *termcmd[]  = { "urxvtc", NULL};

Then let’s add this entry to the modifiers section (In our case the shortcut keys will be ALT + x):

/* modifier                     key        function        argument */
{ MODKEY,	                XK_x, 	   spawn,          {.v = termcmd } },