The behaviors, fonts, and colors for X Windows System applications are
set by configuration lines in the .Xdefaults file in your home
directory. Many applications also follow the defaults which are set in
the directory /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults. But the .Xdefaults file will override them. Each line in the .Xdefaults files configures an attribute of an X program. For
example,
program*attribute: setting Generic line in .Xdefaults. xterm*background: LightSkyBlue3 Set background color for xterm.
Notice that when you make a change in your .Xdefaults file,
you may not see the
change immediately because the .Xdefaults
file is usually read only when the X server starts up (particularly in
the latest releases of X). To have your changes take effect
immediately without your having to kill and restart X, you must tell X to
reread your configuration file. You do that by going to your home
directory and issuing the Unix command:
% xrdb -load .Xdefaults Reload configuration (dot) file.