xrdb: colon missing on line xx

DonVla · 2007-08-23 09:14:02

hello,

following problem:
in my ~/.xinitrc i read out the ~/.Xresources file through

xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

i use suspend, so i haven't restarted X for days now. today i restarted X and i get following error:

vlad@computer:~ $ xrdb -load .Xresources 
xrdb: colon missing on line 5, ignoring line
xrdb: colon missing on line 6, ignoring line
xrdb: colon missing on line 10, ignoring line
xrdb: colon missing on line 11, ignoring line
xrdb: colon missing on line 12, ignoring line
xrdb: colon missing on line 13, ignoring line
.
.
.

i've used same .Xresources for months w/o any problems. i see that xorg-server-utils (contains xrdb) was updated last friday.
has anybody experienced the same thing?
any suggestions?

thanks in advance,
vlad

Last edited by DonVla (2007-08-23 09:15:15)

oliwer · 2007-08-23 10:28:28

Same problem here (very annoying) but I don't think it comes from xorg-server-utils. I would have noticed it before since I reboot everyday. I am pretty sure it comes from one of Wednesday 22 updates.

DonVla · 2007-08-23 10:46:40

as a workaround, for now i use .Xdefaults, which i linked to .Xresources. the .Xdcdefaults file is directly read out by the applications. you don't have to source them.

vlad

Last edited by DonVla (2007-08-23 10:49:51)

JGC · 2007-08-23 11:22:36

I see mcpp (a small C preprocessor) was also updated this week. The new mcpp package could be the source of your problem also. You can test by either downgrading or deleting mcpp (xrdb will fallback to gcc's cpp when mcpp isn't available).

baude · 2007-08-23 11:51:13

Thanks !

I had the same problem since I updated my system today. The pacman log indeed shows that mcpp has been updated :
[2007-08-23 12:06] mcpp mis à jour (2.6-1 -> 2.6.4-1)

After having downgraded mcpp as you suggested, xrdb accepts my .Xresources file.

DonVla · 2007-08-23 16:48:00

where can i get the old mcpp version?
ok i found it.
i've also blacklisted mcpp to prevent upgrade.

vlad

Last edited by DonVla (2007-08-23 16:50:44)

enrique · 2007-08-25 13:05:43

Is is at bug in mcpp, or do I need to update my ~/.Xresources ? As a lot of people my .Xresources has been working fine until the mcpp update, so do I have to wait for a updated mcpp or is there anything I can do about the following message:

<stdin>:0: warning: Unknown encoding: da_DK
    <stdin>:40: error: Unknown #directive "includ"
    #includ "/home/enrique/.Xresources-local"
1 error in preprocessor.
xrdb: colon missing on line 1, ignoring line
xrdb: colon missing on line 2, ignoring line
xrdb: colon missing on line 3, ignoring line
...
xrdb: colon missing on line 38, ignoring line

I have a .Xresources-local which sets host specific settings, part of my .Xresources looks like this:

URxvt*background: black
URxvt*foreground: gray
URxvt*pointerBlank: true
URxvt*scrollBar: 0 
URxvt*saveLines: 2000 
URxvt*internalBorder: 3
URxvt*colorUL: #0064ff
URxvt*colorRV: white
...
*enableThinThickness: True
*enableEtchedInMenu: True
*enableToggleColor: True
*enableToggleVisual: True

#include "/home/enrique/.Xresources-local"

DonVla · 2007-08-25 16:30:34

hi enrique,

you can downgrade your mcpp version. here is the old 2.6-1 arch-version:
http://phraktured.net/archmirror/0.8/os … pkg.tar.gz
or make your own package w/ the 2.6.3 version (also works correctly) through abs. that's what i did.
just replace the version number to 2.6.3 in the default 2.6.4 PKGBUILD and change the md5sum.

or you can simply don't use the .Xresources file, but the .Xdefaults file.
then you don't have to xrdb the file, because the .Xdefaults file is read out directly by the applications when they're started.
i prefer .Xresources, because it's loaded with the xserver into memory and so applications start faster, and this works globally.
some applications don't respond to the .Xdefaults settings.

vlad

Last edited by DonVla (2007-08-25 16:33:31)

fwojciec · 2007-08-26 02:12:16

I just added extra colons in all the .X* files that get loaded/merged by xrdb (so that "URxvt*background: black" becomes "URxvt*background:: black" for example). It took me 2 minutes or so but everything seems to work fine now. If whatever causes this gets reverted in the future releases of mcpp then replacing "::" with ":" in any text editor shouldn't be a problem.

shining · 2007-08-26 07:01:51

fwojciec wrote:

I just added extra colons in all the .X* files that get loaded/merged by xrdb (so that "URxvt*background: black" becomes "URxvt*background:: black" for example). It took me 2 minutes or so but everything seems to work fine now. If whatever causes this gets reverted in the future releases of mcpp then replacing "::" with ":" in any text editor shouldn't be a problem.

sed -i 's/:/::/' .Xresources

or

vim .Xresources
then
:%s/:/::/

I think you meant seconds rather than minutes

Last edited by shining (2007-08-26 07:02:49)

DonVla · 2007-08-26 11:46:52

d'oh,
it's sometimes so simple!
the error message said it all.

JGC · 2007-08-26 14:41:49

It looks like mcpp is stripping the last character of the first word on each line. That's also why the colon is missing.

enrique · 2007-08-27 06:25:21

I looks like also removing the space after : works, my ~/.Xresources now looks like:

URxvt*background:black
URxvt*foreground:gray
URxvt*pointerBlank:true
URxvt*scrollBar:0 
URxvt*saveLines:2000 
URxvt*internalBorder:3
URxvt*colorUL:#0064ff
URxvt*colorRV:white
URxvt*loginShell:true
URxvt*color4:#0064ff
URxvt*realBold:true
URxvt*jumpScroll:True
URxvt*scrollTtyOutput:False
URxvt*scrollTtyKeypress:True
URxvt*scrollWithBuffer:True
URxvt*urlLauncher:firefox
URxvt.secondaryScroll:true 
XTerm*jumpScroll:true
XTerm*multiScroll:true
xterm*faceName:"Bitstream Vera Sans Mono"
xterm*faceSize:9
XTerm*loginShell:true
XTerm*foreground:gray90
XTerm*background:black
XTerm*cursorColor:rgb:00/80/00
XTerm*borderColor:white
XTerm*scrollColor:black
XTerm*visualBell:false
XTerm*saveLines:1000
XTerm*allowSendEvents:True
XTerm*sessionMgt:false
XTerm*rightScrollBar:true
*enableThinThickness:True
*enableEtchedInMenu:True
*enableToggleColor:True
*enableToggleVisual:True
#include"/home/enrique/.Xresources-local"

And there are no complaints in my ~/.xsession-errors

diligent · 2007-08-27 21:19:12

But all this not a solution for all default xorg resource-files, I mean it's not right to edit all such files, but they needed for work.

DonVla · 2007-08-28 09:44:02

hi,
case not solved. it gets even dumber and dumber.
in my .Xresources i have lines with more than one space character, like:

*ttyModes:erase ^?
yeahconsole*term:xterm -bg black -fg beige

when i read them out i get no errors, but launching the application (yeahconsole needs xterm, as you see above)
yields following errors:

sh: xter: command not found

or

xterm:  bad tty modes "eras ^?

It looks like mcpp is stripping the last character of the first word on each line. That's also why the colon is missing.

obviously mcpp cuts off the last character before every space character, but not before a line break (that's why double colon or no spaces at all does work).

however i tried deleting /usr/bin/mcpp as JGC said, but when running xrdb i get:

 xrdb .Xresources
sh: /usr/bin/mcpp: No such file or directory

as a workaround (a really stupid one) i have now following in my .Xresources (please don't laugh...):

*ttyModes:erasee ^?
yeahconsole*term:xtermm -bgg blackk -fgg beige

haha, that works.

shining · 2007-08-28 10:09:38

DonVla wrote:

but launching the application (yeahconsole needs xterm, as you see above)
yields following errors:
sh: xter: command not found
as a workaround (a really stupid one) i have now following in my .Xresources (please don't laugh...):
*ttyModes:erasee ^?
yeahconsole*term:xtermm -bgg blackk -fgg beige
haha, that works.

lol, actually that's what I was going to suggest

klixon · 2007-09-02 16:19:07

DonVla wrote:

*ttyModes:erasee ^?
yeahconsole*term:xtermm -bgg blackk -fgg beige

haha, that works.

Here's a sed-expression that does just that:

sed "s/\([^[:space:]]\)\([[:space:]]\)/\1\1\2/g" .Xresources

add -i to it to apply it after verifying that it doesn't do something unhealthy

use this one to revert it:

sed "s/[^[:space:]]\([[:space:]]\)/\1/g" .Xresources

Last edited by klixon (2007-09-02 16:21:36)

Don-DiZzLe · 2007-09-05 14:14:30

I am also gettin this weird warning/error xrdb: colon missing on line 1 all the way to line 3 and sometimes to line 11. I only get this when using ROX-Session, furthermore Im also getting another weird error/warning: sh dcop command not found.

What does this al mean and how do i get rid of it?

EDIT: Nevermind I fixed them both.

Last edited by Don-DiZzLe (2007-09-05 18:06:07)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-08-23 09:14:02

xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#2 2007-08-23 10:28:28

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#3 2007-08-23 10:46:40

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#4 2007-08-23 11:22:36

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#5 2007-08-23 11:51:13

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#6 2007-08-23 16:48:00

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#7 2007-08-25 13:05:43

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#8 2007-08-25 16:30:34

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#9 2007-08-26 02:12:16

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#10 2007-08-26 07:01:51

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#11 2007-08-26 11:46:52

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#12 2007-08-26 14:41:49

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#13 2007-08-27 06:25:21

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#14 2007-08-27 21:19:12

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#15 2007-08-28 09:44:02

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#16 2007-08-28 10:09:38

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#17 2007-09-02 16:19:07

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

#18 2007-09-05 14:14:30

Re: xrdb: colon missing on line xx

Board footer