xorgrgb mit Homebrew installieren

Projektlinks

• Homepage

Befehle und Aliase

• showrgb

Projektgeschichte

The X(7) manual documents X support for abstract color names and says the text form of the color database is commonly stored as rgb.txt. The rgb application repository carries the standalone rgb.txt file and showrgb program in the modular X.Org app tree.

Historically, rgb.txt was part of the wider X distribution. As X.Org moved into modular releases, small utilities and data files like rgb became independently packaged modules rather than incidental files inside one monolithic X tree.

Adoptionsgeschichte

The database became familiar because X resource files, examples, and old GUI applications used named X11 colors directly. Even after modern toolkits and CSS-style color handling became more common, the X11 color-name list remained part of Unix GUI muscle memory.

The standalone package matters most on systems that still expose or inspect the old X color database separately from the server's built-in color handling.

Wie es verwendet wird

showrgb reads an RGB color-name database and prints it in source form. The raw rgb.txt file maps integer red, green, and blue values to one or more color names, including spaced and CamelCase aliases.

Practical use is mostly diagnostic and compatibility-oriented: checking the exact color names available to X applications, preserving legacy resource behavior, or comparing the X11 color list against web/SVG color-name sets.

Warum Paket-Nerds sich dafür interessieren

xorgrgb is package-nerd archaeology in a tiny package: a data file and utility that explain why so many old X examples use poetic color names. It is not glamorous, but it is the sort of compatibility artifact that makes the X11 ecosystem feel continuous across decades.

It also demonstrates how modular X.Org packaging split even small data utilities into separate source modules, so distributions can keep legacy X behavior without dragging along unrelated applications.

Zeitleiste

• 1980s: X color-name databases become part of the X Window System culture.
• X11R7 era: X.Org modularization separates small apps and data files such as rgb from the former monolithic tree.
• 2012: X11R7.7 documentation still lists rgb among display-server-related utilities in the core X.Org distribution.
• 2026: The X.Org app/rgb repository continues to publish rgb.txt as a standalone module.

Related projects

• X.Org Server consumes or embeds X11 color-name behavior for clients using named colors.
• xcolorsel and similar X utilities inspect or present rgb.txt-style color databases.
• CSS/SVG color keywords are a related but not identical descendant color-name ecosystem.

Quellen

• https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/rgb
• https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/rgb/-/raw/master/rgb.txt
• https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.6/doc/man/man1/showrgb.1.xhtml
• https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/man/man7/X.7.xhtml
• https://www.x.org/releases/X11R7.7/doc/xorg-docs/ReleaseNotes.txt