$HOME/.Xdefaults no longer being read

i think its maybe $HOME/.Xdefaults-hostname now, give that a try and see http://www.xfree86.org/current/X.7.html

i'm sure you know already but hostname in the above filename is the name of your actual host and not just the text 'hostname', bad writing on my part there :)

Interesting. I wasn't aware of that change. I humbly submit that this sucks. It arbitrarily breaks a working system and will be a rude surprise for those who weren't expecting it.

Unfortunately, I have a dissertation to write intead of patch the X server code responsible for this misbheavior, but I think the following algorithms would be significantly better for transition and perhaps in general. I understand why the -hostname dependent behavior was wanted, but it lacks a bit of flourish yet.

Algorithm 1:
1) If $HOME/.Xdefaults-hostname exists, read it in.
2) Else, if $HOmE/.Xdefaults exists, read it in.

This won't break backwards compatibility and has an added feature: if you migrate your Xdefaults to a new host or whatever, a "default" Xdefaults file will be available..

Alrigthm 2:
1) If $HOME/.Xdefaults exists, read it in.
2) If $HOME/.Xdefaults-hostname exists, read it in and override any conflicts with $HOME/.Xdefaults.

This has all of the advantages of algo 1 but now even allows you to set up a generic Xdefaults file with per-box customizations in the -hostname file.

Personally, I'm a fan of Algo 2 and would recommend someone implement it before Jaunty goes stable, or both of us users of this feature will be upset. ;)

your probably right with the back compatibility. i'm not sure whether this is an xorg problem or application specific (see https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rxvt/+bug/46462). if .Xdefaults is completely ignored it should probably be filed against xorg. if its only happening with respect to specific applications this should probably be moved to those specific packages.

it seems that .Xdefaults should still be read followed by .Xdefaults-HOSTNAME, though .Xdefaults may be ignored if your running remotely? in which case .Xdefaults-HOSTNAME should be merged into the resources

What ubuntu version is this? And what display manager are you running? No X package sources ~/.Xdefaults, so this is likely misfiled.

I confirm the bug as it's happening for me too. Strangely, i see this on some computers, but not all, all running Jaunty.
Re-assiging to xorg.

I upgraded two machines from 8.10 to 9.04, one yesterday that did not have this problem and one today that did. Cost me 2 hours to find this bug and the solution. Should be listed among the upgrade issues.

Note that an alternative to renaming the file is to add the following to your .bashrc file:

export XENVIRONMENT=~/.Xdefaults

I'm seeing this on a fresh Ubuntu Jaunty 9.04 i386 install as well as on an Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04 i386 fresh install.

An alternative to setting XENVIRONMENT is executing:

xrdb -merge .Xdefaults

this bug re-appeared for me a few days ago in karmic. I see it now in a 64bit desktop, and in UNR.
Strangely, my 32bit desktop is fine. They all have the same ~/.Xdefaults.

mv ~/.Xdefaults ~/.Xresources

works for me.

It happens it's not a bug.

man Xsession:

       $HOME/.Xresources
              contains X resources specific to the invoking user's environment. The
              settings are loaded with xrdb -merge. Note that $HOME/.Xdefaults is a
              relic from X Version 10 (and X11R1) days, before app-defaults files
              were implemented. It has been deprecated for over ten years at the
              time of this writing. .Xresources should be used instead.