Help with frame colors in Emacs

Help with frame colors in Emacs

[Patrick Mahan]

version information:

macOS Monterey 12.6
Macbook Pro (15-inch, 2018)

GNU Emacs 26.3
Copyright (C) 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
GNU Emacs comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
You may redistribute copies of GNU Emacs
under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file named COPYING.

I have had this version around for a while now but have only been using it
when I needed to edit a single file.  However, I am now starting to use it
as a development platform and when I am in the starting frame and want to
launch another frame, the background/foreground/mouse and cursor colors are
not the same as the main frame.

I launch using the following method:

/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs -bg black -fg
mediumspringgreen -cr yellow -ms blue

This is also how I launch on my linux box (Ubuntu 18.04) minus the macOS
file path.  On linux I am running emacs 25.2.2 and when I launch a new
frame, it inherits the background/foreground, etc.  But this is not
happening on macOS.  I am wondering if it is because I am not using X
windows on the macOS?

In any case, is there a config method I can use so that all my frames
inherit the same background, foreground, etc short of setting the "default"
face?

Thanks,

Patrick

Re: Help with frame colors in Emacs

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Patrick Mahan <plmahan@gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2022 11:18:49 -0800
> 
> I launch using the following method:
> 
> /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs -bg black -fg
> mediumspringgreen -cr yellow -ms blue
> 
> This is also how I launch on my linux box (Ubuntu 18.04) minus the macOS
> file path.  On linux I am running emacs 25.2.2 and when I launch a new
> frame, it inherits the background/foreground, etc.  But this is not
> happening on macOS.  I am wondering if it is because I am not using X
> windows on the macOS?
> 
> In any case, is there a config method I can use so that all my frames
> inherit the same background, foreground, etc short of setting the "default"
> face?

I don't know why it doesn't work for you on macOS (sounds like a bug
specific to that platform, or maybe also to the specific Emacs version
you are using, which is quite old), but the recommended way of
customizing the colors is via default-frame-parameters, which you can
set in your init file.  There are examples of that in the Emacs user
manual, and all of the colors you want to change have corresponding
frame parameters.

Of course, it could be that the same bug which prevents the
command-line arguments from working will also defeat the
default-frame-parameters customization...

Re: Help with frame colors in Emacs

[Patrick Mahan]

On Mon, Nov 7, 2022 at 11:40 AM Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:

> > From: Patrick Mahan <plmahan@gmail.com>
> > Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2022 11:18:49 -0800
> >
> > I launch using the following method:
> >
> > /Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs -bg black -fg
> > mediumspringgreen -cr yellow -ms blue
> >
> > This is also how I launch on my linux box (Ubuntu 18.04) minus the macOS
> > file path.  On linux I am running emacs 25.2.2 and when I launch a new
> > frame, it inherits the background/foreground, etc.  But this is not
> > happening on macOS.  I am wondering if it is because I am not using X
> > windows on the macOS?
> >
> > In any case, is there a config method I can use so that all my frames
> > inherit the same background, foreground, etc short of setting the
> "default"
> > face?
>
> I don't know why it doesn't work for you on macOS (sounds like a bug
> specific to that platform, or maybe also to the specific Emacs version
> you are using, which is quite old), but the recommended way of
> customizing the colors is via default-frame-parameters, which you can
> set in your init file.  There are examples of that in the Emacs user
> manual, and all of the colors you want to change have corresponding
> frame parameters.
>
>
I have not upgraded to Emacs 28 yet on macOS because I was running 25.2.2
on Ubuntu and wanted to keep the emacs init file shareable between the two
(minus the architecture issues).

Of course, it could be that the same bug which prevents the
> command-line arguments from working will also defeat the
> default-frame-parameters customization...
>
>
Yes, I saw those commands.  I looked at my emacs init file and on both I
have the following lines -
(set-backgorund-color "black")
(set-foreground-color "mediumspringgreen")
(set-cursor-color "yellow")
(set-mouse-color "blue")

Which I see only affect the first frame.  So I will try setting the default
frame parameters.

Thanks,

Patrick