Changing X Resources

Changing X Resources

[Greg Hill]

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I know how to set things like the font used for the menu bar and 
popup menus when starting Emacs, by either specifying them in my 
.Xdefaults file or as command line arguments.

However, I can not find any way to change those resources _after_ 
Emacs has already started.  I have found a function called 
"x-get-resource" that tells me what the current value is, but nothing 
like "x-set-resource" or "x-put-resource" for changing it.

Does anyone know of any method for doing that?  I'm currently using 
GNU Emacs 21.2.2 (sparc-sun-solaris2.7, X toolkit).

Incidentally, I have found that after starting an Emacs session with 
one set of resource settings I can run "appres" from my xterm shell 
and get:

>  appres "Emacs"
Emacs.menu*font:        6x12
Emacs.dialog*font:  9x15bold

Then I can start a second Emacs session with reversed setting, after 
which "appres" gives me:

>  appres "Emacs"
Emacs.menu*font:    9x15bold
Emacs.dialog*font:      6x12

But my first Emacs session continues to use the setting it was 
started with, while the second session uses the new settings.  This 
suggests to me that Emacs is keeping a copy of the settings it read 
at startup somewhere internal to itself, and specifying them anew 
every time it pops up a new frame (X "window").  If only I could find 
out where that "somewhere" is and modify it.

I would be happy to add a function to the C code and re-make my Emacs 
if that is what it takes.  However,

<flame source="extreme frustration">
after spending a couple of hours searching for hints in the C source 
code, I was last seen running naked down the street, screaming and 
tearing my hair out.  If Emacs were not freeware, I would have to 
assume that its author was primarily motivated by maintaining job 
security.  Never in my 25-year career as a computer programmer have I 
encountered such obscure code, obviously written without a moment's 
thought given to making it maintainable or even scrutable by anyone 
but the original author and perhaps one or two privileged 
"cognoscenti" who have been entrusted with a magic decoder ring.
</flame>

Any help anyone can give me (perhaps a couple of Valium) will be 
greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

--Greg

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