XBM - X BitMap Format

XBM is a native file format of the X Window System and is used for
storing cursor and icon bitmaps that are used in the X GUI. XBMfiles are quite different in that they are actually Clanguage source files that are created to be read by a C compiler rather than a graphical display program.

XBMdata is typically found in headers (.h files)and are a series of
static unsigned char arrays containing the monochrome pixel data. There is one array per image stored in the header.

As an example, the following piece of C code is an X BitMap file:

#define test_width 16
#define test_height 16
static unsigned char test_bits[] = {
  0xff, 0xff, 0x01, 0x80, 0xfd, 0xbf, 0x05, 0xa0, 0xf5, 0xaf, 0x15, 0xa8,
  0xd5, 0xab, 0x55, 0xaa, 0x55, 0xaa, 0xd5, 0xab, 0x15, 0xa8, 0xf5, 0xaf,
  0x05, 0xa0, 0xfd, 0xbf, 0x01, 0x80, 0xff, 0xff);

which defines the 16x16 bitmap that looks like:

   ################
   #              #
   # ############ #
   # #          # #
   # # ######## # #
   # # #      # # #
   # # # #### # # #
   # # # #  # # # #
   # # # #  # # # #
   # # # #### # # #
   # # #      # # #
   # # ######## # #
   # #          # #
   # ############ #
   #              #
   ################

XBMwas created by the X Consortium as part of the X Window System.
Refer to the /bitmaps directory of the X Window distribution for examples of XBM files. The central FTP distribution site for X version 11 is:

   ftp://ftp.x.org

Reference works describing XBM include:

 Xlib-c language X Interface, Gettys, James, andRobert W.. Scheiffler,

 Consortium Standard, X Version 11, Release 5, First Revision, August
1991.

Xlib Programming Manual, Nye, Adrian, third edition, O'Reilly
&Associates, Inc. Sebastopol, CA, 1992.
