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Subject: comp.windows.x Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 5/6 Newsgroups: comp.windows.x,news.answers,comp.answers From: dbl@ics.com (David B. Lewis) Date: 23 Oct 1994 23:08:52 GMT Archive-name: x-faq/part5 Last-modified: 1994/10/23 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 96) Where can I get a WYSIWYG interface builder (or other shortcuts)? A release of the DIRT interface builder by Richard Hesketh works with X11R5 and includes some support for the Motif widget set. It generates WCL-1.1 code. DIRT is known to be outdated. It is available through comp.sources.x archives. The InterViews 3.0.1 C++ toolkit contains a WYSIWIG interface builder called ibuild. ibuild generates code for an InterViews application complete with Imakefile and an X-resource file. Documentation is /pub/papers/ibuild.ps on interviews.stanford.edu (36.22.0.175). Quest Windows's (408-496-1900) ObjectViews C++ package includes an interactive building tool. Druid (Demonstrational Rapid User Interface Development) runs on SPARC machines using OSF/Motif 1.0; it is intended eventually to be a full UIMS but apparently now has only support for creating the presentation components, for which it generates C/UIL code. Info: Singh G, Kok CH, Ngan TY, "Druid: A System for Demonstrational Rapid User Interface Development". Proc. ACM SIGGRAPH Symp on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST'90). ACM, NY, 1990, pp:167-177. The XF builder (version 2.3.n) is a TCL/Tk builder; versions are on harbor.ecn.purdue.edu. You may subscribe to a mailing list by sending "sub xf-l <Your name>" to listserv@tubvm.cs.tu-berlin.de. ADEW in the Andrew User Interface System supports WYSIWYG user interface construction with the full selection of AUIS insets, including text, rasters, tables, and the usual interactors. Semantics can be coded in C or in Ness, the AUIS extension language. Camel, a generic IDT for Xt widget sets, is available from R.N.Tearle@hertfordshire.ac.uk. Also: In addition, these commercial products (unsorted) are available in final or prerelease form [the * following the product name indicates that the product is known to allow the designer to specify for each widget whether a particular resource is hard-coded or written to an application defaults file, for at least one form of output]. Some are much more than user-interface tools; some are full user interface management systems; information on most is not up-to-date: Product Name Look/Feel Code Output Vendor HP Interface Motif 1.1 C(Xm) HP/Visual Edge Architect/ UIMX OPEN LOOK Express OPEN LOOK C(Xol+ helper lib) AT&T / Visual Edge UIMX 2.0 * Motif 1.1 C(Xm + helper code) Visual Edge 514-332-6430 & distributors X-Designer 3.2 * Motif 1.2 C(Xm); C/UIL; C++ Imperial Software Technology, Ltd (+44 734 587055) sales@ist.co.uk US:413-586-4144 XFaceMaker2 (XFM2) * Motif 1.0 C;C/script (C-like procedural language);C/UIL NSL (33 1 43 36 77 50) requests@nsl.fr Builder Xcessory 3.1 * Motif 1.2 C(Xm); C/UIL[r/w] ICS Ada; and reads GIL (617-621-0060) info@ics.com Builder Xcessory 2.6 * Motif 1.1 C(Xm); C/UIL[r/w] DEC [VMS; OSF/1] (1-800-DIGITAL) iXBUILD Motif 1.1 C(Xm); C/UIL iXOS Software karl@ixos.uucp 089/461005-69 TeleUSE 2.1 * Motif 1.1.5 C(Xm); C/UIL[r/w] Alsys(TeleSoft) (619-457-2700) gui_info@telesoft.com in Germany: in GmbH, +49 7531 65022, gvr@in-gmbh.de ezX 3.2 Motif 1.1 C(Xm +helper lib);C/UIL;Ada Sunrise (401-847-7868) info@sunrise.com Snapix Motif C/Xm ADNT +33 1 3956 5333 OpenWindows Developers OPEN LOOK GIL [-> C/XView] Sun Guide 3.0 GIL [-> C++/XView] GIL [-> C/OLIT] GIL [-> C/PostScript for TNT] ExoCode/SXM Motif C(Xm) Expert Object ExoCode/Plus OPEN LOOK XView 708-676-5555 TAE+ 5.3 Xw;Motif C(Xw,Xm); C/TCL (TAE Control Language, like UIL[needs helper library]); VAX Fortran; Ada; C++ Nasa Goddard 301-286-6034 Century Computing 301-953-3330 MOB, XSculptor Motif; OpenLook C/Xm,UIL; C/Xol Kovi 408-982-3840 PSM PM, MSW 3.0, C/UIL Lancorp Motif 1.1.2,Mac Pty Ltd. +61 3 629 4833 Fax: 629 1296 (Australia) MOTIFATION * Motif 1.1.x|1.2 C(Xm) PEM Stuttgart +49 (0) 0711/713045 +49 (0) 0711/713047 fax basien@pem-stuttgart.de UIB Open Look/Motif C++(OI) ParcPlace +1 303-678-4626 ILOG BUILDER Motif ILOG 1 415 390 9000 info@ilog.com XVT-Design Motif,OL,Windows,&c XVT 303-443-4223 info@xvt.com Mimex Motif 1.2 C(Xm); C/UIL[r/w] Kernex 408-441-7376 Xad Motif 1.2 ACC, 800-546-7274, 203-454-5500, info@acc-corp.com Look for magazine reviews for more complete comparisons of meta-file formats, documentation, real ease-of-use, etc; Unix World and Unix Review often carry articles. See also SunExpert 5/93. ParcPlace is making freely available its popular ObjectBuilder(tm) and Object Interface (OI(tm)) products for the Linux operating system. ObjectBuilder is a GUI builder written completely in C++, that enables UNIX C++ developers to apply the principles of object-orientation to the development of user interfaces. OI, a C++ class library, provides the toolkit foundation for ObjectBuilder. OI implements the look-and-feel of both Motif 1.2 and OPEN LOOK. OI is built directly on top of Xlib and is unencumbered by runtime royalties to any party. ObjectBuilder and OI are very extensible, actively facilitating the use of subclassing to create new, reusable, user interface components. Sources are on tsx-11.mit.edu in /pub/linux/packages/OI and available from ParcPlace (+1 408 481 9090). Neuron Data (1 415 321-4488) makes Open Interface, a window-system-independent object toolkit which supports interfaces which are or resemble (supersets of) Mac, Windows, and Motif and Open Look; the package includes an interface builder. The GRAMMI builder supports the development of Ada/X applications using its own set of objects which have Motif look and feel. GRAMMI is written in Ada and generates Ada specs and stub bodies. Call 1-800-877-1815 or send mail to info_server@evb.com with subject "send grammi" [without quotes]. In addition, these non-WYSIWYG but related products may help for goals of rapid prototyping of the application interface: WCL: the Widget Creation Library. Basically describes the widget hierarchy and actions in a resources file; available from fine archive servers everywhere, including devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (128.149.1.143) in pub/. Wcl provides a very thin layer over Xt without any internal tweaking. Version 2.6 is in ftp.x.org:~ftp/contrib/devel_tools/Wcl-2.6.tar.Z [8/94]. (A tutorial on WCL is available by telnet'ing to techinfo.mit.edu and using "search iap292".) TCL/TK: TK is a Motif-like object set for use with the TCL scripting language. There is also a package tclMotif on ftp.x.org which may be used to add TCL scripting to Motif programs; version 1.2 was released 6/94. WAFE: Wafe is a package that implements a symbolic interface to the Athena widgets (X11R5) and OSF/Motif. A typical Wafe application consists of two parts: a front-end (Wafe) and an application program which runs typically as a separate process. The application program can be implemented in an arbitrary programming language and talks to the front-end via stdio. Since Wafe (the front-end) was developed using the extensible TCL shell, an application program can dynamically submit requests to the front-end to build up the graphical user interface; the application can also down-load application specific procedures into the front-end, which can be executed without interaction with the application program. Wafe 1.0 is available from ftp.wu-wien.ac.at:pub/src/X11/wafe/wafe-1.0.tar.gz [7/94]. XGEN: a scripting language which can be used to prototype Motif environments; available on ftp.x.org. WINTERP: an Xlisp-based Motif toolkit (by Niels Mayer) allows for rapid prototyping and interpretive programming. Its interactive application development and delivery environment features a high-level object-oriented interface to the OSF/Motif Widgets and Xtoolkit, a high-level object-oriented 2.5D graphics/animation widget based on Xtango's path-transition animation paradigm, and facilities for communicating with other Unix processes and data. WINTERP's interpreter is "serverized" so that other applications can communicate with WINTERP-based applications via unix domain sockets, or optionally, through internet domain sockets. WINTERP's built-in interpreter is based on XLISP-PLUS, which is a small, fast, portable, C-implemented interpreter providing a subset of Common-Lisp functionality and a Smalltalk-inspired object system. A major new release, WINTERP 2.03, is on the X11R6 contrib tapes; version 2.03 [7/94] is on ftp.x.org in /contrib/devel_tools. Info: winterp-source@netcom.com. See also http://www.eit.com/software/winterp/winterp.html The Serpent UIMS permits the building of user-interfaces without specific knowledge of coding but with an understanding of attributes being set on a particular [Motif] widget. Beta Release 1.2 is available from ftp.sei.cmu.edu (128.237.1.13) and can be found in /pub/serpent. Serpent is also available on ftp.x.org (18.24.0.11) in /contrib/serpent. Email questions can go to serpent@sei.cmu.edu. A commercial version of Serpent is available as "Agora" from ASET, 221 Woodhaven Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15228. Garnet is a Common Lisp-based GUI toolkit. Information is available from garnet@cs.cmu.edu. MetaCard is a hypertext/Rapid Application Development environment similar to Apple/Claris Corporation's HyperCard (info@metacard.com). MetaCard is available via anonymous FTP from ftp.metacard.com, csn.org, or 128.138.213.21. (Mailing list: listserv@grot.starconn.com). Articles comparing these tools include: UnixWorld 5/92; SunWorld 12/92; LAN Computing 12/92; SunExpert 5/93. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 97) Where can I find X tools callable from shell scripts? I want to have a shell script pop up menus and yes/no dialog boxes if the user is running X. Several tools in the R3 contrib/ area were developed to satisfy these needs: yorn pops up a yes/no box, xmessage displays a string, etc. There are several versions of these tools; few, if any, have made it to the R4 contrib/ area, though they may still be available on various archive sites. XScript, a collection of X shell scripts, is on csc.canberra.edu.au under /pub/motif/xscript and also on ftp.x.org; it includes several stand-alone X applications which can be embedded in shell scripts. XScript requires tclMotif 1.0 or later. In addition, Richard Hesketh (rlh2@ukc.ac.uk) has posted the xmenu package to comp.sources.x ("v08i008: xmenu") for 1-of-n choices. [7/90] Two versions of XPrompt have been posted to comp.sources.x, the latter being an unauthorized rewrite. [R. Forsman (thoth@reef.cis.ufl.edu), 1/91] There is a version of XMenu available from comp.sources.x; it is being worked on and will likely be re-released. xp-1.1.tar.Z, xpick-1.0.tar.Z and xzap-1.0.tar.Z on ftp.x.org's contrib/ are tools by Gerry.Tomlinson@newcastle.ac.UK which act as X versions of the simple display and choice-making tools in K&P. [4/92] xtpanel lets the user build a panel containing interactive objects such as buttons, sliders, text fields, etc., either from the command line or using a simple scripting language. It is available for anonymous ftp from hanauma.Stanford.EDU (36.51.0.16) as pub/X/xtpanel-3.01.tar.Z and may also be found in the alt.sources archives. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 98) Where can I get an X-based debugger? xdbx, an X interface to the dbx debugger, is available via ftp from ftp.x.org. The current [1/91] version is 2.1 patchlevel 2. An X interface to gdb called xxgdb is more like xdbx 2.1.2. It is part of comp.sources.x volume 11 [2/91]; xxgdb-1.06.tar.Z is on ftp.x.org. mxgdb is a Motif interface to gdb by Jim Tsillas (jtsillas@proteon.com); version 1.2 was released 11/93. UPS is a source-level debugger which runs under the X11 (and SunView) window systems on Sun, DEC, and Linux platforms. It is available from ftp.x.org (18.24.0.11) as contrib/ups-2.45.tar.Z (also ups-2.45-to-2.45.2.patch.Z) and unix.hensa.ac.uk (129.12.21.7) in /pub/misc/unix/ups (or try mail to archive@unix.hensa.ac.uk). [10/92] Unofficial fixes by Rod Armstrong (rod@san-jose.ate.slb.com) are on unix.hensa.ac.uk in /misc/unix/ups/contrib/rod@san-jose.ate.slb.com; they were last updated 9/94. Also: MIPS produces a highly-customizable (WCL-based) Visual Debugger. You should be able to use Sun's dbxtool with its X11/NeWS server. The CodeCenter (617-498-3000) source-level debugger, available on most major platforms, includes an X-based interface. AT&T offers the eXamine Graphical Interface, an X11 interface to dbx and C++ dbx for Sun3 and Sun4 and sdb and sdb++ for 386 and 3B2 platforms. Call 1-508-960-1997 or contact examine@mvuxi.att.com for more information. Solbourne (+1 303-678-4626) offers PDB, its X-based debugger for C, C++ and Fortran. PDB uses the OI toolkit and runs in either Open Look or Motif mode. SCO (info@sco.com) offers dbXtra as part of several development systems. Lucid's Energize Programming System, a tightly integrated development environment for C and C++ programs, incorporates a graphical user interface on top of an extended version of gdb. Info: lucid-info@lucid.com, or (800) 223-9322. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 99)! How can I "tee" an X program identically to several displays? There are several protocol multiplexer tools which provide for the simultaneous display of X clients on any number of machines: XMX (an X Protocol Multiplexor) is available from wilma.cs.brown.edu (128.148.33.66) as pub/xmx.tar.Z It works independently of the server and does not affect the application being shared; it was developed for use in the electronic classroom. An update is expected soon [5/93]. XTV is a conference program which can be used to duplicate the "chalkboard" on several displays. Release 1 is available on the X11R5 contrib tapes; a more recent version is on ftp.cs.odu.edu as pub/wahab/XTV.r2.tar.Z. SHX from Michael Altenhofen of Digital Equipment GmbH CEC Karlsruhe is a "WYSIWIS" (What You See Is What I See) package in the context of a computer-based learning/training tool to provide online help from remote tutors but is also useful for general window sharing. SHX was last found on found on ftp.x.org. Modifications to SHX for color mapping and private color allocation by Mark J. Handley (M.Handley@cs.ucl.ac.uk) are on cs.ucl.ac.uk in car/shX.car.tar.Z. XTrap is implemented as a server/library extension and can be used to record and then replay an x session. It is available as ftp.x.org:/contrib/XTrapV33_X11R5.tar.Z. The XTEST and RECORD extensions in R6 provide input synthesis and protocol recording respectively. Taken together, they provide functionality similar to XTrap. wscrawl can be used as a "multi-person paint program". It's available on sax.stanford.edu as wscrawl.shar.Z. Binaries are on doppler.ncsc.org in pub/wscrawl. Shdr implements a simple shared whiteboard, without a chalk-passing mechanism. It's available on parcftp.xerox.com as pub/europarc/shdr.tar.Z. SketchPad 1.0 (3/93) is a distributed interactive graphical editor particularly designed for sketching. Sources have been posted to alt.sources and are available from ftp.igd.fhg.de (192.44.32.1) in ~ftp/incoming/sketchpad. The NESTOR project is described in "Upgrading A Window System For Tutoring Functions", Michael Altenhofen et al., the proceedings of the EXUG Conference 11/90. xmove actually moves a client from one server to another; it is on ftp.cs.columbia.edu in /pub/xmove. See The X Resource (Summer 1994) for an article on the motivation for and construction of xmove. Also of use: Hewlett-Packard Co. has a commercial product, "HP SharedX" which works under HP-UX currently on their 300, 400, and 700 series workstations and their HP 700/RX X Stations. Machines receiving shared windows can be any X server. HP SharedX consists of a server extensions and a Motif based user interface process. Contact your local HP sales rep. for more information. IBM offers a commercial product. Sun offers multi-user confering software called ShowMe. InSoft (Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, 717-730-9501) offers multi-user conferencing software called Communique. Version 3.0 is available on Sun and HP platforms. Vartalaap is a multiparty multimedia Conferencing System that works over Unix sockets; the interfaceis based on XView. It's available at ftp.x.org under contrib/vartalaap.tar.Z. Collage is a synchronous collaborative data analysis tool for use over the Internet. Features include a shared whiteboard, screen capture/sharing, a shared text editor, and data-analysis tools. Sources are on ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu (141.142.20.50) in /UNIX/XCollage/Collage1.3. [Thanks in part to scott@spectra.com (Tim Scott), 5/91, and to Peter Cigehn (peter@lulea.trab.se), 8/92 ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 100)! Can I use C++ with X11? Motif? XView? The X11R4 and later header files are compatible with C++. The Motif 1.1 header files are usable as is inside extern "C" {...}. However, the definition of String in Intrinsic.h can conflict with the libg++ or other String class and needs to be worked around. Some other projects which can help: WWL, a set of C++ classes by Jean-Daniel Fekete to wrap X Toolkit widgets, available via anonymous FTP from ftp.x.org as contrib/WWL-1.2.tar.Z [7/92] or lri.lri.fr (129.175.15.1) as pub/WWL-1.2.tar.Z. It works by building a set of C++ classes in parallel to the class tree of the widgets. The C++ InterViews toolkit is obtainable via anonymous FTP from interviews.stanford.edu. InterViews uses a box/glue model similar to that of TeX for constructing user interfaces and supports multiple looks on the user interfaces. Some of its sample applications include a WYSIWIG document editor (doc), a MacDraw-like drawing program (idraw) and an interface builder (ibuild). THINGS, a class library written at the Rome Air Force Base by the Strategic Air Command, available as freeware on archive sites. Motif++ is a public-domain library that defines C++ class wrappers for Motif 1.1 and 1.2; it adds an "application" class for, e.g., initializing X, and also integrates WCL and the Xbae widget set. This work was developed by Ronald van Loon <rvloon@motif.xs4all.nl> based on X++, a set of bindings done by the University of Lowell Graphics Research Laboratory. The current sources are available from decuac.dec.com (192.5.214.1) in /pub/X11/motif++.28.jul.93.tar.gz; in the UK check src.doc.ic.ac.uk. Send to motif++-request@motif.xs4all.nl to be added to the mailing list. Xm++ is a user interface framework for C++ using the Motif and Athena toolkits. Source is on ftp.x.org as contrib/Xm++.0.52.tar.Z; or email to xmplus@ani.univie.ac.at. YACL, Yet Another Class Library, by M. A. Sridhar (sridhar@usceast.cs.scarolina.edu) implements a general-purpose programming library, using X/Motif and MSWindows for graphical-user-interface needs; sources are on ftp.cs.scarolina.edu (129.252.131.11), as the file /pub/sridhar/yacl.zip. The Theseus++ User Interface Toolkit Release 2.5.2 is a copylefted C++ user-interface toolkit for X and Motif. Sources are on archimedes.igd.fhg.de in /pub/Theseus++/theseus++-2.5.2. The source code examples for Doug Young's "Object-Oriented Programming with C++ and OSF/Motif" [ISBN 0-13-630252-1] do not include "widget wrappers" but do include a set of classes that encapsulates higher-level facilities commonly needed by Motif- or other Xt-based applications; check ftp.x.org in ~ftp/contrib/young.c++.tar.Z. Rogue Wave offers "View.h++" for C++ programmers using Motif; info: 1-800-487-3217 or +1 503 754 2311. A product called "Commonview" by Glockenspiel Ltd, Ireland (??) apparently is a C++-based toolkit for multiple window systems, including PM, Windows, and X/Motif. Xv++ is sold by Qualix (415-572-0200; fax -1300); it implements an interface from the GIL files that Sun's OpenWindows Developers Guide 3.0 produces to Xview wrapper classes in C++. The Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) library from Bristol (info@bristol.com) is a GUI class library for Windows, Mac, and Motif applications. UIT is a set of C++ classes embedding the XView toolkit; it is intended for use with Sun's OpenWindows Developers Guide 3.0 builder tool. Sources are on ftp.x.org as UIT.tar.Z. Version 2 was released 5/28/92. Also of likely use is ObjectCenter (Saber-C++). And a reasonable alternative to all of the above is ParcPlace's (formerly Solbourne's) Object Interface. The DD++ library is a C++ wrapper for the Motif 1.2 drag and drop preregister protocol; sources are on ftp.x.org:contrib/libraries/DD++1.1.tar.Z. [Thanks to Douglas S. Rand (dsrand@mitre.org) and George Wu (gwu@tcs.com);2/91] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 101) Where can I obtain alternate language bindings to X/Xt/Motif? Versions of the CLX Lisp bindings are part of the X11 core source distributions. A version of CLX is on the R5 tape [10/91]; version 5.0.2 [9/92] is on ftp.x.org in /contrib/CLX.R5.02.tar.Z. The SAIC Ada-X11 bindings are through anonymous ftp in /pub from stars.rosslyn.unisys.com (128.126.164.2) [perhaps falcon.stars.ballston.paramax.com (129.204.6.253)?] There is an X/Ada study team sponsored by NASA JSC, which apparently is working out bindings. Information: xada@ghg.hou.tx.us. GNU SmallTalk has a beta native SmallTalk binding to X called STIX (by Steven.Byrne@Eng.Sun.COM). It is still in its beginning stages, and documentation is sparse outside the SmallTalk code itself. The sources are available as /pub/gnu/smalltalk-1.1.1.tar.Z on prep.ai.mit.edu (18.71.0.38) or ugle.unit.no (129.241.1.97). Prolog bindings (called "XWIP") written by Ted Kim at UCLA while supported in part by DARPA are available by anonymous FTP from ftp.x.org:contrib/xwip.tar.Z or ftp.cs.ucla.edu:pub/xwip.tar.Z. These prolog language bindings depend on having a Quintus-type foreign function interface in your prolog. The developer has gotten it to work with Quintus and SICStus prolog. Inquiries should go to xwip@cs.ucla.edu. [3/90] Scheme bindings to Xlib, OSF/Motif, and Xaw are part of the Elk distribution; version 1.5a on ftp.x.org obsoletes the version on the R5 contrib tape. TCL bindings to Motif 1.[12] by Jan Newmarch (jan@pandonia.canberra.edu.au) are on csc.canberra.edu.au and ftp.x.org. Version 0.8 became available 11/93. x-scm, a bolt-on accessory for Aubrey Jaffer's "scm" Scheme interpreter that provides an interface to Xlib, Motif, and OpenLook, is now available via FTP from altdorf.ai.mit.edu:archive/scm/xscm1.05.tar.Z and nexus.yorku.ca:pub/scheme/new/xscm1.05.tar.Z. Poplog V14.2 is offered by Integral Solutions Ltd. (Phone +44 (0)256 882028; Fax +44 (0)256 882182; Email isl@integ.uucp); it is an integrated programming environment consisting of the programming languages Pop-11, Prolog, Standard ML, and Lisp which are compiled to machine code via a common virtual machine. Pop-11 provides an interface to the X Toolkit which can be accessed from all other Poplog languages. The OLIT, Motif, and Athena widget sets are supported, in addition to the custom Poplog (Xpw) widget set. High-level Pop-11 libraries allow graph drawing, turtle graphics, and the simple creation of basic button/menu based interfaces. Ada bindings to Motif, explicitly, will eventually be made available by the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, probably through the normal electronic means. Advance information can be obtained from dsouleles@dsfvax.jpl.nasa.gov, who may respond as time permits. AdaMotif is a complete binding to X and Motif for the Ada language, for many common systems; it is based in part upon the SAIC/Unisys bindings and also includes a UIL to Ada translator. Info: Systems Engineering Research Corporation, 1-800-Ada-SERC (well!serc@apple.com). Also: the X Consortium, although not involved in producing Ada bindings for X, maintains a partial listing of people involved in X and Ada; information is available from Donna Converse, converse@x.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 102) TOPIC: BUILDING THE X DISTRIBUTION [topic needs updating to R6] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 103) What's a good source of information on configuring the X build? This FAQ includes information on a number of "gotchas" that can bite you on particular system. However, the best source of general information on building the X11 release is found in the Release Notes. The file is bundled separately from the rest of the release, so if it's become separated from your sources you can FTP another copy separately: the file RELNOTES.[ms,PS,TXT] at the top of the distribution. The file RELNOTES is also available from the xstuff mail server. In addition, O'Reilly & Associates' Volume 8 on X Administration includes information on configuring and building X. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 104) Why doesn't my Sun with a cg6 work with R5? Apparently gcc is the problem; it seems to produce fine code for all Sun displays except for the cgsix. The new sunGX.o distributed with fix-07 may fix the problem (note: not known to work on Solaris). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 105) Why doesn't my Sun with SunOS 4.1 know about _dlsym, etc.? If you get errors with _dlsym _dlopen _dlclose undefined, link with libdl.a. Add "-ldl" to your and eventually to your site.def. You may want to surround it with "-Bstatic -ldl -Bdynamic" if you add it to the EXTRA_LIBRARIES variable, since "syslibs" get added after EXTRA_LIBRARIES on the eventual compilation command; otherwise you may not have a shared libdl. (Or compile the stubs shared.) [thanks to Joe Backo (joe.backo@East.Sun.COM), 12/91] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 106) What is this "_get_wmShellWidgetClass undefined" error? In SunOS 4.1.2 Sun fixed a shared-library bug in ld which conflicts with the way X builds the shared Xmu library, causing these symbols, notably, to be undefined when building some X11 clients on SunOS 4.1.[23]: _get_wmShellWidgetClass _get_applicationShellWidgetClass Compiling "-Bstatic -lXmu -Bdynamic" is overkill; be sure to set OSTeenyVersion correctly in the config/sun.cf file and rebuild X11R5. To solve the problem if you are using OpenWindows 3.0 (X11R4-based Xt), please contact your local Sun office and request the following patches: Patch i.d. Description 100512-02 4.1.x OpenWindows 3.0 libXt Jumbo patch 100573-03 4.1.x OpenWindows 3.0 undefined symbols when using shared libXmu [Greg Earle, earle@Sun.COM; 7/92] A source patch for use with the X11R4 libraries was developed by Conrad Kimball (cek@sdc.boeing.com); it retrofits into R4 some fixes made in R5 to get around this problem. The patch is on ftp.x.org in [1/93] contrib/X11R4_sunos4.1.2_patch_version3.Z ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 107) What's this problem with undefined _X symbols on SunOS 4.1.3? Make sure to set the OSTeenyVersion in the mit/config/sun.cf file if you see that vast numbers of Xlib functions are undefined in your X11R5 build: >cc -o bmtoa bmtoa.o -O -pipe -L../.././lib/Xmu -lXmu -L/work1/X11R5/lib >ld: Undefined symbol > _XGetVisualInfo > _XFree ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 108) Why does cc get used when I build X11R5 with gcc? When X11R5 was written gcc (version 1.X) did not support shared libraries. Those parts requiring shared libraries are compiled with cc, those that don't are compiled with gcc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 109) What are these I/O errors running X built with gcc? When I try to run xinit or the Xsun server I get the error "Getting interface configuration: Operation not supported on socket. Fatal server bug! no screens found." Running the gcc fixincludes script apparently didn't work. You can do this simple test: #include <sys/ioctl.h> SIOCGIFCONF Run that through cc -E and gcc -E. The last line of output is the piece of interest; it should be identical (modulo irrelevant differences like whitespace). If the gcc version has 'x' where the cc version has 'i', your fixincludes run didn't work for some reason or other; go back to your gcc sources and run `fixincludes`; then rebuild the X distribution. If they are identical, try running a make clean in mit/server and rebuilding, just to make sure everything gets compiled with the proper include files. [courtesy der Mouse, mouse@LARRY.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU; 9/90] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 110) What are these problems compiling the X server on SunOS 4.1.1? The file <sundev/cg6reg.h> isn't being found. Sun omitted <sundev/cg6reg.h> from SunOS 4.1.1. Remove the #include from sunCG6C.c and replace it with the line #define CG6_VADDR_COLOR 0x70016000 The file has changed from earlier versions of SunOS and should not be copied from another distribution. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 111) Can OW 3.0 OLIT programs run with R5 Xt? (_XtQString undefined) This is a bug in the OLIT. _XtQString was an external symbol that existed in X11R4 (upon which OW 3.0's libXt is based). It wasn't documented and was removed in X11R5 (the Consoritum's guarantee of upward compatibility between the R4 and R5 libraries only applied to the documented interface). A workaround is to temporarily set your LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the X11R4 or OpenWindows Xt library that you linked the program against. [10/92; from Barry Margolin (barmar@think.com); 3/93 from Jeff Francis (jpf@heliocentric.com)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 112) How do I get around the SunOS 4.1 security hole? There is a security problem with certain R4 clients (xterm and xload) running under SunOS 4.1 that have been installed setuid root and are using shared libraries; to avoid the problem, do one of these: 1) make the program non-setuid. You should consult your system administrator concerning protection of resources (e.g. ptys and /dev/kmem) used by these programs, to make sure that you do not create additional security problems at your site. 2) relink the programs statically (using -Bstatic). 3) install the libraries before linking and link with absolute paths to the libraries. [from rws@x.org (Bob Scheifler), 12/90] Newer versions of xterm (R5/R6) do this automatically by rebuilding xterm against the newly-installed libraries when xterm is being installed; this prevents an suid program from being built with libraries specified relatively. Note that this may cause an inconvenience when doing the installation from NFS-mounted disks. Xload has been rewritten to avoid the problem. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 113) How do I get around the frame-buffer security hole? On many systems the frame-buffer is unsecured by default; this permits anyone who can log into your workstation to peek at your windowing session by accessing the frame-buffer directly, or, as less of a privacy issue but perhaps more annoying, to [accidentally] start up a second X session on your console display. Check the man page for fbtab(5). [Thanks to Art Mulder (art@cs.ualberta.ca); 2/93.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 114) TOPIC: BUILDING X PROGRAMS ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 115) What is Imake? Imake is not a replacement for the make program; instead, it is a makefile-generator that takes advantages of the include-file and macro- processing capabilities of the C preprocessor cpp to generate makefiles suitable for building software on a particular system. Although it is not specific to X, the X release uses it to help solve a number of the configuration issues that arise in making such a large system widely portable. Imake has a fairly steep learning curve, in part because the process by which the system-specific configuration files, system-independent configuration files, and individual Imakefiles are melded to produce a Makefile is not obvious. There have been several different versions of imake; the R3, R4, R5 and R6 versions are different. You can obtain information on imake from these sources: - - the release notes and imake man page include information on using Imake to build X - The R6 file xc/config/cf/README contains a list of imake variables - the R4 and R5 release notes and imake man page include information on using Imake to build X - the R4 and R5 file mit/config/README also contains useful information - on the R4 tapes, contrib/doc/imake/imake.tex is Mark Moraes' R3/R4 guide to imake. - the R5 mit/doc/config/usenixws/paper.ms contains a paper by Jim Fulton on an early version of Imake - Paul DuBois (dubois@primate.wisc.edu) has written a useful explanation of how Imake works and how to use it in configuring X for non- supported systems; the document is available from ftp.primate.wisc.edu in the directory ~ftp/pub/imake-stuff; look for config-X11R4.ms (troff) and config-X11R4.ps (PostScript). Some supplemental appendices are nearby. [7/91: document version is now 1.06] These imake papers are available by email; mail a message body of "send imake-stuff help" to almanac@primate.wisc.edu. They are also available by gopher to gopher.primate.wisc.edu under "Primate Center Software Archives". - see "System Administration - Imake: Friend or Foe?" by Dinah McNutt in the November 1991 issue of SunExpert. - German readers should expect in June 1992 an article "Das Meta-Make / I make, you make / Schwerelos" by Rainer Klute in "iX Multiuser-Multitasking-Magazin", directed at application programmers needing to write Imakefiles. An English-language derivative of this article is in The X Journal, issue 2:1. - The O'Reilly X Resource issue #2 contains Paul Davey's article on demystifying Imake. - Alain Brossard's working document full of tips on Imake is in sasun1.epfl.ch:pub/imakefile.1.Z. - O'Reilly has published (7/93) "Software Portability with imake" by Paul DuBois; ISBN 1-56592-055-4. The book's electronic examples and additional software are on ftp.primate.wisc.edu in pub/imake-book; imake.tar.Z is a stand-alone imake installation. [1/91;12/91;5/92;8/92;7/93] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 116) Where can I get imake? Versions are distributed with the R4, R5, and R6 releases. An earlier version is distributed with the X11R3 release; some third-party toolkits redistribute versions of imake along with their own implementations of the template and configuration files. There are no real standards for such configuration files, although most *current* contributed software expects the templates distributed with X11R5. ftp.x.org contains the R5 distribution unpacked, so you can pick up imake without picking up the entire distribution. A stand-alone version of Imake, but one stemming from X11R5, is in ftp.germany.eu.net:pub/X11/misc/imake/imake-pure.tar.Z (192.76.144.75). A stand-alone version of Imake, but one stemming from X11R5, is in ftp.primate.wisc.edu:pub/imake-book/imake.tar.Z. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 117) I have a program with an Imakefile but no Makefile. What to do? If you have R4 or later installed on your system, run "xmkmf". This is a script which runs imake for you with the correct arguments. The output is a Makefile configured for your system and based on the Imakefile. Then run make, which will use that new Makefile to compile the program. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 118) Why can't I link to the Xlib shape routines? When I try to compile certain programs, I get the following link error: Undefined: _XShapeQueryExtension _XShapeCombineMask These routines are actually part of the Shape Extension to X (SHAPE) which was introduced in the X11R4 distribution and allows non-rectangular windows. Like the other sample server extensions, the shape extension will only run on a server which supports it. Pre-X11R4 servers, as well as many vendor-supplied servers, do not support the shape extension, in which case they will display rectangular windows anyway. In order to use the shape extension, you must link to the library libXext.a. In the X11R4 distribution, this library and the associated includes will be in the mit/extensions directory. If you do not have these files, do not despair: many freeware programs which use the shape extension can also be compiled without it by removing the -DSHAPE define from the Makefile; you can probably do this and compile successfully against your older vendor-supplied X libraries. [from John B. Melby, melby%yk.fujitsu.co.jp@uunet.uu.net, 3/91] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 119) What are these problems with "_XtInherit not found" on the Sun? When I link a X program that I wrote on a SunOS 4.0.3 or 4.1 machine I get the error "ld.so: symbol not found _XtInherit". What you are seeing is a side-effect of a kludge in the R4 libXt.a to get Sun shared libraries working. Apparently, you can't share a function that is both called and compared, as _XtInherit is. This was handled by putting _XtInherit in the same file as a function that is always used, thereby guaranteeing that it would be loaded -- that is, in Initialize.c, where XtToolkitInitialize() and XtInitialize() reside. These routines would normally be called. You are probably seeing this error because your program is not a normal Xt-based program and does not call XtToolkitInitialize() anywhere. 1) it may be a program that uses Xt functions but never opens a connection to the X server. [OSF/Motif's 1.1.0 UIL had this problem; it called XtMalloc() and other Xt functions.] The solution is to add the call to your program; the function does not have to be executed, just linked in. 2) alternatively, your program doesn't need any Xt functions and is correct in not calling XtToolkitInitialize() -- it may be an Xlib or XView program. In this case, you can remove -lXt from your link command. It should not be necessary to link the shared libraries statically, although this will certainly solve the problem. [from Jordan Hayes (now jordan@MooreNet.COM) and Danny Backx (db@sunbim.be); 11/90] You may also see this error compiling X11R5 programs on a SunOS 4.1.3 machine; be sure to set OSTeenyVersion to 3 in the config/sun.cf file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 120) TOPIC: PROGRAMMING PROBLEMS AND PUZZLES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 121) Why doesn't my program get the keystrokes I select for (sic)? The window manager controls how the input focus is transferred from one window to another. In order to get keystrokes, your program must ask the window manager for the input focus. To do this, you must set up what are called "hints" for the window manager. If your applications is Xlib-based, you can use something like the following: XWMHints wmhints; ... wmhints.flags = InputHint; wmhints.input = True; XSetWMHints(dpy, window, &wmhints) If your application is based on the Xt Intrinsics, you can set the XtNinput resource to be True (as you probably want to in any case); if you don't have source, you can start up the application with the resource '*input:True'. Certain window managers, notably dxwm and olwm, are very picky about having this done. If you are using Sun's OpenWindows olwm, you can also add this resource to your defaults file to use clients that aren't ICCCM-compliant. OpenWindows.FocusLenience: true [mostly courtesy Dave Lemke of NCD and Stuart Marks of Sun] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 122) How do I deiconify a window? To de-iconify a window, map it with XMapWindow(). To iconify a window, use XIconifyWindow(). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 123) How do I figure out what window manager is running? You can't reliably tell; whatever mechanism you could use could be spoofed in any case. For most cases, you shouldn't care which window manager is running, so long as you do things in an ICCCM-conformant manner. There are some cases in which particular window managers are known to do things wrong; checking for particular hints placed on the window by the window manager so that you can sidestep the problem may be appropriate in these cases. Alternatively, it may be appropriate to determine which window manager is running in order to take advantage of specific *added* features (such as olwm's push-pin menus) in order to give your program *added* functionality. Beware of usurping the window manager's functions by providing that functionality even when it is missing; this surely leads to future compatibility problems. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 124) Is there a skeleton X program available? There is no general framework such as the TransSkel program for the Macintosh which handles lots of the odds and ends and overhead of development under a window system and which can be used as a platform for additional development. In X, the problem is typically solved by using an interactive application builder tool or by using cut&paste on existing X applications. Good applications which you might look to manipulate when you want to "test just this one little thing" include contrib/clients/xskel, a simple R4 program that puts up a window and allows sketching in it and offers a starting point for quick hacks, the Xaw examples in the examples/ directory in the R3 and R4 distributions, and the Xlib "Hello World" example in the R3 doc/HelloWorld and R4 doc/tutorials/HelloWorld; an updated version of this program which uses R4 Xlib calls and current ICCCM conventions was posted in 2/90 to comp.windows.x by Glenn Widener of Tektronix. [3/90] In addition, a sample Xt program (for Xaw or Xm) by Rainer Klute showing how to open multiple displays and how to catch a broken display connection is available on ftp.x.org in contrib/mdisp.tar.Z. [4/92] A sample multi-display Xt/Xaw program by Oliver Jones is on ftp.x.org in contrib/MultiUserVote.tar.Z. (See also his article in The X Resource, Issue 3, "Multi-User Application Software Using Xt".) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 125) Why does XtGetValues not work for me (sic)? The XtGetValues interface for retrieving resources from a widget is sensitive to the type of variable. Your code may be doing something like this: { Arg args[3]; int i; int sensitive; /* oops; wrong data type */ i=0; XtSetArg (args[i], XtNsensitive, &sensitive); i++; XtGetValues(widget, args, i ); ... } But XtNsensitive is a Boolean, which on most machines is a single byte; declaring the variable "sensitive" as Boolean works properly. This problem comes up often when using particular toolkits that redefine the Xt types Dimension and Position; code that assumes they are int will have similar problems if those types are actually short. In general: you are safe if you use the actual type of the resource, as it appears in the widget's man page. [11/90] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 126) Why don't XtConfigureWidget/XtResizeWidget/XtMoveWidget work? You're probably trying to use these functions from application code. They should be used only internally to widgets; these functions are for a parent Composite widget to change the geometry of its children. An application which calls XtMoveWidget, for example, effectively defeats geometry negotiation and the Composite parent's internal state (if any) will no longer be correct. (The Xt specification goes into more detail.) The only way for your application to request a geometry change for a widget is to issue an XtSetValues call setting some of the geometry resources. Although this call will result in the widget-internal functions' being called, your application code must use the standard XtSetValues interface or risk the widgets' data becoming corrupted. Note that functions defined in <X11/IntrinsicP.h>, as these are, are typically reserved for use by widgets. Other promising functions, XtMakeGeometryRequest() and XtMakeResizeRequest(), are also for use only by widgets, in this case by a child to request a change from its parent. The Xlib calls XMoveWindow() and XResizeWindow() should similarly be avoided; they shouldn't be used to change XtNx, XtNy, XtNwidth, or XtNheight. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 127) Why isn't there an XtReparentWidget call like XReparentWindow? Although there are various details of the current implementation of the Xt internals which make reparenting difficult, the major reason that no such call exists is that it remains undefined what the set of resources for the "new" widget should be. Resources are typically set based on the location in the instance hierarchy; what resources should change if the instance moves? What should happen to the widget's children? And by the time such semantics are defined, there would probably be little advantage over destroying the old widget and creating a new widget in the correct location with the desired resources, as setting the resources correctly is the majority of work in creating a new widget. Note that reparenting is possible in the OI toolkit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 128) I'm writing a widget and can't use a float as a resource value. Float resources are not portable; the size of the value may be larger than the size of an XtPointer. Try using a pointer to a float instead; the Xaw Scrollbar float resources are handled in this way. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 129) Is this a memory leak in the X11R4 XtDestroyWidget()?! Yes. This is the "unofficial" fix-19 for the X11R4 Destroy.c: *** Destroy.c.1.37 Thu Jul 11 15:41:25 1991 --- lib/Xt/Destroy.c Thu Jul 11 15:42:23 1991 *************** *** 1,4 **** --- 1,5 ---- /* $XConsortium: Destroy.c,v 1.37 90/09/28 10:21:32 swick Exp $ */ + /* Plus unofficial patches in revisions 1.40 and 1.41 */ /*********************************************************** Copyright 1987, 1988 by Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, Massachusetts, *************** *** 221,239 **** */ int i = 0; ! DestroyRec* dr = app->destroy_list; while (i < app->destroy_count) { if (dr->dispatch_level >= dispatch_level) { Widget w = dr->widget; if (--app->destroy_count) bcopy( (char*)(dr+1), (char*)dr, ! app->destroy_count*sizeof(DestroyRec) ); XtPhase2Destroy(w); } else { i++; - dr++; } } } --- 222,245 ---- */ int i = 0; ! DestroyRec* dr; while (i < app->destroy_count) { + + /* XtPhase2Destroy can result in calls to XtDestroyWidget, + * and these could cause app->destroy_list to be reallocated. + */ + + dr = app->destroy_list + i; if (dr->dispatch_level >= dispatch_level) { Widget w = dr->widget; if (--app->destroy_count) bcopy( (char*)(dr+1), (char*)dr, ! (app->destroy_count - i) * sizeof(DestroyRec) ); XtPhase2Destroy(w); } else { i++; } } } [from Donna Converse, converse@x.org] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 130) Is this a memory leak in the X11R4 deletion of work procs?! Apparently the X11R4 NextEvent.c`CallWorkProc fails to properly replace the work proc record back on the free list correctly. if (delete) { w->next = freeWorkRecs; freeWorkRecs = w->next; /* should be =w; */ } ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: 131) Why does the process size of my X programs go up,up,up? Using "ps" may not show any decrease in memory size after a malloc/free pair. With most vendors' implementations of memory managers, the call to free does not return memory to the operating system; it is probably maintained on a free list for the process. In addition, ps may not be an accurate report of current memory usage requirements. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- David B. Lewis faq%craft@uunet.uu.net "Just the FAQs, ma'am." -- Joe Friday -- David B. Lewis Temporarily at but not speaking for ICS day: dbl@ics.com evening: dbl%craft@uunet.uu.net