Re: FVWM: 1.24r -> 2.0.42 upgrade woes

From: Charles Hines <>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 1996 10:23:39 -0400

>>>>> "BAW" == Barry A Warsaw <bwarsaw_at_CNRI.Reston.VA.US> writes:

BAW> I'm new both to fvwm and (just minutes ago) fvwm2. I'd spent the
BAW> last few days moving from ctwm to fvwm and had gotten my
BAW> configuration file (not located at ~/.fvwmrc) just about how I
BAW> wanted it.

Welcome aboard Barry.

BAW> So I decided to pull down version 2 beta and run it with my version 1
BAW> config file: fvwm -f /path/to/my/fvwmrc

Uh oh...I think I know where this is going.

BAW> Whoa! Big problem! The -f command line switch has different
BAW> semantics now. I got a semi-cryptic error from fvwm saying it
BAW> couldn't exec my file. Hmm, I didn't think it should have exec
BAW> permission, but okay, I changed it anyway. Still no good. On top of
BAW> this, fvwm still starts up but with *no way* to exit it! Fortunately
BAW> I start up an XEmacs process too so I can kill fvwm.

BAW> So I guess it's time to read the manpage :-). Sure enough the -f
BAW> option should take a command instead of just a file name. However,
BAW> for backwards compatibility sake, I would suggest that -f have the
BAW> same semantics as for version 1, and that a different switch be used
BAW> for the new semantics.

Yup, I plan to make that change for the next beta release. Actually,
I wanted to get it into 2.0.42, but rushed at the end to get it out
because it was taking so long and neglected to make that change.
2.0.43 will have -f <configfile> like 'normal' and a -cmd <configcmd>
for the alternate method.

BAW> Also, fvwm should have some failsafe exit mechanism that is
BAW> *always* present unless specifically defeated. No matter how
BAW> early the problem in the config file is, there should be a tidy
BAW> way to exit fvwm. These things would help in the conversion
BAW> process.

Actually, I'm trying to figure out why it's locking up when no config
file is available. There are a lot of defaults in there now
(including one menu bound to a button press over the root window which
is just 'Exit FVWM'), and I thought that would be sufficient, but
apparently not since it still doesn't work. I hope to have this
cleared up for the next beta as well though.

BAW> Finally, I have a dual-headed SparcStation, so I tried starting
BAW> up fvwm version 1 with the -s option, on :0.0. Then I tried to
BAW> start up fvwm2 with -d :0.1 -s but it complained that another WM
BAW> was running. Once I use -s, how can I get another window manager
BAW> on my second screen?

Unfortunately I don't have access to any multiple display systems, so
I can't test this out... As I recall though, I think Rob said that
the multiple screen code was lacking some.

What happens if you don't use the -s? Does that work - does fvwm2
control both screens?

And I think that someone else out there on the list has done this
before. Does anyone have any advice/experience/etc with this?

BAW> Please! I don't mean the above to sound ungrateful. I see Chuck
BAW> Hines is the maintainer for fvwm now and that's real cool 'cause he's
BAW> contributed greatly to XEmacs.

Hey, thanks for the ego boost there Barry! Although I think that the
word 'greatly' should be removed from that sentence, especially with
my lack of activity on the current beta...

BAW> In my couple of days of hacking with version 1 I've already kill
BAW> more than one nit I had with ctwm. fvwm is great stuff and I
BAW> look forward to more glowing reports in the future. :-)

And we're glad to have you aboard!

BAW> I'm really psyched about doing more integration with Python and
BAW> the module subsystem (yup, I've seen Jonathan Kelley's fvwmmod.py
BAW> -- again, cool stuff).

Sounds like you'll be making some good contributions then! I've never
played with Python myself, but I know it's gaining in popularity. And
any additional interfaces for modules can only be good for fvwm, I
think. There's some Tcl/Tk ones already, I'd like to make a Perl
interface, and now Python. Pretty cool...

BAW> Thanks for letting me blow off steam!

No problem.

Chuck

*******************************************************************************
Charles K. Hines <chuck_hines_at_vnet.ibm.com>
IBM Logic Synthesis developer [BooleDozer (TM)]
Martial Arts Instructor [Modern Arnis, Presas Style Filipino Martial Arts]

IBM Internal email: "Go back to sleep, Chuck. You're
  hines_at_cold.fishkill.ibm.com, just havin' a nightmare--of course,
  HINESC at FISHKILL, HINESC at FSHVMFK1 we are still in Hell." Gary Larson
*******************************************************************************
--
Visit the official FVWM web page at <URL:http://www.hpc.uh.edu/fvwm/>.
To unsubscribe from the list, send "unsubscribe fvwm" in the body of a
message to majordomo_at_hpc.uh.edu.
To report problems, send mail to fvwm-owner_at_hpc.uh.edu.
Received on Tue Apr 23 1996 - 09:21:31 BST

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Mon Aug 29 2016 - 19:37:58 BST