Subject: FVWM: what is different - problems executing programs

From: [email-masked] (Stephen Riehm)
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 19:33:45 +0200 (MEZ)

Hi All,

up till now I've only noticed problems when starting Xterm from a
window manager (in my case fvwm2.041) - now I've just installed
ImageMagick - and I can start it from any command prompt (although I
do have a script which sets the LIBPATH so that it can find
libMagick.a - which I can't write to /usr/lib or /lib) - anyway, it
all works fine from the CLI - but when I try to start it from the
window manager - nothing happens.

I've checked that the window manager has the right path (I've even put
in the full path name) and there's no typo's, because I have cut the
command from the .fvwm file and pasted it to my command line, and it
worked just fine.

Is there a logical reason why starting applications from the window
manager seems to be different than starting them from the command
line? Can someone explain it in a way which might lead to a solution
for this problem?

Thanks in advance,

Steve
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From: Jacques Gelinas <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 14:06:20 -0400 (EDT)

> line? Can someone explain it in a way which might lead to a solution

The problem comes from a difference in the environnement seen by the fvwm 
process and all child. Quite often we execute xterm with the -ls option, 
forcing a read of .profile (or whatever your shell is using).

I have experienced difference between using "startx" on Linux for example 
and starting using xdm. Ultimatly, some PATH may not be setuped properly 
for fvwm.

--------------------------------------------------------
Jacques Gelinas ([email-masked])
Use Linux without reformating: Use UMSDOS.

---

From: Hal DeVore <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 12:08:56 -0500

>>>>> "Stephen" == Stephen Riehm <[email-masked]> writes:

    Stephen> Is there a logical reason why starting applications from
    Stephen> the window manager seems to be different than starting
    Stephen> them from the command line? Can someone explain it in a
    Stephen> way which might lead to a solution for this problem?

Sure.  The window manager's environment (i.e., PATH, DISPLAY, and any
other environment variable) isn't necessarily set up the same as "the
CLI" (by which I assume you mean from an xterm or other "terminal
emulator" window).

What operating system are you running under, how do you start your X
server, how does your window manager get started.  Sort your way thru
what you do to get the window manager up so you can figure out it's
environment.  Then think about what gets run to get your "CLI" up.
Figure out what's different.  

Most likely candidate would be DISPLAY (unless you're providing
that... see FVWM man page and search for HOSTDISPLAY), next most
likely would be PATH.  Next most likely would depend on what OS you're
using.

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From: "Georg Hager" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 1996 10:58:30 -0600

Hi all!

On Apr 15, 12:08pm, Hal DeVore wrote:
> Subject: Re: FVWM: what is different - problems executing programs

I've had the same problem, and the cure was to set the environment in .xsession
before anything else happens. This is my .xsession file:

---------------------
#!/bin/sh

{ eval `/usr/bin/X11/userenv` && echo "Use full userenvironement"; }||
{ PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin:/usr/local/bin/X11 && export PATH && echo "Use
simple path extension"; }

/home/btp426/bin/fvwm95-2 &
xhost +
[.....]
exec /usr/bin/X11/reaper
----------------------

The reason for this somewhat weird construct is that the `eval' thing sometimes
doesn't work for reasons I don't know (I use IRIX 5.3 and Xsgi).

Hope this helps,
Georg.

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