donn@milton.u.washington.EDU (Donn Cave) (04/19/91)
Is everyone out there in the world of X11 using window managers to start
X applications? There's getting to be a need around here for a better way
to do it, for any or all of the following reasons:
1. most new users don't have what it takes to properly customize their
.*wmrc to add a window menu option, yet this is often the first thing
they need
a. they don't know about window managers and startup files
b. the relevant section is buried among other *wm trivia
c. they don't know that much about X11 command and shell features
d. they don't understand rsh with X, or are insensitive to some of
the fine points of getting a good rsh command.
2. error handling and feedback is pretty poor in the window managers
I've tried. They'll exec your command, but how do they know what
you expect to happen? So, you wait, and if nothing happens you
try again.
3. Switching window managers is painful, particularly if the syntax
of the exec function is different.
4. Local window managers on X terminals have a rough time starting
mainframe clients.
It seems as though the obvious answer would be to write a separate application,
that would take over this job from the window manager. That application could
have ways of knowing about specific typical commands and some host-specific
variations on them. It could know about rsh, and the local population of
X11-capable hosts. It could assist a user with the formulation of a good
command. It could take up extra swap space. Some of this can be seen in
the DECwindows "session manager", but not by any means all. I'd be interested
to hear, incidentally, if there's any precise definition of the term "session
manager".
Has anyone done this, in non-proprietary form? Anyone have any ideas,
apart from the obvious, for features that should be supported? Ideas why
no one should ever conceive of doing anything of the kind?
Donn Cave, University Computing Services, University of Washington
donn@cac.washington.edukimd@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Kim Drongesen) (04/23/91)
There is no really precise definition of a session manager. The only document that comes close to defining session manager responsibilities is the ICCCM (chapter 5). HP's Visual User Environment (HP VUE) tries to address some of the problems you describe. The capabilities are spread across the session manager and the style manager (two of the HP VUE components). Basically, the style manager allows you to set up your session - change colors, backdrops, and other server settings. The session manager then "remembers" settings, as well as which clients need to be started, their state and position. When you log out, and then log back in, your session is restored to the state you left it in. Kim Drongesen kimd@cv.hp.com Hewlett-Packard