salzman%gaucho@RAND.ORG (Isaac) (06/03/90)
There has been some recent discussion on this subject. For instance: >crdgw1!montnaro@uunet.uu.net (Skip Montanaro) writes: > >The problems identified by Chris Quenelle (<9005291632.AA06491@ssiwest.com>) >regarding LD_LIBRARY_PATH are only part of the problem related to multiple >window systems on Suns. At GE CRD users can choose between Suntools, Quest >X11R3, MIT X11R3, MIT X11R4, and Sun's OpenWindows. Some people (like >myself) go back and forth between two or three of them with some regularity. We have the same problem here. We run OpenWindows (various versions, including very recent betas), MIT X11R4, Suntools, Sundesk (the suntools OPEN LOOK deskset stuff), and (I hate to admit it) X10 (don't ask why). I've set up something that's worked quite well for our environment. It's a combination of csh aliases, shell scripts and a C program called 'setpath'. Basically you 'source /usr/local/lib/xaliases.csh' in your .cshrc, type one of 'x11', 'x11news', 'x10', or 'suntools' and you're off and running. I've uploaded my scripts and 'setpath' to expo.lcs.mit.edu in contrib/sun-xaliases.shar.Z. I'll eventually post this stuff to comp.sources.x when I get an Imakefile for it and do some other cleaning up. Included in the distribution are man pages for the scripts and aliases and setpath, a README, INSTALL doc, and a text file describing the included system.twmrc file (writing the manuals took longer than writing the scripts! :-( The aliases hack your path's (PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, MANPATH), set some environment variables (e.g. XVERSION for the type of server you're running), and run a script called 'xstart'. xstart looks at XVERSION and other things to figure out what to do next. It eventually starts xinit with the proper server arg's and uses a script 'xsetup' as the xinit client. xsetup checks for one of several init files: .xsetup, .x1[10]setup, .openwin-init, .xinitrc depending on what XVERSION is set to. A .xsetup file is like a .xinitrc except that there's no 'last command' - xsetup provides one for you (xterm -C ...). The purpose of that is to make .xsetup more like a .suntools file, so people that are comming from suntools don't go into culture shock. .xsetup will be read for MIT X11R4 or OpenWindows. If you want seperate init files you can use .x11setup or .openwin-init. If it finds a .xinitrc (and no .xsetup files exist) it will use that - and behave just as if you typed 'xinit' - so people with already configured environments (e.g. people who already know what they're doing) don't get hosed. Besides dealing with the path problems, the scripts also provide a default environment for first timers that have no dot files. A system.xsetup file is read for that purpose - and you can put what you want in there (I have an xterm, console xterm and twm - better than what 'xinit' alone gives). The magic behind getting the path's setup properly is a little program I hacked together called 'setpath' - inspired by a builtin function of the CMU version of csh that comes with the MACH 2.0 distribution. It's used like tset - with eval in backquotes. You can string up as many path edits as you want in one command. If you're adding a path element (or inserting it somewhere in the middle), it removes it first then adds it (to insure ordering is as intended - and to avoid duplicates!!!). Here's an example of how it's used in xaliases (you'll get the idea): alias setx11 'eval `setpath remove /usr/local/X10/bin '\ 'remove $OPENWINHOME/bin '\ 'remove $SUNDESK/bin '\ 'add +/usr/local/bin /usr/local/X11/bin'\ 'add -/usr/local/X11/bin $ANDREWDIR/bin' \ 'add -/usr/local/X11/bin $GUIDEHOME/bin'\ 'add -/usr/local/X11/bin $OPENWINHOME/bin/xview`; '\ 'eval `setpath -e LD_LIBRARY_PATH '\ 'add +/usr/local/lib /usr/local/X11/lib '\ 'add -/usr/local/X11/lib $OPENWINHOME/lib` ; '\ 'alias X x11; ' \ 'setenv XVERSION X11' alias _runx '/bin/rm -f ~/,xerrs ; /usr/local/bin/xstart \!* >& ~/,xerrs' alias x11 'setx11; _runx' there are similar aliases for x11news, suntools, etc. If you play with the stuff I've uploaded to expo, please send e-mail and let me know what you think. All suggestions, criticisms, etc. are welcome. Enjoy! -- * Isaac J. Salzman ---- * The RAND Corporation - Information Sciences Dept. /o o/ / * 1700 Main St., PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90406-2138 | v | | * AT&T : +1 213-393-0411 x6421 or x7923 (ISL lab) _| |_/ * Internet : salzman@rand.org / | | * UUCP : !uunet!rand.org!salzman | | |