3 This file describes various problems that have been encountered
4 in compiling, installing and running XEmacs. It has been updated for
7 This file is rather large, but we have tried to sort the entries by
8 their respective relevance for XEmacs, but may have not succeeded
9 completely in that task. The file is divided into four parts:
11 - Problems with building XEmacs
12 - Problems with running XEmacs
13 - Compatibility problems
16 Use `C-c C-f' to move to the next equal level of outline, and
17 `C-c C-b' to move to previous equal level. `C-h m' will give more
18 info about the Outline mode.
20 Also, Try finding the things you need using one of the search commands
21 XEmacs provides (e.g. `C-s').
24 WATCH OUT for .emacs file! ~/.emacs is your Emacs init file. If
25 you observe strange problems, invoke XEmacs with the `-q' option
26 and see if you can repeat the problem.
29 * Problems with building XEmacs
30 ===============================
33 *** Don't use -O2 with gcc 2.8.1 and egcs 1.0 under SPARC architectures
34 without also using `-fno-schedule-insns'.
36 gcc will generate incorrect code otherwise, typically resulting in
37 crashes in the function skip-syntax-backward.
41 There have been reports of egcs-1.1 not compiling XEmacs correctly on
42 Alpha Linux. There have also been reports that egcs-1.0.3a is O.K.
44 *** Don't use -O2 or -O3 with Cygwin 1.0, CodeFusion-99070 or gcc 2.7.2 on x86
45 without also using `-fno-strength-reduce'.
47 gcc will generate incorrect code otherwise. This bug is present in at
48 least 2.6.x and 2.7.[0-2]. This bug has been fixed in GCC 2.7.2.1 and
49 later. This bug is O/S independent, but is limited to x86 architectures.
51 This problem is known to be fixed in egcs (or pgcc) 1.0 or later.
53 Unfortunately, later releases of Cygnus-released compilers (not the
54 Net-released ones) have a bug with the same `problem signature'.
56 If you're lucky, you'll get an error while compiling that looks like:
58 event-stream.c:3189: internal error--unrecognizable insn:
59 (insn 256 14 15 (set (reg/v:SI 24)
60 (minus:SI (reg/v:SI 25)
61 (const_int 2))) -1 (insn_list 11 (nil))
65 If you're unlucky, your code will simply execute incorrectly.
67 *** Don't use gcc-2.95.2 with -mcpu=ultrasparc on Solaris 2.6.
69 gcc will assume a 64-bit operating system, even though you've
70 merely told it to assume a 64-bit instruction set.
72 *** Don't use -O2 with gcc 2.7.2 under Intel architectures without also
73 using `-fno-caller-saves'.
75 gcc will generate incorrect code otherwise. This bug is still
76 present in gcc 2.7.2.3. There have been no reports to indicate the
77 bug is present in egcs 1.0 (or pgcc 1.0) or later. This bug is O/S
78 independent, but limited to x86 architectures.
80 This problem is known to be fixed in egcs (or pgcc) 1.0 or later.
82 *** When using gcc, you get the error message "undefined symbol __fixunsdfsi".
83 When using gcc, you get the error message "undefined symbol __main".
85 This means that you need to link with the gcc library. It may be called
86 "gcc-gnulib" or "libgcc.a"; figure out where it is, and define LIB_GCC in
87 config.h to point to it.
89 It may also work to use the GCC version of `ld' instead of the standard one.
91 *** Excessive optimization with pgcc can break XEmacs
93 It has been reported on some systems that compiling with -O6 can lead
94 to XEmacs failures. The workaround is to use a lower optimization
95 level. -O2 and -O4 have been tested extensively.
97 All of this depends heavily on the version of pgcc and the version
98 of libc. Snapshots near the release of pgcc-1.0 have been tested
99 extensively and no sign of breakage has been seen on systems using
102 *** src/Makefile and lib-src/Makefile are truncated--most of the file missing.
104 This can happen if configure uses GNU sed version 2.03. That version
105 had a bug. GNU sed version 2.05 works properly.
107 *** When compiling with X11, you get "undefined symbol _XtStrings".
109 This means that you are trying to link emacs against the X11r4 version of
110 libXt.a, but you have compiled either Emacs or the code in the lwlib
111 subdirectory with the X11r5 header files. That doesn't work.
113 Remember, you can't compile lwlib for r4 and emacs for r5, or vice versa.
114 They must be in sync.
116 *** test-distrib says that the distribution has been clobbered
117 or, temacs prints "Command key out of range 0-127"
118 or, temacs runs and dumps xemacs, but xemacs totally fails to work.
119 or, temacs gets errors dumping xemacs
121 This can be because the .elc files have been garbled. Do not be
122 fooled by the fact that most of a .elc file is text: these are binary
123 files and can contain all 256 byte values.
125 In particular `shar' cannot be used for transmitting GNU Emacs. It
126 typically truncates "lines". (this does not apply to GNU shar, which
127 uses uuencode to encode binary files.)
129 If you have a copy of Emacs that has been damaged in its nonprinting
130 characters, you can fix them by running:
134 This will rebuild all the needed .elc files.
136 *** `compress' and `uncompress' not found and XFree86
138 XFree86 installs a very old version of libz.a by default ahead of where
139 more modern version of libz might be installed. This will cause problems
140 when attempting to link against libMagick. The fix is to remove the old
141 libz.a in the X11 binary directory.
145 *** On AIX 4.3, you must specify --with-dialogs=athena with configure
147 *** The libXt shipped with AIX 4.3 is broken. This causes xemacs -nw
148 to fail in various ways. The solution is to build against stock
151 *** On AIX, you get this compiler error message:
153 Processing include file ./XMenuInt.h
154 1501-106: (S) Include file X11/Xlib.h not found.
156 This means your system was installed with only the X11 runtime i.d
157 libraries. You have to find your sipo (bootable tape) and install
160 *** On AIX 4.1.2, linker error messages such as
161 ld: 0711-212 SEVERE ERROR: Symbol .__quous, found in the global symbol table
162 of archive /usr/lib/libIM.a, was not defined in archive member shr.o.
164 This is a problem in libIM.a. You can work around it by executing
165 these shell commands in the src subdirectory of the directory where
168 cp /usr/lib/libIM.a .
172 Then change -lIM to ./libIM.a in the command to link temacs (in
175 *** Excessive optimization on AIX 4.2 can lead to compiler failure.
177 Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu writes:
178 At least at the b34 level, and the latest-and-greatest IBM xlc
179 (3.1.4.4), there are problems with -O3. I haven't investigated
184 *** Link failure when using acc on a Sun.
186 To use acc, you need additional options just before the libraries, such as
188 /usr/lang/SC2.0.1/values-Xt.o -L/usr/lang/SC2.0.1/cg87 -L/usr/lang/SC2.0.1
190 and you need to add -lansi just before -lc.
192 The precise file names depend on the compiler version, so we
193 cannot easily arrange to supply them.
195 *** Problems finding X11 libraries on Solaris with Openwindows
197 Some users have reported problems in this area. The reported solution
198 is to define the environment variable OPENWINHOME, even if you must set
199 it to `/usr/openwin'.
201 *** Sed problems on Solaris 2.5
203 There have been reports of Sun sed truncating very lines in the
204 Makefile during configuration. The workaround is to use GNU sed or,
205 even better, think of a better way to generate Makefile, and send us a
208 *** On Solaris 2 I get undefined symbols from libcurses.a.
210 You probably have /usr/ucblib/ on your LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Do the link with
211 LD_LIBRARY_PATH unset. Generally, avoid using any ucb* stuff when
214 *** On Solaris 2 I cannot make alloc.o, glyphs.o or process.o.
216 The SparcWorks C compiler may have difficulty building those modules
217 with optimization level -xO4. Try using only "-fast" optimization
218 for just those modules. (Or use gcc).
220 *** Solaris 2.3 /bin/sh coredumps during configuration.
222 This only occurs if you have LANG != C. This is a known bug with
223 /bin/sh fixed by installing Patch-ID# 101613-01. Or, you can use
224 bash, as a workaround.
226 *** On SunOS, you get linker errors
228 _get_wmShellWidgetClass
229 _get_applicationShellWidgetClass
231 The fix to this is to install patch 100573 for OpenWindows 3.0
232 or link libXmu statically.
234 *** On Sunos 4, you get the error ld: Undefined symbol __lib_version.
236 This is the result of using cc or gcc with the shared library meant
237 for acc (the Sunpro compiler). Check your LD_LIBRARY_PATH and delete
238 /usr/lang/SC2.0.1 or some similar directory.
240 *** Undefined symbols when linking on Sunos 4.1.
242 If you get the undefined symbols _atowc _wcslen, _iswprint, _iswspace,
243 _iswcntrl, _wcscpy, and _wcsncpy, then you need to add -lXwchar after
244 -lXaw in the command that links temacs.
246 This problem seems to arise only when the international language
247 extensions to X11R5 are installed.
249 *** On a Sun running SunOS 4.1.1, you get this error message from GNU ld:
251 /lib/libc.a(_Q_sub.o): Undefined symbol __Q_get_rp_rd referenced from text segment
253 The problem is in the Sun shared C library, not in GNU ld.
255 The solution is to install Patch-ID# 100267-03 from Sun.
257 *** SunOS 4.1.2: undefined symbol _get_wmShellWidgetClass
259 Apparently the version of libXmu.so.a that Sun ships is hosed: it's missing
260 some stuff that is in libXmu.a (the static version). Sun has a patch for
261 this, but a workaround is to use the static version of libXmu, by changing
262 the link command from "-lXmu" to "-Bstatic -lXmu -Bdynamic". If you have
263 OpenWindows 3.0, ask Sun for these patches:
264 100512-02 4.1.x OpenWindows 3.0 libXt Jumbo patch
265 100573-03 4.1.x OpenWindows 3.0 undefined symbols with shared libXmu
267 *** Random other SunOS 4.1.[12] link errors.
269 The X headers and libraries that Sun ships in /usr/{include,lib}/X11 are
270 broken. Use the ones in /usr/openwin/{include,lib} instead.
273 *** Under Linux, you get "too many arguments to function `getpgrp'".
275 You have probably installed LessTiff under `/usr/local' and `libXm.so'
276 could not be found when linking `getpgrp()' test program, making XEmacs
277 think that `getpgrp()' takes an argument. Try adding `/usr/local/lib'
278 in `/etc/ld.so.conf' and run `ldconfig'. Then run XEmacs's `configure'
279 again. As with all problems of this type, reading the config.log file
280 generated from configure and seeing the log of how the test failed can
283 *** `Error: No ExtNode to pop!' on Linux systems with Lesstif.
285 This error message has been observed with lesstif-0.75a. It does not
286 appear to cause any harm.
288 *** xemacs: can't resolve symbol '__malloc_hook'
290 This is a Linux problem where you've compiled the XEmacs binary on a libc
291 5.4 with version higher than 5.4.19 and attempted to run the binary against
292 an earlier version. The solution is to upgrade your old library.
295 *** Linking with -rpath on IRIX.
297 Darrell Kindred <dkindred@cmu.edu> writes:
298 There are a couple of problems [with use of -rpath with Irix ld], though:
300 1. The ld in IRIX 5.3 ignores all but the last -rpath
301 spec, so the patched configure spits out a warning
302 if --x-libraries or --site-runtime-libraries are
303 specified under irix 5.x, and it only adds -rpath
304 entries for the --site-runtime-libraries. This bug was
305 fixed sometime between 5.3 and 6.2.
307 2. IRIX gcc 2.7.2 doesn't accept -rpath directly, so
308 it would have to be prefixed by -Xlinker or "-Wl,".
309 This would be fine, except that configure compiles with
310 ${CC-cc} $CFLAGS $LDFLAGS ...
311 rather than quoting $LDFLAGS with prefix-args, like
312 src/Makefile does. So if you specify --x-libraries
313 or --site-runtime-libraries, you must use --use-gcc=no,
314 or configure will fail.
316 *** On Irix 6.3, the SGI ld quits with segmentation fault when linking temacs
318 This occurs if you use the SGI linker version 7.1. Installing the
319 patch SG0001872 fixes this problem.
321 *** On Irix 6.0, make tries (and fails) to build a program named unexelfsgi
323 A compiler bug inserts spaces into the string "unexelfsgi . o"
324 in src/Makefile. Edit src/Makefile, after configure is run,
325 find that string, and take out the spaces.
327 Compiler fixes in Irix 6.0.1 should eliminate this problem.
329 *** On Irix 5.2, unexelfsgi.c can't find cmplrs/stsupport.h.
331 The file cmplrs/stsupport.h was included in the wrong file set in the
332 Irix 5.2 distribution. You can find it in the optional fileset
333 compiler_dev, or copy it from some other Irix 5.2 system. A kludgy
334 workaround is to change unexelfsgi.c to include sym.h instead of
337 *** Coredumping in Irix 6.2
339 Pete Forman <gsez020@compo.bedford.waii.com> writes:
340 A problem noted by myself and others (I've lost the references) was
341 that XEmacs coredumped when the cut or copy toolbar buttons were
342 pressed. This has been fixed by loading the SGI patchset (Feb 98)
343 without having to recompile XEmacs.
345 My versions are XEmacs 20.3 (problem first noted in 19.15) and IRIX
346 6.2, compiled using -n32. I'd guess that the relevant individual
347 patch was "SG0002580: multiple fixes for X libraries". SGI recommends
348 that the complete patch set be installed rather than parts of it.
350 ** Digital UNIX/OSF/VMS
351 *** On Digital UNIX, the DEC C compiler might have a problem compiling
354 In particular, src/extents.c and src/faces.c might cause the DEC C
355 compiler to abort. When this happens: cd src, compile the files by
356 hand, cd .., and redo the "make" command. When recompiling the files by
357 hand, use the old C compiler for the following versions of Digital UNIX:
358 - V3.n: Remove "-migrate" from the compile command.
359 - V4.n: Add "-oldc" to the compile command.
361 A related compiler bug has been fixed by the DEC compiler team. The
362 new versions of the compiler should run fine.
364 *** Under some versions of OSF XEmacs runs fine if built without
365 optimization but will crash randomly if built with optimization.
367 Using 'cc -g' is not sufficient to eliminate all optimization. Try
370 *** Compilation errors on VMS.
372 Sorry, XEmacs does not work under VMS. You might consider working on
373 the port if you really want to have XEmacs work under VMS.
376 *** On HPUX, the HP C compiler might have a problem compiling some files
379 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
381 Had to drop once again to level 2 optimization, at least to
382 compile lstream.c. Otherwise, I get a "variable is void: \if"
383 problem while dumping (this is a problem I already reported
384 with vanilla hpux 10.01 and 9.07, which went away after
385 applying patches for the C compiler). Trouble is I still
386 haven't found the same patch for hpux 10.10, and I don't
387 remember the patch numbers. I think potential XEmacs builders
388 on HP should be warned about this.
390 *** I don't have `xmkmf' and `imake' on my HP.
392 You can get these standard X tools by anonymous FTP to
393 hpcvaaz.cv.hp.com. Essentially all X programs need these.
395 *** On HP-UX, problems with make
397 Marcus Thiessel <marcus@xemacs.org>
399 Some releases of XEmacs (e.g. 20.4) require GNU make to build
400 successfully. You don't need GNU make when building 21.x.
402 *** On HP-UX 9.05 XEmacs won't compile or coredump during the build.
404 Marcus Thiessel <marcus@xemacs.org>
406 This might be a sed problem. For your own safety make sure to use
407 GNU sed while dumping XEmacs.
409 *** On HP-UX 11.0 XEmacs causes excessive X11 errors when running.
410 (also appears on AIX as reported in comp.emacs.xemacs)
412 Marcus Thiessel <marcus@xemacs.org>
414 Unfortunately, XEmacs releases prior to 21.0 don't work with
415 Motif2.1. It will compile but you will get excessive X11 errors like
417 xemacs: X Error of failed request: BadGC (invalid GC parameter)
419 and finally XEmacs gets killed. A workaround is to use the
420 Motif1.2_R6 libraries. You can the following line to your call to
423 --x-libraries="/usr/lib/Motif1.2_R6 -L/usr/lib/X11R6"
425 Make sure /usr/lib/Motif1.2_R6/libXm.sl is a link to
426 /usr/lib/Motif1.2_R6/libXm.3.
428 *** On HP-UX 11.0: Object "" does not have windowed ancestor
430 Marcus Thiessel <marcus@xemacs.org>
432 XEmacs dies without core file and reports:
434 Error: Object "" does not have windowed ancestor.
436 This is a bug. Please apply the patch PHSS_19964 (check if
437 superseded). The other alternative is to link with Motif1.2_R6 (see
442 *** Native cc on SCO OpenServer 5 is now OK. Icc may still throw you
443 a curve. Here is what Robert Lipe <robertl@arnet.com> says:
445 Unlike XEmacs 19.13, building with the native cc on SCO OpenServer 5
446 now produces a functional binary. I will typically build this
447 configuration for COFF with:
449 /path_to_xemacs_source/configure --with-gcc=no \
450 --site-includes=/usr/local/include --site-libraries=/usr/local/lib \
451 --with-xpm --with-xface --with-sound=nas
453 This version now supports ELF builds. I highly recommend this to
454 reduce the in-core footprint of XEmacs. This is now how I compile
455 all my test releases. Build it like this:
457 /path_to_XEmacs_source/configure --with-gcc=no \
458 --site-includes=/usr/local/include --site-libraries=/usr/local/lib \
459 --with-xpm --with-xface --with-sound=nas --dynamic
461 The compiler known as icc [ supplied with the OpenServer 5 Development
462 System ] generates a working binary, but it takes forever to generate
463 XEmacs. ICC also whines more about the code than /bin/cc does. I do
464 believe all its whining is legitimate, however. Note that you do
465 have to 'cd src ; make LD=icc' to avoid linker errors.
467 The way I handle the build procedure is:
469 /path_to_XEmacs_source/configure --with-gcc=no \
470 --site-includes=/usr/local/include --site-libraries=/usr/local/lib \
471 --with-xpm --with-xface --with-sound=nas --dynamic --compiler="icc"
473 NOTE I have the xpm, xface, and audio libraries and includes in
474 /usr/local/lib, /usr/local/include. If you don't have these,
475 don't include the "--with-*" arguments in any of my examples.
477 In previous versions of XEmacs, you had to override the defaults while
478 compiling font-lock.o and extents.o when building with icc. This seems
479 to no longer be true, but I'm including this old information in case it
480 resurfaces. The process I used was:
483 [ procure pizza, beer, repeat ]
485 make CC="icc -W0,-mP1COPT_max_tree_size=3000" font-lock.o extents.o
488 If you want sound support, get the tls566 supplement from
489 ftp.sco.com:/TLS or any of its mirrors. It works just groovy
492 The M-x manual-entry is known not to work. If you know Lisp and would
493 like help in making it work, e-mail me at <robertl@dgii.com>.
494 (UNCHECKED for 19.15 -- it might work).
496 In earlier releases, gnuserv/gnuclient/gnudoit would open a frame
497 just fine, but the client would lock up and the server would
498 terminate when you used C-x # to close the frame. This is now
501 In etc/ there are two files of note. emacskeys.sco and emacsstrs.sco.
502 The comments at the top of emacskeys.sco describe its function, and
503 the emacstrs.sco is a suitable candidate for /usr/lib/keyboard/strings
504 to take advantage of the keyboard map in emacskeys.sco.
506 Note: Much of the above entry is probably not valid for XEmacs 21.0
510 *** In general use etc/check_cygwin_setup.sh to trap environment problems.
512 The script etc/check_cygwin_setup.sh will attempt to detect whether
513 you have a suitable environment for building. This script may not work
514 correctly if you are using ash instead of bash (see below).
516 *** X11 not detected.
518 This is usually because xmkmf is not in your path or because you are
519 using the default cygwin shell. The default cygwin shell (/bin/sh.exe)
520 is ash which appears to work in most circumstances but has some wierd
521 failure modes. I recommend replacing sh.exe with bash.exe, this will
522 mean configure is slower but more reliable.
524 *** Subprocesses do not work.
526 You do not have "tty" in your CYGWIN32 (for b19) or CYGWIN (for b20)
527 environment variable. This must be set in your autoexec.bat (win95) or
528 the system properties (winnt) as it must be read before the cygwin dll
531 *** ^G does not work on hung subprocesses.
533 This is a known problem. It can be remedied with cygwin b20 or greater
534 by defining BROKEN_SIGIO in src/s/cygwin32.h, however this currently
535 leads to instability in XEmacs.
537 *** The XEmacs executable crashes at startup.
539 This can be caused by many things.
541 If you are running with X11 you need to have cygwin b19 or cygwin
542 b20.1 or greater, cygwin b20 will not work.
544 If you are running with cygwin b19 make sure you are using egcs 1.0.2
545 rather than vanilla gcc. XEmacs builds by default with -O3 which does
546 not work with the gcc that ships with b19. Alternatively use -O2.
548 *** The info files will not build.
550 makeinfo that ships with cygwin (all versions) is a noop. You need to
551 obtain makeinfo from somewhere or build it yourself.
553 *** I have no graphics.
555 You need to obtain the various graphics libraries. Pre-built versions
556 of these and the X libraries are located on the XEmacs website in
557 ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/aux/cygwin*.
559 *** There are no images in the toolbar buttons.
561 You need version 4.71 of commctrl.dll which does not ship with windows
562 95. You can get this by installing IE 4.0 or downloading it from the
566 * Problems with running XEmacs
567 ==============================
569 *** C-z just refreshes the screen instead of suspending Emacs.
571 You are probably using a shell that doesn't support job control, even
572 though the system itself is capable of it. Try using a different
575 *** You type Control-H (Backspace) expecting to delete characters.
577 Emacs has traditionally used Control-H for help; unfortunately this
578 interferes with its use as Backspace on TTY's. As of XEmacs 21,
579 XEmacs looks at the "erase" setting of TTY structures and maps C-h to
580 backspace when erase is set to C-h. This is sort of a special hack,
581 but it makes it possible for you to use the standard:
585 to get your backspace key to erase characters. The erase setting is
586 recorded in the Lisp variable `tty-erase-char', which you can use to
587 tune the settings in your .emacs.
589 A major drawback of this is that when C-h becomes backspace, it no
590 longer invokes help. In that case, you need to use f1 for help, or
591 bind another key. An example of the latter is the following code,
592 which moves help to Meta-? (ESC ?):
594 (global-set-key "\M-?" 'help-command)
596 *** Mail agents (VM, Gnus, rmail) cannot get new mail
598 rmail and VM get new mail from /usr/spool/mail/$USER using a program
599 called `movemail'. This program interlocks with /bin/mail using the
600 protocol defined by /bin/mail.
602 There are two different protocols in general use. One of them uses
603 the `flock' system call. The other involves creating a lock file;
604 `movemail' must be able to write in /usr/spool/mail in order to do
605 this. You control which one is used by defining, or not defining, the
606 macro MAIL_USE_FLOCK in config.h or the m- or s- file it includes. IF
607 YOU DON'T USE THE FORM OF INTERLOCKING THAT IS NORMAL ON YOUR SYSTEM,
610 If your system uses the lock file protocol, and fascist restrictions
611 prevent ordinary users from writing the lock files in /usr/spool/mail,
612 you may need to make `movemail' setgid to a suitable group such as
613 `mail'. To do this, use the following commands (as root) after doing
619 Installation normally copies movemail from the build directory to an
620 installation directory which is usually under /usr/local/lib. The
621 installed copy of movemail is usually in the directory
622 /usr/local/lib/emacs/VERSION/TARGET. You must change the group and
623 mode of the installed copy; changing the group and mode of the build
624 directory copy is ineffective.
626 *** VM appears to hang in large folders.
628 This is normal (trust us) when upgrading to VM-6.22 from earlier
629 versions. Let VM finish what it is doing and all will be well.
631 *** Changes made to .el files do not take effect.
633 You may have forgotten to recompile them into .elc files. Then the
634 old .elc files will be loaded, and your changes will not be seen. To
635 fix this, do `M-x byte-recompile-directory' and specify the directory
636 that contains the Lisp files.
638 Note that you will get a warning when loading a .elc file that is
639 older than the corresponding .el file.
641 *** Things which should be bold or italic (such as the initial
642 copyright notice) are not.
644 The fonts of the "bold" and "italic" faces are generated from the font
645 of the "default" face; in this way, your bold and italic fonts will
646 have the appropriate size and family. However, emacs can only be
647 clever in this way if you have specified the default font using the
648 XLFD (X Logical Font Description) format, which looks like
650 *-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*
652 if you use any of the other, less strict font name formats, some of
655 lucidasanstypewriter-12
659 then emacs won't be able to guess the names of the "bold" and "italic"
660 versions. All X fonts can be referred to via XLFD-style names, so you
661 should use those forms. See the man pages for X(1), xlsfonts(1), and
664 *** The dumped Emacs crashes when run, trying to write pure data.
666 Two causes have been seen for such problems.
668 1) On a system where getpagesize is not a system call, it is defined
669 as a macro. If the definition (in both unexec.c and malloc.c) is wrong,
670 it can cause problems like this. You might be able to find the correct
671 value in the man page for a.out (5).
673 2) Some systems allocate variables declared static among the
674 initialized variables. Emacs makes all initialized variables in most
675 of its files pure after dumping, but the variables declared static and
676 not initialized are not supposed to be pure. On these systems you
677 may need to add "#define static" to the m- or the s- file.
679 *** Reading and writing files is very very slow.
681 Try evaluating the form (setq lock-directory nil) and see if that helps.
682 There is a problem with file-locking on some systems (possibly related
683 to NFS) that I don't understand. Please send mail to the address
684 xemacs@xemacs.org if you figure this one out.
686 *** When emacs starts up, I get lots of warnings about unknown keysyms.
688 If you are running the prebuilt binaries, the Motif library expects to find
689 certain thing in the XKeysymDB file. This file is normally in /usr/lib/X11/
690 or in /usr/openwin/lib/. If you keep yours in a different place, set the
691 environment variable $XKEYSYMDB to point to it before starting emacs. If
692 you still have the problem after doing that, perhaps your version of X is
693 too old. There is a copy of the MIT X11R5 XKeysymDB file in the emacs `etc'
694 directory. Try using that one.
696 *** My X resources used to work, and now some of them are being ignored.
698 Check the resources in .../etc/Emacs.ad (which is the same as the file
699 sample.Xdefaults). Perhaps some of the default resources built in to
700 emacs are now overriding your existing resources. Copy and edit the
701 resources in Emacs.ad as necessary.
703 *** I have focus problems when I use `M-o' to switch to another screen
704 without using the mouse.
706 The focus issues with a program like XEmacs, which has multiple
707 homogeneous top-level windows, are very complicated, and as a result,
708 most window managers don't implement them correctly.
710 The R4/R5 version of twm (and all of its descendants) had buggy focus
711 handling. Sufficiently recent versions of tvtwm have been fixed. In
712 addition, if you're using twm, make sure you have not specified
713 "NoTitleFocus" in your .tvtwmrc file. The very nature of this option
714 makes twm do some illegal focus tricks, even with the patch.
716 It is known that olwm and olvwm are buggy, and in different ways. If
717 you're using click-to-type mode, try using point-to-type, or vice
720 In older versions of NCDwm, one could not even type at XEmacs windows.
721 This has been fixed in newer versions (2.4.3, and possibly earlier).
723 (Many people suggest that XEmacs should warp the mouse when focusing
724 on another screen in point-to-type mode. This is not ICCCM-compliant
725 behavior. Implementing such policy is the responsibility of the
726 window manager itself, it is not legal for a client to do this.)
728 *** Emacs spontaneously displays "I-search: " at the bottom of the screen.
730 This means that Control-S/Control-Q (XON/XOFF) "flow control" is being
731 used. C-s/C-q flow control is bad for Emacs editors because it takes
732 away C-s and C-q as user commands. Since editors do not output long
733 streams of text without user commands, there is no need for a
734 user-issuable "stop output" command in an editor; therefore, a
735 properly designed flow control mechanism would transmit all possible
736 input characters without interference. Designing such a mechanism is
737 easy, for a person with at least half a brain.
739 There are three possible reasons why flow control could be taking place:
741 1) Terminal has not been told to disable flow control
742 2) Insufficient padding for the terminal in use
743 3) Some sort of terminal concentrator or line switch is responsible
745 First of all, many terminals have a set-up mode which controls whether
746 they generate XON/XOFF flow control characters. This must be set to
747 "no XON/XOFF" in order for Emacs to work. Sometimes there is an
748 escape sequence that the computer can send to turn flow control off
749 and on. If so, perhaps the termcap `ti' string should turn flow
750 control off, and the `te' string should turn it on.
752 Once the terminal has been told "no flow control", you may find it
753 needs more padding. The amount of padding Emacs sends is controlled
754 by the termcap entry for the terminal in use, and by the output baud
755 rate as known by the kernel. The shell command `stty' will print
756 your output baud rate; `stty' with suitable arguments will set it if
757 it is wrong. Setting to a higher speed causes increased padding. If
758 the results are wrong for the correct speed, there is probably a
759 problem in the termcap entry. You must speak to a local Unix wizard
760 to fix this. Perhaps you are just using the wrong terminal type.
762 For terminals that lack a "no flow control" mode, sometimes just
763 giving lots of padding will prevent actual generation of flow control
764 codes. You might as well try it.
766 If you are really unlucky, your terminal is connected to the computer
767 through a concentrator which sends XON/XOFF flow control to the
768 computer, or it insists on sending flow control itself no matter how
769 much padding you give it. Unless you can figure out how to turn flow
770 control off on this concentrator (again, refer to your local wizard),
771 you are screwed! You should have the terminal or concentrator
772 replaced with a properly designed one. In the mean time, some drastic
773 measures can make Emacs semi-work.
775 You can make Emacs ignore C-s and C-q and let the operating system
776 handle them. To do this on a per-session basis, just type M-x
777 enable-flow-control RET. You will see a message that C-\ and C-^ are
778 now translated to C-s and C-q. (Use the same command M-x
779 enable-flow-control to turn *off* this special mode. It toggles flow
782 If C-\ and C-^ are inconvenient for you (for example, if one of them
783 is the escape character of your terminal concentrator), you can choose
784 other characters by setting the variables flow-control-c-s-replacement
785 and flow-control-c-q-replacement. But choose carefully, since all
786 other control characters are already used by emacs.
788 IMPORTANT: if you type C-s by accident while flow control is enabled,
789 Emacs output will freeze, and you will have to remember to type C-q in
792 If you work in an environment where a majority of terminals of a
793 certain type are flow control hobbled, you can use the function
794 `enable-flow-control-on' to turn on this flow control avoidance scheme
795 automatically. Here is an example:
797 (enable-flow-control-on "vt200" "vt300" "vt101" "vt131")
799 If this isn't quite correct (e.g. you have a mixture of flow-control hobbled
800 and good vt200 terminals), you can still run enable-flow-control
803 I have no intention of ever redesigning the Emacs command set for the
804 assumption that terminals use C-s/C-q flow control. XON/XOFF flow
805 control technique is a bad design, and terminals that need it are bad
806 merchandise and should not be purchased. Now that X is becoming
807 widespread, XON/XOFF seems to be on the way out. If you can get some
808 use out of GNU Emacs on inferior terminals, more power to you, but I
809 will not make Emacs worse for properly designed systems for the sake
812 *** Control-S and Control-Q commands are ignored completely.
814 For some reason, your system is using brain-damaged C-s/C-q flow
815 control despite Emacs's attempts to turn it off. Perhaps your
816 terminal is connected to the computer through a concentrator
817 that wants to use flow control.
819 You should first try to tell the concentrator not to use flow control.
820 If you succeed in this, try making the terminal work without
821 flow control, as described in the preceding section.
823 If that line of approach is not successful, map some other characters
824 into C-s and C-q using keyboard-translate-table. The example above
825 shows how to do this with C-^ and C-\.
827 *** Control-S and Control-Q commands are ignored completely on a net
830 Some versions of rlogin (and possibly telnet) do not pass flow
831 control characters to the remote system to which they connect.
832 On such systems, emacs on the remote system cannot disable flow
833 control on the local system.
835 One way to cure this is to disable flow control on the local host
836 (the one running rlogin, not the one running rlogind) using the
837 stty command, before starting the rlogin process. On many systems,
838 `stty start u stop u' will do this.
840 Some versions of tcsh will prevent even this from working. One way
841 around this is to start another shell before starting rlogin, and
842 issue the stty command to disable flow control from that shell.
844 If none of these methods work, the best solution is to type
845 `M-x enable-flow-control' at the beginning of your emacs session, or
846 if you expect the problem to continue, add a line such as the
847 following to your .emacs (on the host running rlogind):
849 (enable-flow-control-on "vt200" "vt300" "vt101" "vt131")
851 See the entry about spontaneous display of I-search (above) for more
854 *** TTY redisplay is slow.
856 XEmacs has fairly new TTY redisplay support (beginning from 19.12),
857 which doesn't include some basic TTY optimizations -- like using
858 scrolling regions to move around blocks of text. This is why
859 redisplay on the traditional terminals, or over slow lines can be very
862 If you are interested in fixing this, please let us know at
865 *** Screen is updated wrong, but only on one kind of terminal.
867 This could mean that the termcap entry you are using for that terminal
868 is wrong, or it could mean that Emacs has a bug handing the
869 combination of features specified for that terminal.
871 The first step in tracking this down is to record what characters
872 Emacs is sending to the terminal. Execute the Lisp expression
873 (open-termscript "./emacs-script") to make Emacs write all terminal
874 output into the file ~/emacs-script as well; then do what makes the
875 screen update wrong, and look at the file and decode the characters
876 using the manual for the terminal. There are several possibilities:
878 1) The characters sent are correct, according to the terminal manual.
880 In this case, there is no obvious bug in Emacs, and most likely you
881 need more padding, or possibly the terminal manual is wrong.
883 2) The characters sent are incorrect, due to an obscure aspect of the
884 terminal behavior not described in an obvious way by termcap.
886 This case is hard. It will be necessary to think of a way for Emacs
887 to distinguish between terminals with this kind of behavior and other
888 terminals that behave subtly differently but are classified the same
889 by termcap; or else find an algorithm for Emacs to use that avoids the
890 difference. Such changes must be tested on many kinds of terminals.
892 3) The termcap entry is wrong.
894 See the file etc/TERMS for information on changes that are known to be
895 needed in commonly used termcap entries for certain terminals.
897 4) The characters sent are incorrect, and clearly cannot be right for
898 any terminal with the termcap entry you were using.
900 This is unambiguously an Emacs bug, and can probably be fixed in
901 termcap.c, terminfo.c, tparam.c, cm.c, redisplay-tty.c,
902 redisplay-output.c, or redisplay.c.
904 *** My buffers are full of \000 characters or otherwise corrupt.
906 Some compilers have trouble with gmalloc.c and ralloc.c; try recompiling
907 without optimization. If that doesn't work, try recompiling with
908 SYSTEM_MALLOC defined, and/or with REL_ALLOC undefined.
910 *** A position you specified in .Xdefaults is ignored, using twm.
912 twm normally ignores "program-specified" positions.
913 You can tell it to obey them with this command in your `.twmrc' file:
915 UsePPosition "on" #allow clents to request a position
917 *** With M-x enable-flow-control, you need to type C-\ twice to do
918 incremental search--a single C-\ gets no response.
920 This has been traced to communicating with your machine via kermit,
921 with C-\ as the kermit escape character. One solution is to use
922 another escape character in kermit. One user did
924 set escape-character 17
926 in his .kermrc file, to make C-q the kermit escape character.
928 *** The Motif version of Emacs paints the screen a solid color.
930 This has been observed to result from the following X resource:
932 Emacs*default.attributeFont: -*-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-140-*-*-*-*-iso8859-*
934 That the resource has this effect indicates a bug in something, but we
935 do not yet know what. If it is an Emacs bug, we hope someone can
936 explain what the bug is so we can fix it. In the mean time, removing
937 the resource prevents the problem.
939 *** After running emacs once, subsequent invocations crash.
941 Some versions of SVR4 have a serious bug in the implementation of the
942 mmap () system call in the kernel; this causes emacs to run correctly
943 the first time, and then crash when run a second time.
945 Contact your vendor and ask for the mmap bug fix; in the mean time,
946 you may be able to work around the problem by adding a line to your
947 operating system description file (whose name is reported by the
948 configure script) that reads:
949 #define SYSTEM_MALLOC
950 This makes Emacs use memory less efficiently, but seems to work around
953 *** Inability to send an Alt-modified key, when Emacs is communicating
954 directly with an X server.
956 If you have tried to bind an Alt-modified key as a command, and it
957 does not work to type the command, the first thing you should check is
958 whether the key is getting through to Emacs. To do this, type C-h c
959 followed by the Alt-modified key. C-h c should say what kind of event
960 it read. If it says it read an Alt-modified key, then make sure you
961 have made the key binding correctly.
963 If C-h c reports an event that doesn't have the Alt modifier, it may
964 be because your X server has no key for the Alt modifier. The X
965 server that comes from MIT does not set up the Alt modifier by
968 If your keyboard has keys named Alt, you can enable them as follows:
970 xmodmap -e 'add mod2 = Alt_L'
971 xmodmap -e 'add mod2 = Alt_R'
973 If the keyboard has just one key named Alt, then only one of those
974 commands is needed. The modifier `mod2' is a reasonable choice if you
975 are using an unmodified MIT version of X. Otherwise, choose any
976 modifier bit not otherwise used.
978 If your keyboard does not have keys named Alt, you can use some other
979 keys. Use the keysym command in xmodmap to turn a function key (or
980 some other 'spare' key) into Alt_L or into Alt_R, and then use the
981 commands show above to make them modifier keys.
983 Note that if you have Alt keys but no Meta keys, Emacs translates Alt
984 into Meta. This is because of the great importance of Meta in Emacs.
986 *** In Shell mode, you get a ^M at the end of every line.
988 This happens to people who use tcsh, because it is trying to be too
989 smart. It sees that the Shell uses terminal type `unknown' and turns
990 on the flag to output ^M at the end of each line. You can fix the
991 problem by adding this to your .cshrc file:
994 if ($EMACS == "t") then
996 stty -icrnl -onlcr -echo susp ^Z
1000 *** An error message such as `X protocol error: BadMatch (invalid
1001 parameter attributes) on protocol request 93'.
1003 This comes from having an invalid X resource, such as
1005 (which is invalid because it specifies a color name for something
1006 that isn't a color.)
1008 The fix is to correct your X resources.
1010 *** Once you pull down a menu from the menubar, it won't go away.
1012 It has been claimed that this is caused by a bug in certain very old
1013 (1990?) versions of the twm window manager. It doesn't happen with
1014 recent vintages, or with other window managers.
1016 *** Emacs ignores the "help" key when running OLWM.
1018 OLWM grabs the help key, and retransmits it to the appropriate client
1019 using XSendEvent. Allowing emacs to react to synthetic events is a
1020 security hole, so this is turned off by default. You can enable it by
1021 setting the variable x-allow-sendevents to t. You can also cause fix
1022 this by telling OLWM to not grab the help key, with the null binding
1023 "OpenWindows.KeyboardCommand.Help:".
1025 *** Programs running under terminal emulator do not recognize `emacs'
1028 The cause of this is a shell startup file that sets the TERMCAP
1029 environment variable. The terminal emulator uses that variable to
1030 provide the information on the special terminal type that Emacs
1033 Rewrite your shell startup file so that it does not change TERMCAP
1034 in such a case. You could use the following conditional which sets
1035 it only if it is undefined.
1037 if ( ! ${?TERMCAP} ) setenv TERMCAP ~/my-termcap-file
1039 Or you could set TERMCAP only when you set TERM--which should not
1040 happen in a non-login shell.
1042 *** The popup menu appears at the buttom/right of my screen.
1044 You probably have something like the following in your ~/.Xdefaults
1046 Emacs.geometry: 81x56--9--1
1048 Use the following instead
1050 Emacs*EmacsFrame.geometry: 81x56--9--1
1054 *** Your Delete key sends a Backspace to the terminal, using an AIXterm.
1056 The solution is to include in your .Xdefaults the lines:
1058 *aixterm.Translations: #override <Key>BackSpace: string(0x7f)
1059 aixterm*ttyModes: erase ^?
1061 This makes your Backspace key send DEL (ASCII 127).
1063 *** On AIX 4, some programs fail when run in a Shell buffer
1064 with an error message like No terminfo entry for "unknown".
1066 On AIX, many terminal type definitions are not installed by default.
1067 `unknown' is one of them. Install the "Special Generic Terminal
1068 Definitions" to make them defined.
1070 *** On AIX, you get this message when running Emacs:
1072 Could not load program emacs
1073 Symbol smtcheckinit in csh is undefined
1074 Error was: Exec format error
1078 Could not load program .emacs
1079 Symbol _system_con in csh is undefined
1080 Symbol _fp_trapsta in csh is undefined
1081 Error was: Exec format error
1083 These can happen when you try to run on AIX 3.2.5 a program that was
1084 compiled with 3.2.4. The fix is to recompile.
1086 *** Trouble using ptys on AIX.
1088 People often install the pty devices on AIX incorrectly.
1089 Use `smit pty' to reinstall them properly.
1093 *** The Emacs window disappears when you type M-q.
1095 Some versions of the Open Look window manager interpret M-q as a quit
1096 command for whatever window you are typing at. If you want to use
1097 Emacs with that window manager, you should try to configure the window
1098 manager to use some other command. You can disable the
1099 shortcut keys entirely by adding this line to ~/.OWdefaults:
1101 OpenWindows.WindowMenuAccelerators: False
1103 *** When Emacs tries to ring the bell, you get an error like
1105 audio: sst_open: SETQSIZE" Invalid argument
1106 audio: sst_close: SETREG MMR2, Invalid argument
1108 you have probably compiled using an ANSI C compiler, but with non-ANSI
1109 include files. In particular, on Suns, the file
1110 /usr/include/sun/audioio.h uses the _IOW macro to define the constant
1111 AUDIOSETQSIZE. _IOW in turn uses a K&R preprocessor feature that is
1112 now explicitly forbidden in ANSI preprocessors, namely substitution
1113 inside character constants. All ANSI C compilers must provide a
1114 workaround for this problem. Lucid's C compiler is shipped with a new
1115 set of system include files. If you are using GCC, there is a script
1116 called fixincludes that creates new versions of some system include
1117 files that use this obsolete feature.
1119 *** On Solaris 2.6, XEmacs dumps core when exiting.
1121 This happens if you're XEmacs is running on the same machine as the X
1122 server, and the optimized memory transport has been turned on by
1123 setting the environment variable XSUNTRANSPORT. The crash occurs
1124 during the call to XCloseDisplay.
1126 If this describes your situation, you need to undefine the
1127 XSUNTRANSPORT environment variable.
1129 *** On Solaris, C-x doesn't get through to Emacs when you use the console.
1131 This is a Solaris feature (at least on Intel x86 cpus). Type C-r
1132 C-r C-t, to toggle whether C-x gets through to Emacs.
1134 *** On Solaris 2.4, Dired hangs and C-g does not work. Or Emacs hangs
1135 forever waiting for termination of a subprocess that is a zombie.
1137 casper@fwi.uva.nl says the problem is in X11R6. Rebuild libX11.so
1138 after changing the file xc/config/cf/sunLib.tmpl. Change the lines
1141 #define SharedX11Reqs -lthread
1146 #if OSMinorVersion < 4
1148 #define SharedX11Reqs -lthread
1152 Be sure also to edit x/config/cf/sun.cf so that OSMinorVersion is 4
1153 (as it should be for Solaris 2.4). The file has three definitions for
1154 OSMinorVersion: the first is for x86, the second for SPARC under
1155 Solaris, and the third for SunOS 4. Make sure to update the
1156 definition for your type of machine and system.
1158 Then do `make Everything' in the top directory of X11R6, to rebuild
1159 the makefiles and rebuild X. The X built this way work only on
1160 Solaris 2.4, not on 2.3.
1162 For multithreaded X to work it necessary to install patch
1163 101925-02 to fix problems in header files [2.4]. You need
1164 to reinstall gcc or re-run just-fixinc after installing that
1167 However, Frank Rust <frust@iti.cs.tu-bs.de> used a simpler solution:
1169 #define ThreadedX YES
1171 #define ThreadedX NO
1172 in sun.cf and did `make World' to rebuild X11R6. Removing all
1173 `-DXTHREAD*' flags and `-lthread' entries from lib/X11/Makefile and
1174 typing 'make install' in that directory also seemed to work.
1176 *** On SunOS 4.1.3, Emacs unpredictably crashes in _yp_dobind_soft.
1178 This happens if you configure Emacs specifying just `sparc-sun-sunos4'
1179 on a system that is version 4.1.3. You must specify the precise
1180 version number (or let configure figure out the configuration, which
1181 it can do perfectly well for SunOS).
1183 *** Mail is lost when sent to local aliases.
1185 Many emacs mail user agents (VM and rmail, for instance) use the
1186 sendmail.el library. This library can arrange for mail to be
1187 delivered by passing messages to the /usr/lib/sendmail (usually)
1188 program . In doing so, it passes the '-t' flag to sendmail, which
1189 means that the name of the recipient of the message is not on the
1190 command line and, therefore, that sendmail must parse the message to
1191 obtain the destination address.
1193 There is a bug in the SunOS4.1.1 and SunOS4.1.3 versions of sendmail.
1194 In short, when given the -t flag, the SunOS sendmail won't recognize
1195 non-local (i.e. NIS) aliases. It has been reported that the Solaris
1196 2.x versions of sendmail do not have this bug. For those using SunOS
1197 4.1, the best fix is to install sendmail V8 or IDA sendmail (which
1198 have other advantages over the regular sendmail as well). At the time
1199 of this writing, these official versions are available:
1201 Sendmail V8 on ftp.cs.berkeley.edu in /ucb/sendmail:
1202 sendmail.8.6.9.base.tar.Z (the base system source & documentation)
1203 sendmail.8.6.9.cf.tar.Z (configuration files)
1204 sendmail.8.6.9.misc.tar.Z (miscellaneous support programs)
1205 sendmail.8.6.9.xdoc.tar.Z (extended documentation, with postscript)
1207 IDA sendmail on vixen.cso.uiuc.edu in /pub:
1208 sendmail-5.67b+IDA-1.5.tar.gz
1210 *** Emacs fails to understand most Internet host names, even though
1211 the names work properly with other programs on the same system.
1212 Emacs won't work with X-windows if the value of DISPLAY is HOSTNAME:0.
1213 Gnus can't make contact with the specified host for nntp.
1215 This typically happens on Suns and other systems that use shared
1216 libraries. The cause is that the site has installed a version of the
1217 shared library which uses a name server--but has not installed a
1218 similar version of the unshared library which Emacs uses.
1220 The result is that most programs, using the shared library, work with
1221 the nameserver, but Emacs does not.
1223 The fix is to install an unshared library that corresponds to what you
1224 installed in the shared library, and then relink Emacs.
1226 On SunOS 4.1, simply define HAVE_RES_INIT.
1228 If you have already installed the name resolver in the file libresolv.a,
1229 then you need to compile Emacs to use that library. The easiest way to
1230 do this is to add to config.h a definition of LIBS_SYSTEM, LIBS_MACHINE
1231 or LIB_STANDARD which uses -lresolv. Watch out! If you redefine a macro
1232 that is already in use in your configuration to supply some other libraries,
1233 be careful not to lose the others.
1235 Thus, you could start by adding this to config.h:
1237 #define LIBS_SYSTEM -lresolv
1239 Then if this gives you an error for redefining a macro, and you see that
1240 the s- file defines LIBS_SYSTEM as -lfoo -lbar, you could change config.h
1243 #define LIBS_SYSTEM -lresolv -lfoo -lbar
1245 *** With process-connection-type set to t, each line of subprocess
1246 output is terminated with a ^M, making ange-ftp and GNUS not work.
1248 On SunOS systems, this problem has been seen to be a result of an
1249 incomplete installation of gcc 2.2 which allowed some non-ANSI
1250 compatible include files into the compilation. In particular this
1251 affected virtually all ioctl() calls.
1255 *** You get crashes in a non-C locale with Linux GNU Libc 2.0.
1257 Internationalization was not the top priority for GNU Libc 2.0.
1258 As of this writing (1998-12-28) you may get crashes while running
1259 XEmacs in a non-C locale. For example, `LC_ALL=en_US xemacs' crashes
1260 while `LC_ALL=C xemacs' runs fine. This happens for example with GNU
1261 libc 2.0.7. Installing libintl.a and libintl.h built from gettext
1262 0.10.35 and re-building XEmacs solves the crashes. Presumably soon
1263 everyone will upgrade to GNU Libc 2.1 and this problem will go away.
1265 *** `C-z', or `M-x suspend-emacs' hangs instead of suspending.
1267 If you build with `gpm' support on Linux, you cannot suspend XEmacs
1268 because gpm installs a buggy SIGTSTP handler. Either compile with
1269 `--with-gpm=no', or don't suspend XEmacs on the Linux console until
1272 *** With certain fonts, when the cursor appears on a character, the
1273 character doesn't appear--you get a solid box instead.
1275 One user on a Linux system reported that this problem went away with
1276 installation of a new X server. The failing server was XFree86 3.1.1.
1277 XFree86 3.1.2 works.
1279 *** Slow startup on Linux.
1281 People using systems based on the Linux kernel sometimes report that
1282 startup takes 10 to 15 seconds longer than `usual'.
1284 This is because Emacs looks up the host name when it starts.
1285 Normally, this takes negligible time; the extra delay is due to
1286 improper system configuration. This problem can occur for both
1287 networked and non-networked machines.
1289 Here is how to fix the configuration. It requires being root.
1293 First, make sure the files `/etc/hosts' and `/etc/host.conf' both
1294 exist. The first line in the `/etc/hosts' file should look like this
1295 (replace HOSTNAME with your host name):
1297 127.0.0.1 localhost HOSTNAME
1299 Also make sure that the `/etc/host.conf' files contains the following
1305 Any changes, permanent and temporary, to the host name should be
1306 indicated in the `/etc/hosts' file, since it acts a limited local
1307 database of addresses and names (e.g., some SLIP connections
1308 dynamically allocate ip addresses).
1310 **** Non-Networked Case
1312 The solution described in the networked case applies here as well.
1313 However, if you never intend to network your machine, you can use a
1314 simpler solution: create an empty `/etc/host.conf' file. The command
1315 `touch /etc/host.conf' suffices to create the file. The `/etc/hosts'
1316 file is not necessary with this approach.
1320 *** On Irix, I don't see the toolbar icons and I'm getting lots of
1321 entries in the warnings buffer.
1323 SGI ships a really old Xpm library in /usr/lib which does not work at
1324 all well with XEmacs. The solution is to install your own copy of the
1325 latest version of Xpm somewhere and then use the --site-includes and
1326 --site-libraries flags to tell configure where to find it.
1328 *** Trouble using ptys on IRIX, or running out of ptys.
1330 The program mkpts (which may be in `/usr/adm' or `/usr/sbin') needs to
1331 be set-UID to root, or non-root programs like Emacs will not be able
1332 to allocate ptys reliably.
1334 *** Motif dialog boxes lose on Irix.
1336 Larry Auton <lda@control.att.com> writes:
1337 Beware of not specifying
1339 --with-dialogs=athena
1341 if it builds with the motif dialogs [boom!] you're a dead man.
1343 *** Beware of the default image & graphics library on Irix
1345 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
1347 You *have* to compile your own jpeg lib. The one delivered with SGI
1348 systems is a C++ lib, which apparently XEmacs cannot cope with.
1351 ** Digital UNIX/OSF/VMS/Ultrix
1352 *** XEmacs crashes on Digital Unix within font-lock, or when dealing
1353 with large compilation buffers.
1355 The default stack size under Digital Unix is rather small (2M as
1356 opposed to Solaris 8M), hosing the regexp code, which uses alloca()
1357 extensively, overflowing the stack when complex regexps are used.
1360 1) Increase your stack size, using `ulimit -s 8192' or a (t)csh
1363 2) Recompile regex.c with REGEX_MALLOC defined.
1365 *** The `Alt' key doesn't behave as `Meta' when running DECwindows.
1367 The default DEC keyboard mapping has the Alt keys set up to generate the
1368 keysym `Multi_key', which has a meaning to xemacs which is distinct from that
1369 of the `Meta_L' and `Meta-R' keysyms. A second problem is that certain keys
1370 have the Mod2 modifier attached to them for no adequately explored reason.
1371 The correct fix is to pass this file to xmodmap upon starting X:
1374 keysym Multi_key = Alt_L
1378 *** The Compose key on a DEC keyboard does not work as Meta key.
1380 This shell command should fix it:
1382 xmodmap -e 'keycode 0xb1 = Meta_L'
1384 *** `expand-file-name' fails to work on any but the machine you dumped
1387 On Ultrix, if you use any of the functions which look up information
1388 in the passwd database before dumping Emacs (say, by using
1389 expand-file-name in site-init.el), then those functions will not work
1390 in the dumped Emacs on any host but the one Emacs was dumped on.
1392 The solution? Don't use expand-file-name in site-init.el, or in
1393 anything it loads. Yuck - some solution.
1395 I'm not sure why this happens; if you can find out exactly what is
1396 going on, and perhaps find a fix or a workaround, please let us know.
1397 Perhaps the YP functions cache some information, the cache is included
1398 in the dumped Emacs, and is then inaccurate on any other host.
1402 *** I get complaints about the mapping of my HP keyboard at startup,
1403 but I haven't changed anything.
1405 The default HP keymap is set up to have Mod1 assigned to two different keys:
1406 Meta_L and Mode_switch (even though there is not actually a Mode_switch key on
1407 the keyboard -- it uses an "imaginary" keycode.) There actually is a reason
1408 for this, but it's not a good one. The correct fix is to execute this command
1411 xmodmap -e 'remove mod1 = Mode_switch'
1413 *** On HP-UX, you get "poll: Interrupted system call" message in the
1414 window where XEmacs was launched.
1416 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
1418 I get a very strange problem when linking libc.a dynamically: every
1419 event (mouse, keyboard, expose...) results in a "poll: Interrupted
1420 system call" message in the window where XEmacs was
1421 launched. Forcing a static link of libc.a alone by adding
1422 /usr/lib/libc.a at the end of the link line solves this. Note that
1423 my 9.07 build of 19.14b17 and my (old) build of 19.13 both exhibit
1424 the same behaviour. I've tried various hpux patches to no avail. If
1425 this problem cannot be solved before the release date, binary kits
1426 for HP *must* be linked statically against libc, otherwise this
1427 problem will show up. (This is directed at whoever will volunteer
1428 for this kit, as I won't be available to do it, unless 19.14 gets
1429 delayed until mid-june ;-). I think this problem will be an FAQ soon
1430 after the release otherwise.
1432 Note: The above entry is probably not valid for XEmacs 21.0 and
1435 *** The right Alt key works wrong on German HP keyboards (and perhaps
1436 other non-English HP keyboards too).
1438 This is because HP-UX defines the modifiers wrong in X. Here is a
1439 shell script to fix the problem; be sure that it is run after VUE
1440 configures the X server.
1442 xmodmap 2> /dev/null - << EOF
1443 keysym Alt_L = Meta_L
1444 keysym Alt_R = Meta_R
1449 keysym Mode_switch = NoSymbol
1451 keysym Meta_R = Mode_switch
1452 add mod2 = Mode_switch
1455 *** `Pid xxx killed due to text modification or page I/O error'
1457 On HP-UX, you can get that error when the Emacs executable is on an NFS
1458 file system. HP-UX responds this way if it tries to swap in a page and
1459 does not get a response from the server within a timeout whose default
1460 value is just ten seconds.
1462 If this happens to you, extend the timeout period.
1464 *** Shell mode on HP-UX gives the message, "`tty`: Ambiguous".
1466 christos@theory.tn.cornell.edu says:
1468 The problem is that in your .cshrc you have something that tries to
1469 execute `tty`. If you are not running the shell on a real tty then tty
1470 will print "not a tty". Csh expects one word in some places, but tty
1471 is giving it back 3.
1473 The solution is to add a pair of quotes around `tty` to make it a
1476 if (`tty` == "/dev/console")
1478 should be changed to:
1480 if ("`tty`" == "/dev/console")
1482 Even better, move things that set up terminal sections out of .cshrc
1487 *** Regular expressions matching bugs on SCO systems.
1489 On SCO, there are problems in regexp matching when Emacs is compiled
1490 with the system compiler. The compiler version is "Microsoft C
1491 version 6", SCO 4.2.0h Dev Sys Maintenance Supplement 01/06/93; Quick
1492 C Compiler Version 1.00.46 (Beta). The solution is to compile with
1497 *** Emacs exits with "X protocol error" when run with an X server for
1500 A certain X server for Windows had a bug which caused this.
1501 Supposedly the newer 32-bit version of this server doesn't have the
1506 * Compatibility problems (with Emacs 18, GNU Emacs, or previous XEmacs/lemacs)
1507 ==============================================================================
1509 *** "Symbol's value as variable is void: unread-command-char".
1510 "Wrong type argument: arrayp, #<keymap 143 entries>"
1511 "Wrong type argument: stringp, [#<keypress-event return>]"
1513 There are a few incompatible changes in XEmacs, and these are the
1514 symptoms. Some of the emacs-lisp code you are running needs to be
1515 updated to be compatible with XEmacs.
1517 The code should not treat keymaps as arrays (use `define-key', etc.),
1518 should not use obsolete variables like `unread-command-char' (use
1519 `unread-command-events'). Many (most) of the new ways of doing things
1520 are compatible in GNU Emacs and XEmacs.
1522 Modern Emacs packages (Gnus, VM, W3, efs, etc) are written to support
1523 GNU Emacs and XEmacs. We have provided modified versions of several
1524 popular emacs packages (dired, etc) which are compatible with this
1525 version of emacs. Check to make sure you have not set your load-path
1526 so that your private copies of these packages are being found before
1527 the versions in the lisp directory.
1529 Make sure that your load-path and your $EMACSLOADPATH environment
1530 variable are not pointing at an Emacs18 lisp directory. This will
1533 ** Some packages that worked before now cause the error
1534 Wrong type argument: arrayp, #<face ... >
1536 Code which uses the `face' accessor functions must be recompiled with
1537 xemacs 19.9 or later. The functions whose callers must be recompiled
1538 are: face-font, face-foreground, face-background,
1539 face-background-pixmap, and face-underline-p. The .elc files
1540 generated by version 19.9 will work in 19.6 and 19.8, but older .elc
1541 files which contain calls to these functions will not work in 19.9.
1543 ** Signaling: (error "Byte code stack underflow (byte compiler bug), pc 38")
1545 This error is given when XEmacs 20 is compiled without MULE support
1546 but is attempting to load a .elc which requires MULE support. The fix
1547 is to rebytecompile the offending file.
1549 ** Signaling: (wrong-type-argument ...) when loading mail-abbrevs
1551 The is seen when installing the Insidious Big Brother Data Base (bbdb)
1552 which includes an outdated copy of mail-abbrevs.el. Remove the copy
1553 that comes with bbdb and use the one that comes with XEmacs.
1559 ** A reminder: XEmacs/Mule work does not currently receive *any*
1560 funding, and all work is done by volunteers. If you think you can
1561 help, please contact the XEmacs maintainers.
1563 ** XEmacs/Mule doesn't support TTY's satisfactorily.
1565 This is a major problem, which we plan to address in a future release
1566 of XEmacs. Basically, XEmacs should have primitives to be told
1567 whether the terminal can handle international output, and which
1568 locale. Also, it should be able to do approximations of characters to
1569 the nearest supported by the locale.
1571 ** Internationalized (Asian) Isearch doesn't work.
1573 Currently, Isearch doesn't directly support any of the input methods
1574 that are not XIM based (like egg, canna and quail) (and there are
1575 potential problems with XIM version too...). If you're using egg
1576 there is a workaround. Hitting <RET> right after C-s to invoke
1577 Isearch will put Isearch in string mode, where a complete string can
1578 be typed into the minibuffer and then processed by Isearch afterwards.
1579 Since egg is now supported in the minibuffer using string mode you can
1580 now use egg to input your Japanese, Korean or Chinese string, then hit
1581 return to send that to Isearch and then use standard Isearch commands
1584 ** Using egg and mousing around while in 'fence' mode screws up my
1587 Don't do this. The fence modes of egg and canna are currently very
1588 modal, and messing with where they expect point to be and what they
1589 think is the current buffer is just asking for trouble. If you're
1590 lucky they will realize that something is awry, and simply delete the
1591 fence, but worst case can trash other buffers too. We've tried to
1592 protect against this where we can, but there still are many ways to
1593 shoot yourself in the foot. So just finish what you are typing into
1594 the fence before reaching for the mouse.
1596 ** Not all languages in Quail are supported like Devanagari and Indian
1597 languages, Lao and Tibetan.
1599 Quail requires more work and testing. Although it has been ported to
1600 XEmacs, it works really well for Japanese and for the European
1603 ** Right-to-left mode is not yet implemented, so languages like
1604 Arabic, Hebrew and Thai don't work.
1606 Getting this right requires more work. It may be implemented in a
1607 future XEmacs version, but don't hold your breath. If you know
1608 someone who is ready to implement this, please let us know.
1610 ** We need more developers and native language testers. It's extremely
1611 difficult (and not particularly productive) to address languages that
1612 nobody is using and testing.
1614 ** The kWnn and cWnn support for Chinese and Korean needs developers
1615 and testers. It probably doesn't work.
1617 ** There are no `native XEmacs' TUTORIALs for any Asian languages,
1618 including Japanese. FSF Emacs and XEmacs tutorials are quite similar,
1619 so it should be sufficient to skim through the differences and apply
1620 them to the Japanese version.
1622 ** We only have localized menus translated for Japanese, and the
1623 Japanese menus are developing bitrot (the Mule menu appears in
1626 ** XIM is untested for any language other than Japanese.