1 This is ../info/xemacs-faq.info, produced by makeinfo version 4.0 from
4 INFO-DIR-SECTION XEmacs Editor
6 * FAQ: (xemacs-faq). XEmacs FAQ.
10 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Installation, Next: Customization, Prev: Introduction, Up: Top
12 2 Installation and Trouble Shooting
13 ***********************************
15 This is part 2 of the XEmacs Frequently Asked Questions list. This
16 section is devoted to Installation, Maintenance and Trouble Shooting.
21 * Q2.0.1:: Running XEmacs without installing.
22 * Q2.0.2:: XEmacs is too big.
23 * Q2.0.3:: Compiling XEmacs with Netaudio.
24 * Q2.0.4:: Problems with Linux and ncurses.
25 * Q2.0.5:: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs?
26 * Q2.0.6:: I'm having strange crashes. What do I do?
27 * Q2.0.7:: Libraries in non-standard locations.
28 * Q2.0.8:: can't resolve symbol _h_errno
29 * Q2.0.9:: Where do I find external libraries?
30 * Q2.0.10:: After I run configure I find a coredump, is something wrong?
31 * Q2.0.11:: XEmacs can't resolve host names.
32 * Q2.0.12:: Why can't I strip XEmacs?
33 * Q2.0.13:: Can't link XEmacs on Solaris with Gcc.
34 * Q2.0.14:: Make on HP/UX 9 fails after linking temacs
37 * Q2.1.1:: XEmacs just crashed on me!
38 * Q2.1.2:: Cryptic Minibuffer messages.
39 * Q2.1.3:: Translation Table Syntax messages at Startup.
40 * Q2.1.4:: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
41 * Q2.1.5:: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal.
42 * Q2.1.6:: XEmacs just locked up my Linux X server.
43 * Q2.1.7:: HP Alt key as Meta.
44 * Q2.1.8:: got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)!
45 * Q2.1.9:: XEmacs causes my OpenWindows 3.0 server to crash.
46 * Q2.1.10:: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
47 * Q2.1.11:: Can't instantiate image error... in toolbar
48 * Q2.1.12:: Regular Expression Problems on DEC OSF1.
49 * Q2.1.13:: HP/UX 10.10 and `create_process' failure
50 * Q2.1.14:: C-g doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
51 * Q2.1.15:: How to debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger.
52 * Q2.1.16:: XEmacs crashes in `strcat' on HP/UX 10.
53 * Q2.1.17:: `Marker does not point anywhere'.
54 * Q2.1.18:: 19.14 hangs on HP/UX 10.10.
55 * Q2.1.19:: XEmacs does not follow the local timezone.
56 * Q2.1.20:: `Symbol's function definition is void: hkey-help-show.'
57 * Q2.1.21:: Every so often the XEmacs frame freezes.
58 * Q2.1.22:: XEmacs seems to take a really long time to do some things.
59 * Q2.1.23:: Movemail on Linux does not work for XEmacs 19.15 and later.
60 * Q2.1.24:: XEmacs won't start without network. (NEW)
63 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.1, Next: Q2.0.2, Prev: Installation, Up: Installation
68 Q2.0.1: Running XEmacs without installing
69 -----------------------------------------
71 The `INSTALL' file says that up to 108 MB of space is needed
72 temporarily during installation! How can I just try it out?
74 XEmacs will run in place without requiring installation and copying
75 of the Lisp directories, and without having to specify a special
76 build-time flag. It's the copying of the Lisp directories that
77 requires so much space. XEmacs is largely written in Lisp.
79 A good method is to make a shell alias for xemacs:
81 alias xemacs=/i/xemacs-20.2/src/xemacs
83 (You will obviously use whatever directory you downloaded the source
84 tree to instead of `/i/xemacs-20.2').
86 This will let you run XEmacs without massive copying.
89 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.2, Next: Q2.0.3, Prev: Q2.0.1, Up: Installation
91 Q2.0.2: XEmacs is too big
92 -------------------------
94 Although this entry has been written for XEmacs 19.13, most of it
97 Steve Baur <steve@xemacs.org> writes:
99 The 45MB of space required by the installation directories can be
100 reduced dramatically if desired. Gzip all the .el files. Remove
101 all the packages you'll never want to use (or even ones you do
102 like the two obsolete mailcrypts and Gnus 4 in 19.13). Remove the
103 TexInfo manuals. Remove the Info (and use just hardcopy versions
104 of the manual). Remove most of the stuff in etc. Remove or gzip
105 all the source code. Gzip or remove the C source code. Configure
106 it so that copies are not made of the support lisp. I'm not
107 advocating any of these things, just pointing out ways to reduce
108 the disk requirements if desired.
110 Now examine the space used by directory:
112 0 /usr/local/bin/xemacs
113 2048 /usr/local/bin/xemacs-19.13
115 1546 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/i486-miranova-sco3.2v4.2
116 1158 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/i486-unknown-linux1.2.13
118 You need to keep these. XEmacs isn't stripped by default in
119 installation, you should consider stripping. That will save you
120 about 5MB right there.
122 207 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/w3
123 122 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/sounds
124 18 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/sparcworks
125 159 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/vm
126 6 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/e
127 21 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/eos
128 172 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/toolbar
129 61 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/ns
130 43 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/gnus
132 These are support directories for various packages. In general
133 they match a directory under
134 ./xemacs-19.13/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/. If you do not require the
135 package, you may delete or gzip the support too.
137 1959 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc
138 175 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/bytecomp
139 340 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/calendar
140 342 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/comint
141 517 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/dired
142 42 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/electric
143 212 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/emulators
144 238 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/energize
145 289 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/gnus
146 457 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/ilisp
147 1439 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/modes
148 2276 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/packages
149 1040 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/prim
150 176 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/pcl-cvs
151 154 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/rmail
152 3 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/epoch
153 45 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/term
154 860 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/utils
155 851 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/vm
156 13 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/vms
157 157 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/x11
158 19 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/tooltalk
159 14 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/sunpro
160 291 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/games
161 198 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/edebug
162 619 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/w3
163 229 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/eos
164 55 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/iso
165 59 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/mailcrypt
166 187 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/eterm
167 356 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/ediff
168 408 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/hyperbole/kotl
169 1262 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/hyperbole
170 247 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/hm--html-menus
171 161 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/mh-e
172 299 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/viper
173 53 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-x
174 4 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx/English.lproj/DocWindow.nib
175 3 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx/English.lproj/InfoPanel.nib
176 3 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx/English.lproj/TreeView.nib
177 11 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx/English.lproj
178 53 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx
179 466 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr
180 14142 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp
182 These are all Emacs Lisp source code and bytecompiled object code.
183 You may safely gzip everything named *.el here. You may remove
184 any package you don't use. _Nothing bad will happen if you delete
185 a package that you do not use_. You must be sure you do not use
186 it though, so be conservative at first.
188 Possible candidates for deletion include w3 (newer versions exist,
189 or you may just use Lynx or Netscape for web browsing), games,
190 hyperbole, mh-e, hm-html-menus (better packages exist), vm, viper,
191 oobr, gnus (new versions exist), etc. Ask yourself, _Do I ever
192 want to use this package?_ If the answer is no, then it is a
193 candidate for removal.
195 First, gzip all the .el files. Then go about package by package
196 and start gzipping the .elc files. Then run XEmacs and do
197 whatever it is you normally do. If nothing bad happens, then
198 delete the directory. Be conservative about deleting directories,
199 and it would be handy to have a backup tape around in case you get
202 `prim', `modes', `packages', and `utils' are four directories you
203 definitely do *not* want to delete, although certain packages can
204 be removed from them if you do not use them.
206 1972 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/info
208 These are online texinfo sources. You may either gzip them or
209 remove them. In either case, `C-h i' (info mode) will no longer
212 20778 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13
214 The 20MB achieved is less than half of what the full distribution
215 takes up, *and* can be achieved without deleting a single file.
217 Giacomo Boffi <boffi@hp735.stru.polimi.it> provides this procedure:
219 Substitute `/usr/local/lib/' with the path where the xemacs tree is
220 rooted, then use this script:
224 r=/usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp
226 cd $r ; rm -f cmpr ; touch cmpr
234 # compress (remove) only (ONLY) the sources that have a
235 # corresponding compiled file --- do not (DO NOT)
236 # touch other sources
237 if test -f ${f}c ; then gzip -v9 $f >> $r/cmpr ; fi
245 A step beyond would be substituting `rm -f' for `gzip -v9', but
246 you have to be desperate for removing the sources (remember that
247 emacs can access compressed files transparently).
249 Also, a good megabyte could easily be trimmed from the $r/../etc
250 directory, e.g., the termcap files, some O+NEWS, others that I
251 don't remember as well.
253 XEmacs 21.0 will unbundle the lisp hierarchy and allow the
254 installer to choose exactly how much support code gets installed.
257 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.3, Next: Q2.0.4, Prev: Q2.0.2, Up: Installation
259 Q2.0.3: Compiling XEmacs with Netaudio.
260 ---------------------------------------
262 What is the best way to compile XEmacs with the netaudio system,
263 since I have got the netaudio system compiled but installed at a weird
264 place, I am not root. Also in the READMEs it does not say anything
265 about compiling with the audioserver?
267 You should only need to add some stuff to the configure command line.
268 To tell it to compile in netaudio support: `--with-sound=both', or
269 `--with-sound=nas' if you don't want native sound support for some
270 reason.) To tell it where to find the netaudio includes and libraries:
272 --site-libraries=WHATEVER
273 --site-includes=WHATEVER
275 Then (fingers crossed) it should compile and it will use netaudio if
276 you have a server running corresponding to the X server. The netaudio
277 server has to be there when XEmacs starts. If the netaudio server goes
278 away and another is run, XEmacs should cope (fingers crossed, error
279 handling in netaudio isn't perfect).
281 BTW, netaudio has been renamed as it has a name clash with something
282 else, so if you see references to NAS or Network Audio System, it's the
283 same thing. It also might be found at
284 `ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/audio/nas/'.
287 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.4, Next: Q2.0.5, Prev: Q2.0.3, Up: Installation
289 Q2.0.4: Problems with Linux and ncurses.
290 ----------------------------------------
292 On Linux 1.3.98 with termcap 2.0.8 and the ncurses that came with
293 libc 5.2.18, XEmacs 20.0b20 is unable to open a tty device:
296 Initialization error:
297 Terminal type `xterm' undefined (or can't access database?)
299 Ben Wing <ben@xemacs.org> writes:
301 Your ncurses configuration is messed up. Your /usr/lib/terminfo
302 is a bad pointer, perhaps to a CD-ROM that is not inserted.
305 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.5, Next: Q2.0.6, Prev: Q2.0.4, Up: Installation
307 Q2.0.5: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs?
308 ------------------------------------
310 No. The name "XEmacs" is unfortunate in the sense that it is *not*
311 an X Window System-only version of Emacs. Starting with 19.14 XEmacs
312 has full color support on a color-capable character terminal.
315 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.6, Next: Q2.0.7, Prev: Q2.0.5, Up: Installation
317 Q2.0.6: I'm having strange crashes. What do I do?
318 --------------------------------------------------
320 There have been a variety of reports of crashes due to compilers with
321 buggy optimizers. Please see the `PROBLEMS' file that comes with
322 XEmacs to read what it says about your platform.
325 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.7, Next: Q2.0.8, Prev: Q2.0.6, Up: Installation
327 Q2.0.7: Libraries in non-standard locations
328 -------------------------------------------
330 I have x-faces, jpeg, xpm etc. all in different places. I've tried
331 space-separated, comma-separated, several -site-libraries, all to no
334 --site-libraries='/path/one /path/two /path/etc'
337 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.8, Next: Q2.0.9, Prev: Q2.0.7, Up: Installation
339 Q2.0.8: can't resolve symbol _h_errno
340 -------------------------------------
342 You are using the Linux/ELF distribution of XEmacs 19.14, and your
343 ELF libraries are out of date. You have the following options:
345 1. Upgrade your libc to at least 5.2.16 (better is 5.2.18, 5.3.12, or
348 2. Patch the XEmacs binary by replacing all occurrences of
349 `_h_errno^@' with `h_errno^@^@'. Any version of Emacs will
350 suffice. If you don't understand how to do this, don't do it.
352 3. Rebuild XEmacs yourself - any working ELF version of libc should be
355 Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@xemacs.org> writes:
357 Why not use a Perl one-liner for No. 2?
359 perl -pi -e 's/_h_errno\0/h_errno\0\0/g' \
360 /usr/local/bin/xemacs-19.14
362 NB: You _must_ patch `/usr/local/bin/xemacs-19.14', and not
363 `xemacs' because `xemacs' is a link to `xemacs-19.14'; the Perl
364 `-i' option will cause unwanted side-effects if applied to a
367 SL Baur <steve@xemacs.org> writes:
369 If you build against a recent libc-5.4 (late enough to have caused
370 problems earlier in the beta cycle) and then run with an earlier
371 version of libc, you get a
374 xemacs: can't resolve symbol '__malloc_hook'
375 zsh: 7942 segmentation fault (core dumped) xemacs
377 (Example binary compiled against libc-5.4.23 and run with
380 The solution is to upgrade to at least libc-5.4.23. Sigh. Drat.
383 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.9, Next: Q2.0.10, Prev: Q2.0.8, Up: Installation
385 Q2.0.9: Where do I find external libraries?
386 -------------------------------------------
388 All external libraries used by XEmacs can be found at the XEmacs FTP
389 site `ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/aux/'.
391 The canonical locations (at the time of this writing) are as follows:
394 `ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/jpeg/'. Version 6a is current.
397 `ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/libraries/'. Version 3.4j is current.
398 Older versions of this package are known to cause XEmacs crashes.
401 `ftp://ftp.sgi.com/graphics/tiff/'. v3.4 is current. The latest
402 beta is v3.4b035. There is a HOWTO here.
405 `ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/'. 0.89c is current. XEmacs
406 requires a fairly recent version to avoid using temporary files.
408 `ftp://swrinde.nde.swri.edu/pub/png/src/'
411 `ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/faces/compface/'. This library has
412 been frozen for about 6 years, and is distributed without version
413 numbers. _It should be compiled with the same options that X11 was
414 compiled with on your system_. The version of this library at
415 XEmacs.org includes the `xbm2xface.pl' script, written by
416 <stig@hackvan.com>, which may be useful when generating your own
420 `ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/audio/nas/'. Version 1.2p5 is current.
424 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.10, Next: Q2.0.11, Prev: Q2.0.9, Up: Installation
426 Q2.0.10: After I run configure I find a core dump, is something wrong?
427 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
429 Not necessarily. If you have GNU sed 3.0 you should downgrade it to
430 2.05. From the `README' at prep.ai.mit.edu:
432 sed 3.0 has been withdrawn from distribution. It has major
433 revisions, which mostly seem to be improvements; but it turns out
434 to have bugs too which cause trouble in some common cases.
436 Tom Lord won't be able to work fixing the bugs until May. So in
437 the mean time, we've decided to withdraw sed 3.0 from distribution
438 and make version 2.05 once again the recommended version.
440 It has also been observed that the vfork test on Solaris will leave a
444 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.11, Next: Q2.0.12, Prev: Q2.0.10, Up: Installation
446 Q2.0.11: XEmacs doesn't resolve hostnames.
447 ------------------------------------------
449 This is the result of a long-standing problem with SunOS and the fact
450 that stock SunOS systems do not ship with DNS resolver code in libc.
452 Christopher Davis <ckd@loiosh.kei.com> writes:
454 That's correct [The SunOS 4.1.3 precompiled binaries don't do name
455 lookup]. Since Sun figured that everyone used NIS to do name
456 lookups (that DNS thing was apparently only a passing fad,
457 right?), the stock SunOS 4.x systems don't have DNS-based name
460 This is also why Netscape ships two binaries for SunOS 4.1.x.
462 The best solution is to compile it yourself; the configure script
463 will check to see if you've put DNS in the shared libc and will
464 then proceed to link against the DNS resolver library code.
467 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.12, Next: Q2.0.13, Prev: Q2.0.11, Up: Installation
469 Q2.0.12: Why can't I strip XEmacs?
470 ----------------------------------
472 Richard Cognot <cognot@fronsac.ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
474 Because of the way XEmacs (and every other Emacsen, AFAIK) is
475 built. The link gives you a bare-boned emacs (called temacs).
476 temacs is then run, preloading some of the lisp files. The result
477 is then dumped into a new executable, named xemacs, which will
478 contain all of the preloaded lisp functions and data.
480 Now, during the dump itself, the executable (code+data+symbols) is
481 written on disk using a special unexec() function. This function is
482 obviously heavily system dependent. And on some systems, it leads
483 to an executable which, although valid, cannot be stripped without
484 damage. If memory serves, this is especially the case for AIX
485 binaries. On other architecture it might work OK.
487 The Right Way to strip the emacs binary is to strip temacs prior to
488 dumping xemacs. This will always work, although you can do that
489 only if you install from sources (as temacs is `not' part of the
492 Nat Makarevitch <nat@nataa.fr.eu.org> writes:
496 1. [ ./configure; make ]
504 5. cp src/xemacs /usr/local/bin/xemacs
506 6. cp lib-src/DOC-19.16-XEmacs
507 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.16/i586-unknown-linuxaout
510 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.13, Next: Q2.0.14, Prev: Q2.0.12, Up: Installation
512 Q2.0.13: Problems linking with Gcc on Solaris
513 ---------------------------------------------
515 There are known difficulties linking with Gnu ld on Solaris. A
516 typical error message might look like:
518 unexec(): dlopen(../dynodump/dynodump.so): ld.so.1: ./temacs:
519 fatal: relocation error:
520 symbol not found: main: referenced in ../dynodump/dynodump.so
522 Martin Buchholz <martin@xemacs.org> writes:
524 You need to specify `-fno-gnu-linker' as part of your flags to pass
525 to ld. Future releases of XEmacs will try to do this
529 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.14, Next: Q2.1.1, Prev: Q2.0.13, Up: Installation
531 Q2.0.14: Make on HP/UX 9 fails after linking temacs
532 ---------------------------------------------------
534 Problem when building xemacs-19.16 on hpux 9:
536 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
538 make on hpux fails after linking temacs with a message:
540 "make: don't know how to make .y."
542 Solution: This is a problem with HP make revision 70.X. Either
543 use GNU make, or install PHCO_6552, which will bring make to
547 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.1, Next: Q2.1.2, Prev: Q2.0.14, Up: Installation
549 2.1: Trouble Shooting
550 =====================
552 Q2.1.1: Help! XEmacs just crashed on me!
553 -----------------------------------------
555 First of all, don't panic. Whenever XEmacs crashes, it tries
556 extremely hard to auto-save all of your files before dying. (The main
557 time that this will not happen is if the machine physically lost power
558 or if you killed the XEmacs process using `kill -9'). The next time
559 you try to edit those files, you will be informed that a more recent
560 auto-save file exists. You can use `M-x recover-file' to retrieve the
561 auto-saved version of the file.
563 Starting with 19.14, you may use the command `M-x recover-session'
564 after a crash to pick up where you left off.
566 Now, XEmacs is not perfect, and there may occasionally be times, or
567 particular sequences of actions, that cause it to crash. If you can
568 come up with a reproducible way of doing this (or even if you have a
569 pretty good memory of exactly what you were doing at the time), the
570 maintainers would be very interested in knowing about it. Post a
571 message to comp.emacs.xemacs or send mail to <crashes@xemacs.org>.
572 Please note that the `crashes' address is exclusively for crash reports.
574 If at all possible, include a stack backtrace of the core dump that
575 was produced. This shows where exactly things went wrong, and makes it
576 much easier to diagnose problems. To do this, you need to locate the
577 core file (it's called `core', and is usually sitting in the directory
578 that you started XEmacs from, or your home directory if that other
579 directory was not writable). Then, go to that directory and execute a
582 gdb `which xemacs` core
584 and then issue the command `where' to get the stack backtrace. You
585 might have to use `dbx' or some similar debugger in place of `gdb'. If
586 you don't have any such debugger available, complain to your system
589 It's possible that a core file didn't get produced, in which case
590 you're out of luck. Go complain to your system administrator and tell
591 him not to disable core files by default. Also *Note Q2.1.15::, for
592 tips and techniques for dealing with a debugger.
594 When making a problem report make sure that:
596 1. Report *all* of the information output by XEmacs during the crash.
598 2. You mention what O/S & Hardware you are running XEmacs on.
600 3. What version of XEmacs you are running.
602 4. What build options you are using.
604 5. If the problem is related to graphics, we will also need to know
605 what version of the X Window System you are running, and what
606 window manager you are using.
608 6. If the problem happened on a tty, please include the terminal type.
611 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.2, Next: Q2.1.3, Prev: Q2.1.1, Up: Installation
613 Q2.1.2: Cryptic Minibuffer messages.
614 ------------------------------------
616 When I try to use some particular option of some particular package,
617 I get a cryptic error in the minibuffer.
619 If you can't figure out what's going on, select Options/General
620 Options/Debug on Error from the Menubar and then try and make the error
621 happen again. This will give you a backtrace that may be enlightening.
622 If not, try reading through this FAQ; if that fails, you could try
623 posting to comp.emacs.xemacs (making sure to include the backtrace) and
624 someone may be able to help. If you can identify which Emacs lisp
625 source file the error is coming from you can get a more detailed stack
626 backtrace by doing the following:
628 1. Visit the .el file in an XEmacs buffer.
630 2. Issue the command `M-x eval-current-buffer'.
632 3. Reproduce the error.
634 Depending on the version of XEmacs, you may either select Edit->Show
635 Messages (19.13 and earlier) or Help->Recent Keystrokes/Messages (19.14
636 and later) from the menubar to see the most recent messages. This
637 command is bound to `C-h l' by default.
640 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.3, Next: Q2.1.4, Prev: Q2.1.2, Up: Installation
642 Q2.1.3: Translation Table Syntax messages at Startup
643 ----------------------------------------------------
645 I get tons of translation table syntax error messages during startup.
646 How do I get rid of them?
648 There are two causes of this problem. The first usually only strikes
649 people using the prebuilt binaries. The culprit in both cases is the
652 * The binary cannot find the `XKeysymDB' file. The location is
653 hardcoded at compile time so if the system the binary was built on
654 puts it a different place than your system does, you have
655 problems. To fix, set the environment variable XKEYSYMDB to the
656 location of the `XKeysymDB' file on your system or to the location
657 of the one included with XEmacs which should be at
658 `<xemacs_root_directory>/lib/xemacs-19.16/etc/XKeysymDB'.
660 * The binary is finding the XKeysymDB but it is out-of-date on your
661 system and does not contain the necessary lines. Either ask your
662 system administrator to replace it with the one which comes with
663 XEmacs (which is the stock R6 version and is backwards compatible)
664 or set your XKEYSYMDB variable to the location of XEmacs's
668 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.4, Next: Q2.1.5, Prev: Q2.1.3, Up: Installation
670 Q2.1.4: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
671 -----------------------------------------------------
673 How can I avoid the startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
675 This is highly dependent on your installation, but try with the
676 following font as your base font for XEmacs and see what it does:
678 -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
680 More precisely, do the following in your resource file:
682 Emacs.default.attributeFont: \
683 -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
685 If you just don't want to see the `*Warnings*' buffer at startup
686 time, you can set this:
688 (setq display-warning-minimum-level 'error)
690 The buffer still exists; it just isn't in your face.
693 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.5, Next: Q2.1.6, Prev: Q2.1.4, Up: Installation
695 Q2.1.5: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal!
696 -----------------------------------------------
698 Help! I can not get XEmacs to display on my Envizex X-terminal!
700 Try setting the DISPLAY variable using the numeric IP address of the
701 host you are running XEmacs from.
704 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.6, Next: Q2.1.7, Prev: Q2.1.5, Up: Installation
706 Q2.1.6: XEmacs just locked up my Linux X server!
707 ------------------------------------------------
709 There have been several reports of the X server locking up under
710 Linux. In all reported cases removing speedo and scaled fonts from the
711 font path corrected the problem. This can be done with the command
714 It is possible that using a font server may also solve the problem.
717 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.7, Next: Q2.1.8, Prev: Q2.1.6, Up: Installation
719 Q2.1.7: HP Alt key as Meta.
720 ---------------------------
722 How can I make XEmacs recognize the Alt key of my HP workstation as a
725 Put the following line into a file and load it with xmodmap(1) before
728 remove Mod1 = Mode_switch
731 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.8, Next: Q2.1.9, Prev: Q2.1.7, Up: Installation
733 Q2.1.8: got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)
734 ------------------------------------------------------
736 Natalie Kershaw <nataliek@rd.scitec.com.au> writes:
738 I am trying to run xemacs 19.13 under X11R4. Whenever I move the
739 mouse I get the following error. Has anyone seen anything like
740 this? This doesn't occur on X11R5.
743 (error "got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)
744 and I don't know why!")
746 dinos <map01kd@gold.ac.uk> writes:
748 I think this is due to undefined resources; You need to define
749 color backgrounds and foregrounds into your
750 `.../app-defaults/Emacs' like:
752 *Foreground: Black ;everything will be of black on grey95,
753 *Background: Grey95 ;unless otherwise specified.
754 *cursorColor: Red3 ;red3 cursor with grey95 border.
755 *pointerColor: Red3 ;red3 pointer with grey95 border.
757 Natalie Kershaw adds:
759 What fixed the problem was adding some more colors to the X color
760 database (copying the X11R5 colors over), and also defining the
763 xemacs*cursorColor: black
764 xemacs*pointerColor: black
766 With the new colors installed the problem still occurs if the above
767 resources are not defined.
769 If the new colors are not present then an additional error occurs
770 on XEmacs startup, which says `Color Red3' not defined.
773 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.9, Next: Q2.1.10, Prev: Q2.1.8, Up: Installation
775 Q2.1.9: XEmacs causes my OpenWindows 3.0 server to crash.
776 ---------------------------------------------------------
778 The OpenWindows 3.0 server is incredibly buggy. Your best bet is to
779 replace it with one from the generic MIT X11 release. You might also
780 try disabling parts of your `.emacs', like enabling background pixmaps.
783 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.10, Next: Q2.1.11, Prev: Q2.1.9, Up: Installation
785 Q2.1.10: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
786 -----------------------------------------------
788 The following information comes from the `PROBLEMS' file that comes
791 If you're having troubles with HP/UX it is because HP/UX defines the
792 modifiers wrong in X. Here is a shell script to fix the problem; be
793 sure that it is run after VUE configures the X server.
796 xmodmap 2> /dev/null - << EOF
797 keysym Alt_L = Meta_L
798 keysym Alt_R = Meta_R
803 keysym Mode_switch = NoSymbol
805 keysym Meta_R = Mode_switch
806 add mod2 = Mode_switch
810 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.11, Next: Q2.1.12, Prev: Q2.1.10, Up: Installation
812 Q2.1.11: `Can't instantiate image error...' in toolbar
813 ------------------------------------------------------
815 Dr. Ram Samudrala <expt@alanine.ram.org> writes:
817 I just installed the XEmacs (20.4-2) RPMS that I downloaded from
818 `http://www.xemacs.org/'. Everything works fine, except that when I
819 place my mouse over the toolbar, it beeps and gives me this message:
821 Can't instantiate image (probably cached):
822 [xbm :mask-file "/usr/include/X11/bitmaps/leftptrmsk :mask-data
823 (16 16 <strange control characters> ...
825 Kyle Jones <kyle_jones@wonderworks.com> writes:
826 This is problem specific to some Chips and Technologies video
827 chips, when running XFree86. Putting
831 in `XF86Config' gets rid of the problem.
834 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.12, Next: Q2.1.13, Prev: Q2.1.11, Up: Installation
836 Q2.1.12: Problems with Regular Expressions on DEC OSF1.
837 -------------------------------------------------------
839 I have xemacs 19.13 running on an alpha running OSF1 V3.2 148 and
840 ispell would not run because it claimed the version number was incorrect
841 although it was indeed OK. I traced the problem to the regular
844 Douglas Kosovic <douglask@dstc.edu.au> writes:
846 Actually it's a DEC cc optimization bug that screws up the regexp
849 Rebuilding using the `-migrate' switch for DEC cc (which uses a
850 different sort of optimization) works fine.
852 See `xemacs-19_13-dunix-3_2c.patch' at the following URL on how to
853 build with the `-migrate' flag:
855 `http://www-digital.cern.ch/carney/emacs/emacs.html'
857 NOTE: There have been a variety of other problems reported that are
858 fixed in this fashion.
861 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.13, Next: Q2.1.14, Prev: Q2.1.12, Up: Installation
863 Q2.1.13: HP/UX 10.10 and `create_process' failure.
864 --------------------------------------------------
866 Dave Carrigan <Dave.Carrigan@ipl.ca> writes:
868 With XEmacs 19.13 and HP/UX 10.10, anything that relies on the
869 `create_process' function fails. This breaks a lot of things
870 (shell-mode, compile, ange-ftp, to name a few).
872 Phil Johnson <johnson@dtc.hp.com> writes:
874 This is a problem specific to HP-UX 10.10. It only occurs when
875 XEmacs is compiled for shared libraries (the default), so you can
876 work around it by compiling a statically-linked binary (run
877 configure with `--dynamic=no').
879 I'm not sure whether the problem is with a particular shared
880 library or if it's a kernel problem which crept into 10.10.
882 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
884 I had a few problems with 10.10. Apparently, some of them were
885 solved by forcing a static link of libc (manually).
888 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.14, Next: Q2.1.15, Prev: Q2.1.13, Up: Installation
890 Q2.1.14: `C-g' doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
891 --------------------------------------------------
893 Ben Wing <ben@xemacs.org> writes:
895 `C-g' does work for most people in most circumstances. If it
896 doesn't, there are only two explanations:
898 1. The code is wrapped with a binding of `inhibit-quit' to `t'.
899 `Ctrl-Shift-G' should still work, I think.
901 2. SIGIO is broken on your system, but BROKEN_SIGIO isn't
904 To test #2, try executing `(while t)' from the `*scratch*' buffer.
905 If `C-g' doesn't interrupt, then you're seeing #2.
907 Morten Welinder <terra@diku.dk> writes:
909 On some (but _not_ all) machines a hung XEmacs can be revived by
910 `kill -FPE <pid>'. This is a hack, of course, not a solution.
911 This technique works on a Sun4 running 4.1.3_U1. To see if it
912 works for you, start another XEmacs and test with that first. If
913 you get a core dump the method doesn't work and if you get
914 `Arithmetic error' then it does.
917 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.15, Next: Q2.1.16, Prev: Q2.1.14, Up: Installation
919 Q2.1.15: How to Debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger
920 -------------------------------------------------------
922 If XEmacs does crash on you, one of the most productive things you
923 can do to help get the bug fixed is to poke around a bit with the
924 debugger. Here are some hints:
926 * First of all, if the crash is at all reproducible, consider very
927 strongly recompiling your XEmacs with debugging symbols, with no
928 optimization, and with the configure options `--debug=yes' and
929 `--error-checking=all'. This will make your XEmacs run somewhat
930 slower but make it a lot more likely to catch the problem earlier
931 (closer to its source), and a lot easier to determine what's going
934 * If you're able to run XEmacs under a debugger and reproduce the
935 crash (if it's inconvenient to do this because XEmacs is already
936 running or is running in batch mode as part of a bunch of scripts,
937 consider attaching to the existing process with your debugger;
938 most debuggers let you do this by substituting the process ID for
939 the core file when you invoke the debugger from the command line,
940 or by using the `attach' command or something similar), here are
941 some things you can do:
943 * If XEmacs is hitting an assertion failure, put a breakpoint on
946 * If XEmacs is hitting some weird Lisp error that's causing it to
947 crash (e.g. during startup), put a breakpoint on
948 `signal_1()'--this is declared static in eval.c.
950 * Internally, you will probably see lots of variables that hold
951 objects of type `Lisp_Object'. These are exactly what they appear
952 to be, i.e. references to Lisp objects. Printing them out with
953 the debugger probably won't be too useful--you'll likely just see
954 a number. To decode them, do this:
956 call debug_print (OBJECT)
958 where OBJECT is whatever you want to decode (it can be a variable,
959 a function call, etc.). This will print out a readable
960 representation on the TTY from which the xemacs process was
963 * If you want to get a Lisp backtrace showing the Lisp call stack,
966 call debug_backtrace ()
968 * Using `debug_print' and `debug_backtrace' has two disadvantages -
969 it can only be used with a running xemacs process, and it cannot
970 display the internal C structure of a Lisp Object. Even if all
971 you've got is a core dump, all is not lost.
973 If you're using GDB, there are some macros in the file
974 `src/gdbinit' in the XEmacs source distribution that should make it
975 easier for you to decode Lisp objects. Copy this file to
976 `~/.gdbinit', or `source' it from `~/.gdbinit', and use the macros
977 defined therein. In particular, use the `pobj' macro to print the
978 internal C representation of a lisp object. This will work with a
979 core file or not-yet-run executable. The aliases `ldp' and `lbt'
980 are provided for conveniently calling `debug_print' and
983 If you are using Sun's `dbx' debugger, there is an equivalent file
984 `src/dbxrc' to copy to or source from `~/.dbxrc'.
986 * If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're
987 seeing stack traces with some of the innermost frames mangled, it
988 may be due to dynamic linking. (This happens especially under
989 Linux.) Consider reconfiguring with `--dynamic=no'. Also,
990 sometimes (again under Linux), stack backtraces of core dumps will
991 have the frame where the fatal signal occurred mangled; if you can
992 obtain a stack trace while running the XEmacs process under a
993 debugger, the stack trace should be clean.
995 Curtiss <1CMC3466@ibm.mtsac.edu> suggests upgrading to ld.so
996 version 1.8 if dynamic linking and debugging is a problem on Linux.
998 * If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're
999 getting a completely mangled and bogus stack trace, it's probably
1000 due to one of the following:
1002 a. Your executable has been stripped. Bad news. Tell your
1003 sysadmin not to do this--it doesn't accomplish anything
1004 except to save a bit of disk space, and makes debugging much
1007 b. Your stack is getting trashed. Debugging this is hard; you
1008 have to do a binary-search type of narrowing down where the
1009 crash occurs, until you figure out exactly which line is
1010 causing the problem. Of course, this only works if the bug
1011 is highly reproducible.
1013 c. If your stack trace has exactly one frame in it, with address
1014 0x0, this could simply mean that XEmacs attempted to execute
1015 code at that address, e.g. through jumping to a null function
1016 pointer. Unfortunately, under those circumstances, GDB under
1017 Linux doesn't know how to get a stack trace. (Yes, this is
1018 the third Linux-related problem I've mentioned. I have no
1019 idea why GDB under Linux is so bogus. Complain to the GDB
1020 authors, or to comp.os.linux.development.system). Again,
1021 you'll have to use the narrowing-down process described above.
1023 d. If you compiled 19.14 with `--debug' (or by default in later
1024 versions), you will get a Lisp backtrace output when XEmacs
1025 crashes, so you'll have something useful.
1028 * If you compile with the newer gcc variants gcc-2.8 or egcs, you
1029 will also need gdb 4.17. Earlier releases of gdb can't handle the
1030 debug information generated by the newer compilers.
1032 * The above information on using `src/gdbinit' works for XEmacs-21.0
1033 and above. For older versions of XEmacs, there are different
1034 `gdbinit' files provided in the `src' directory. Use the one
1035 corresponding to the configure options used when building XEmacs.
1039 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.16, Next: Q2.1.17, Prev: Q2.1.15, Up: Installation
1041 Q2.1.16: XEmacs crashes in `strcat' on HP/UX 10
1042 -----------------------------------------------
1044 From the problems database (through the former address
1045 http://support.mayfield.hp.com/):
1047 Problem Report: 5003302299
1050 System/Model: 9000/700
1051 Product Name: HPUX S800 10.0X
1052 Product Vers: 9245XB.10.00
1054 Description: strcat(3C) may read beyond
1055 end of source string, can cause SIGSEGV
1058 *** PROBLEM TEXT ***
1059 strcat(3C) may read beyond the source string onto an unmapped page,
1060 causing a segmentation violation.
1063 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.17, Next: Q2.1.18, Prev: Q2.1.16, Up: Installation
1065 Q2.1.17: `Marker does not point anywhere'
1066 -----------------------------------------
1068 As with other errors, set `debug-on-error' to `t' to get the
1069 backtrace when the error occurs. Specifically, two problems have been
1070 reported (and fixed).
1072 1. A problem with line-number-mode in XEmacs 19.14 affected a large
1073 number of other packages. If you see this error message, turn off
1076 2. A problem with some early versions of Gnus 5.4 caused this error.
1080 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.18, Next: Q2.1.19, Prev: Q2.1.17, Up: Installation
1082 Q2.1.18: 19.14 hangs on HP/UX 10.10.
1083 ------------------------------------
1085 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
1087 For the record, compiling on hpux 10.10 leads to a hang in Gnus
1088 when compiled with optimization on.
1090 I've just discovered that my hpux 10.01 binary was working less
1091 well than expected. In fact, on a 10.10 system, `(while t)' was not
1092 interrupted by `C-g'. I defined `BROKEN_SIGIO' and recompiled on
1093 10.10, and... the hang is now gone.
1095 As far as configure goes, this will be a bit tricky: `BROKEN_SIGIO'
1096 is needed on 10.10, but *not* on 10.01: if I run my 10.01 binary
1097 on a 10.01 machine, without `BROKEN_SIGIO' being defined, `C-g'
1100 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> adds:
1102 Apparently somebody has found the reason why there is this `poll:
1103 interrupted...' message for each event. For some reason, libcurses
1104 reimplements a `select()' system call, in a highly broken fashion.
1105 The fix is to add a -lc to the link line _before_ the -lxcurses.
1106 XEmacs will then use the right version of `select()'.
1108 Alain Fauconnet <af@biomath.jussieu.fr> writes:
1110 The _real_ solution is to _not_ link -lcurses in! I just changed
1111 -lcurses to -ltermcap in the Makefile and it fixed:
1113 1. The `poll: interrupted system call' message.
1115 2. A more serious problem I had discovered in the meantime, that
1116 is the fact that subprocess handling was seriously broken:
1117 subprocesses e.g. started by AUC TeX for TeX compilation of a
1118 buffer would _hang_. Actually they would wait forever for
1119 emacs to read the socket which connects stdout...
1122 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.19, Next: Q2.1.20, Prev: Q2.1.18, Up: Installation
1124 Q2.1.19: XEmacs does not follow the local timezone.
1125 ---------------------------------------------------
1127 When using one of the prebuilt binaries many users have observed that
1128 XEmacs uses the timezone under which it was built, but not the timezone
1129 under which it is running. The solution is to add:
1131 (set-time-zone-rule "MET")
1133 to your `.emacs' or the `site-start.el' file if you can. Replace
1134 `MET' with your local timezone.
1137 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.20, Next: Q2.1.21, Prev: Q2.1.19, Up: Installation
1139 Q2.1.20: `Symbol's function definition is void: hkey-help-show.'
1140 ----------------------------------------------------------------
1142 This is a problem with a partially loaded hyperbole. Try adding:
1144 (require 'hmouse-drv)
1146 where you load hyperbole and the problem should go away.
1149 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.21, Next: Q2.1.22, Prev: Q2.1.20, Up: Installation
1151 Q2.1.21: Every so often the XEmacs frame freezes
1152 ------------------------------------------------
1154 This problem has been fixed in 19.15, and was due to a not easily
1155 reproducible race condition.
1158 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.22, Next: Q2.1.23, Prev: Q2.1.21, Up: Installation
1160 Q2.1.22: XEmacs seems to take a really long time to do some things
1161 ------------------------------------------------------------------
1163 David Moore <dmoore@ucsd.edu> writes:
1165 Two things you can do:
1169 When you see it going mad like this, you might want to use gdb
1170 from an 'xterm' to attach to the running process and get a stack
1171 trace. To do this just run:
1173 gdb /path/to/xemacs/xemacs ####
1175 Where `####' is the process id of your xemacs, instead of
1176 specifying the core. When gdb attaches, the xemacs will stop [1]
1177 and you can type `where' in gdb to get a stack trace as usual. To
1178 get things moving again, you can just type `quit' in gdb. It'll
1179 tell you the program is running and ask if you want to quit
1180 anyways. Say 'y' and it'll quit and have your emacs continue from
1185 Turn on debug-on-quit early on. When you think things are going
1186 slow hit C-g and it may pop you in the debugger so you can see
1187 what routine is running. Press `c' to get going again.
1189 debug-on-quit doesn't work if something's turned on inhibit-quit
1190 or in some other strange cases.
1193 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.23, Next: Q2.1.24, Prev: Q2.1.22, Up: Installation
1195 Q2.1.23: Movemail on Linux does not work for XEmacs 19.15 and later.
1196 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
1198 Movemail used to work fine in 19.14 but has stopped working in 19.15
1199 and 20.x. I am using Linux.
1201 SL Baur <steve@xemacs.org> writes:
1203 Movemail on Linux used to default to using flock file locking.
1204 With 19.15 and later versions it now defaults to using `.lock' file
1205 locking. If this is not appropriate for your system, edit
1206 src/s/linux.h and uncomment the line that reads:
1208 #define MAIL_USE_FLOCK
1211 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.24, Prev: Q2.1.23, Up: Installation
1213 Q2.1.24: XEmacs won't start without network. (NEW)
1214 ---------------------------------------------------
1216 Q2.1.23: Movemail on Linux does not work for XEmacs 19.15 and later.
1218 If XEmacs starts when you're on the network, but fails when you're
1219 not on the network, you may be missing a "localhost" entry in your
1220 `/etc/hosts' file. The file should contain an entry like:
1224 Add that line, and XEmacs will be happy.