1 This is Info file ../info/xemacs-faq.info, produced by Makeinfo version
2 1.68 from the input file xemacs-faq.texi.
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.
62 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.1, Next: Q2.0.2, Prev: Installation, Up: Installation
67 Q2.0.1: Running XEmacs without installing
68 -----------------------------------------
70 The `INSTALL' file says that up to 108 MB of space is needed
71 temporarily during installation! How can I just try it out?
73 XEmacs will run in place without requiring installation and copying
74 of the Lisp directories, and without having to specify a special
75 build-time flag. It's the copying of the Lisp directories that
76 requires so much space. XEmacs is largely written in Lisp.
78 A good method is to make a shell alias for xemacs:
80 alias xemacs=/i/xemacs-20.2/src/xemacs
82 (You will obviously use whatever directory you downloaded the source
83 tree to instead of `/i/xemacs-20.2').
85 This will let you run XEmacs without massive copying.
88 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.2, Next: Q2.0.3, Prev: Q2.0.1, Up: Installation
90 Q2.0.2: XEmacs is too big
91 -------------------------
93 Although this entry has been written for XEmacs 19.13, most of it
96 Steve Baur <steve@altair.xemacs.org> writes:
98 The 45MB of space required by the installation directories can be
99 reduced dramatically if desired. Gzip all the .el files. Remove
100 all the packages you'll never want to use (or even ones you do
101 like the two obsolete mailcrypts and Gnus 4 in 19.13). Remove the
102 TexInfo manuals. Remove the Info (and use just hardcopy versions
103 of the manual). Remove most of the stuff in etc. Remove or gzip
104 all the source code. Gzip or remove the C source code. Configure
105 it so that copies are not made of the support lisp. I'm not
106 advocating any of these things, just pointing out ways to reduce
107 the disk requirements if desired.
109 Now examine the space used by directory:
111 0 /usr/local/bin/xemacs
112 2048 /usr/local/bin/xemacs-19.13
114 1546 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/i486-miranova-sco3.2v4.2
115 1158 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/i486-unknown-linux1.2.13
117 You need to keep these. XEmacs isn't stripped by default in
118 installation, you should consider stripping. That will save you
119 about 5MB right there.
121 207 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/w3
122 122 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/sounds
123 18 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/sparcworks
124 159 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/vm
125 6 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/e
126 21 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/eos
127 172 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/toolbar
128 61 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/ns
129 43 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc/gnus
131 These are support directories for various packages. In general
132 they match a directory under
133 ./xemacs-19.13/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/. If you do not require the
134 package, you may delete or gzip the support too.
136 1959 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/etc
137 175 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/bytecomp
138 340 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/calendar
139 342 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/comint
140 517 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/dired
141 42 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/electric
142 212 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/emulators
143 238 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/energize
144 289 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/gnus
145 457 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/ilisp
146 1439 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/modes
147 2276 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/packages
148 1040 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/prim
149 176 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/pcl-cvs
150 154 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/rmail
151 3 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/epoch
152 45 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/term
153 860 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/utils
154 851 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/vm
155 13 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/vms
156 157 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/x11
157 19 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/tooltalk
158 14 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/sunpro
159 291 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/games
160 198 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/edebug
161 619 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/w3
162 229 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/eos
163 55 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/iso
164 59 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/mailcrypt
165 187 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/eterm
166 356 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/ediff
167 408 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/hyperbole/kotl
168 1262 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/hyperbole
169 247 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/hm--html-menus
170 161 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/mh-e
171 299 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/viper
172 53 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-x
173 4 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx/English.lproj/DocWindow.nib
174 3 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx/English.lproj/InfoPanel.nib
175 3 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx/English.lproj/TreeView.nib
176 11 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx/English.lproj
177 53 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr/tree-nx
178 466 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp/oobr
179 14142 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp
181 These are all Emacs Lisp source code and bytecompiled object code.
182 You may safely gzip everything named *.el here. You may remove
183 any package you don't use. *Nothing bad will happen if you delete
184 a package that you do not use*. You must be sure you do not use
185 it though, so be conservative at first.
187 Possible candidates for deletion include w3 (newer versions exist,
188 or you may just use Lynx or Netscape for web browsing), games,
189 hyperbole, mh-e, hm-html-menus (better packages exist), vm, viper,
190 oobr, gnus (new versions exist), etc. Ask yourself, *Do I ever
191 want to use this package?* If the answer is no, then it is a
192 candidate for removal.
194 First, gzip all the .el files. Then go about package by package
195 and start gzipping the .elc files. Then run XEmacs and do
196 whatever it is you normally do. If nothing bad happens, then
197 delete the directory. Be conservative about deleting directories,
198 and it would be handy to have a backup tape around in case you get
201 `prim', `modes', `packages', and `utils' are four directories you
202 definitely do *not* want to delete, although certain packages can
203 be removed from them if you do not use them.
205 1972 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/info
207 These are online texinfo sources. You may either gzip them or
208 remove them. In either case, `C-h i' (info mode) will no longer
211 20778 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13
213 The 20MB achieved is less than half of what the full distribution
214 takes up, *and* can be achieved without deleting a single file.
216 Giacomo Boffi <boffi@hp735.stru.polimi.it> provides this procedure:
218 Substitute `/usr/local/lib/' with the path where the xemacs tree is
219 rooted, then use this script:
223 r=/usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.13/lisp
225 cd $r ; rm -f cmpr ; touch cmpr
233 # compress (remove) only (ONLY) the sources that have a
234 # corresponding compiled file --- do not (DO NOT)
235 # touch other sources
236 if test -f ${f}c ; then gzip -v9 $f >> $r/cmpr ; fi
244 A step beyond would be substituting `rm -f' for `gzip -v9', but
245 you have to be desperate for removing the sources (remember that
246 emacs can access compressed files transparently).
248 Also, a good megabyte could easily be trimmed from the $r/../etc
249 directory, e.g., the termcap files, some O+NEWS, others that I
250 don't remember as well.
252 XEmacs 21.0 will unbundle the lisp hierarchy and allow the
253 installer to choose exactly how much support code gets installed.
256 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.3, Next: Q2.0.4, Prev: Q2.0.2, Up: Installation
258 Q2.0.3: Compiling XEmacs with Netaudio.
259 ---------------------------------------
261 What is the best way to compile XEmacs with the netaudio system,
262 since I have got the netaudio system compiled but installed at a weird
263 place, I am not root. Also in the READMEs it does not say anything
264 about compiling with the audioserver?
266 You should only need to add some stuff to the configure command line.
267 To tell it to compile in netaudio support: `--with-sound=both', or
268 `--with-sound=nas' if you don't want native sound support for some
269 reason.) To tell it where to find the netaudio includes and libraries:
271 --site-libraries=WHATEVER
272 --site-includes=WHATEVER
274 Then (fingers crossed) it should compile and it will use netaudio if
275 you have a server running corresponding to the X server. The netaudio
276 server has to be there when XEmacs starts. If the netaudio server goes
277 away and another is run, XEmacs should cope (fingers crossed, error
278 handling in netaudio isn't perfect).
280 BTW, netaudio has been renamed as it has a name clash with something
281 else, so if you see references to NAS or Network Audio System, it's the
282 same thing. It also might be found at
283 `ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/audio/nas/'.
286 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.4, Next: Q2.0.5, Prev: Q2.0.3, Up: Installation
288 Q2.0.4: Problems with Linux and ncurses.
289 ----------------------------------------
291 On Linux 1.3.98 with termcap 2.0.8 and the ncurses that came with
292 libc 5.2.18, XEmacs 20.0b20 is unable to open a tty device:
295 Initialization error:
296 Terminal type `xterm' undefined (or can't access database?)
298 Ben Wing <ben@666.com> writes:
300 Your ncurses configuration is messed up. Your /usr/lib/terminfo
301 is a bad pointer, perhaps to a CD-ROM that is not inserted.
304 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.5, Next: Q2.0.6, Prev: Q2.0.4, Up: Installation
306 Q2.0.5: Do I need X11 to run XEmacs?
307 ------------------------------------
309 No. The name "XEmacs" is unfortunate in the sense that it is *not*
310 an X Window System-only version of Emacs. Starting with 19.14 XEmacs
311 has full color support on a color-capable character terminal.
314 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.6, Next: Q2.0.7, Prev: Q2.0.5, Up: Installation
316 Q2.0.6: I'm having strange crashes. What do I do?
317 --------------------------------------------------
319 There have been a variety of reports of crashes due to compilers with
320 buggy optimizers. Please see the `PROBLEMS' file that comes with
321 XEmacs to read what it says about your platform.
324 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.7, Next: Q2.0.8, Prev: Q2.0.6, Up: Installation
326 Q2.0.7: Libraries in non-standard locations
327 -------------------------------------------
329 I have x-faces, jpeg, xpm etc. all in different places. I've tried
330 space-separated, comma-separated, several -site-libraries, all to no
333 --site-libraries='/path/one /path/two /path/etc'
336 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.8, Next: Q2.0.9, Prev: Q2.0.7, Up: Installation
338 Q2.0.8: can't resolve symbol _h_errno
339 -------------------------------------
341 You are using the Linux/ELF distribution of XEmacs 19.14, and your
342 ELF libraries are out of date. You have the following options:
344 1. Upgrade your libc to at least 5.2.16 (better is 5.2.18, 5.3.12, or
347 2. Patch the XEmacs binary by replacing all occurrences of
348 `_h_errno^@' with `h_errno^@^@'. Any version of Emacs will
349 suffice. If you don't understand how to do this, don't do it.
351 3. Rebuild XEmacs yourself - any working ELF version of libc should be
354 Hrvoje Niksic <hniksic@srce.hr> writes:
356 Why not use a Perl one-liner for No. 2?
358 perl -pi -e 's/_h_errno\0/h_errno\0\0/g' \
359 /usr/local/bin/xemacs-19.14
361 NB: You *must* patch `/usr/local/bin/xemacs-19.14', and not
362 `xemacs' because `xemacs' is a link to `xemacs-19.14'; the Perl
363 `-i' option will cause unwanted side-effects if applied to a
366 SL Baur <steve@xemacs.org> writes:
368 If you build against a recent libc-5.4 (late enough to have caused
369 problems earlier in the beta cycle) and then run with an earlier
370 version of libc, you get a
373 xemacs: can't resolve symbol '__malloc_hook'
374 zsh: 7942 segmentation fault (core dumped) xemacs
376 (Example binary compiled against libc-5.4.23 and run with
379 The solution is to upgrade to at least libc-5.4.23. Sigh. Drat.
382 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.9, Next: Q2.0.10, Prev: Q2.0.8, Up: Installation
384 Q2.0.9: Where do I find external libraries?
385 -------------------------------------------
387 All external libraries used by XEmacs can be found at the XEmacs FTP
388 site `ftp://ftp.xemacs.org/pub/xemacs/aux/'.
390 The canonical locations (at the time of this writing) are as follows:
393 `ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/jpeg/'. Version 6a is current.
396 `ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/libraries/'. Version 3.4j is current.
397 Older versions of this package are known to cause XEmacs crashes.
400 `ftp://ftp.sgi.com/graphics/tiff/'. v3.4 is current. The latest
401 beta is v3.4b035. There is a HOWTO here.
404 `ftp://ftp.uu.net/graphics/png/'. 0.89c is current. XEmacs
405 requires a fairly recent version to avoid using temporary files.
407 `ftp://swrinde.nde.swri.edu/pub/png/src/'
410 `ftp://ftp.cs.indiana.edu/pub/faces/compface/'. This library has
411 been frozen for about 6 years, and is distributed without version
412 numbers. *It should be compiled with the same options that X11 was
413 compiled with on your system*. The version of this library at
414 XEmacs.org includes the `xbm2xface.pl' script, written by
415 <stig@hackvan.com>, which may be useful when generating your own
419 `ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/audio/nas/'. Version 1.2p5 is current.
423 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.10, Next: Q2.0.11, Prev: Q2.0.9, Up: Installation
425 Q2.0.10: After I run configure I find a core dump, is something wrong?
426 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
428 Not necessarily. If you have GNU sed 3.0 you should downgrade it to
429 2.05. From the `README' at prep.ai.mit.edu:
431 sed 3.0 has been withdrawn from distribution. It has major
432 revisions, which mostly seem to be improvements; but it turns out
433 to have bugs too which cause trouble in some common cases.
435 Tom Lord won't be able to work fixing the bugs until May. So in
436 the mean time, we've decided to withdraw sed 3.0 from distribution
437 and make version 2.05 once again the recommended version.
439 It has also been observed that the vfork test on Solaris will leave a
443 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.11, Next: Q2.0.12, Prev: Q2.0.10, Up: Installation
445 Q2.0.11: XEmacs doesn't resolve hostnames.
446 ------------------------------------------
448 This is the result of a long-standing problem with SunOS and the fact
449 that stock SunOS systems do not ship with DNS resolver code in libc.
451 Christopher Davis <ckd@loiosh.kei.com> writes:
453 That's correct [The SunOS 4.1.3 precompiled binaries don't do name
454 lookup]. Since Sun figured that everyone used NIS to do name
455 lookups (that DNS thing was apparently only a passing fad,
456 right?), the stock SunOS 4.x systems don't have DNS-based name
459 This is also why Netscape ships two binaries for SunOS 4.1.x.
461 The best solution is to compile it yourself; the configure script
462 will check to see if you've put DNS in the shared libc and will
463 then proceed to link against the DNS resolver library code.
466 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.12, Next: Q2.0.13, Prev: Q2.0.11, Up: Installation
468 Q2.0.12: Why can't I strip XEmacs?
469 ----------------------------------
471 Richard Cognot <cognot@fronsac.ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
473 Because of the way XEmacs (and every other Emacsen, AFAIK) is
474 built. The link gives you a bare-boned emacs (called temacs).
475 temacs is then run, preloading some of the lisp files. The result
476 is then dumped into a new executable, named xemacs, which will
477 contain all of the preloaded lisp functions and data.
479 Now, during the dump itself, the executable (code+data+symbols) is
480 written on disk using a special unexec() function. This function is
481 obviously heavily system dependent. And on some systems, it leads
482 to an executable which, although valid, cannot be stripped without
483 damage. If memory serves, this is especially the case for AIX
484 binaries. On other architecture it might work OK.
486 The Right Way to strip the emacs binary is to strip temacs prior to
487 dumping xemacs. This will always work, although you can do that
488 only if you install from sources (as temacs is `not' part of the
491 Nat Makarevitch <nat@nataa.fr.eu.org> writes:
495 1. [ ./configure; make ]
503 5. cp src/xemacs /usr/local/bin/xemacs
505 6. cp lib-src/DOC-19.16-XEmacs
506 /usr/local/lib/xemacs-19.16/i586-unknown-linuxaout
509 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.13, Next: Q2.0.14, Prev: Q2.0.12, Up: Installation
511 Q2.0.13: Problems linking with Gcc on Solaris
512 ---------------------------------------------
514 There are known difficulties linking with Gnu ld on Solaris. A
515 typical error message might look like:
517 unexec(): dlopen(../dynodump/dynodump.so): ld.so.1: ./temacs:
518 fatal: relocation error:
519 symbol not found: main: referenced in ../dynodump/dynodump.so
521 Martin Buchholz <martin@xemacs.org> writes:
523 You need to specify `-fno-gnu-linker' as part of your flags to pass
524 to ld. Future releases of XEmacs will try to do this
528 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.0.14, Next: Q2.1.1, Prev: Q2.0.13, Up: Installation
530 Q2.0.14: Make on HP/UX 9 fails after linking temacs
531 ---------------------------------------------------
533 Problem when building xemacs-19.16 on hpux 9:
535 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
537 make on hpux fails after linking temacs with a message:
539 "make: don't know how to make .y."
541 Solution: This is a problem with HP make revision 70.X. Either
542 use GNU make, or install PHCO_6552, which will bring make to
546 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.1, Next: Q2.1.2, Prev: Q2.0.14, Up: Installation
548 2.1: Trouble Shooting
549 =====================
551 Q2.1.1: Help! XEmacs just crashed on me!
552 -----------------------------------------
554 First of all, don't panic. Whenever XEmacs crashes, it tries
555 extremely hard to auto-save all of your files before dying. (The main
556 time that this will not happen is if the machine physically lost power
557 or if you killed the XEmacs process using `kill -9'). The next time
558 you try to edit those files, you will be informed that a more recent
559 auto-save file exists. You can use `M-x recover-file' to retrieve the
560 auto-saved version of the file.
562 Starting with 19.14, you may use the command `M-x recover-session'
563 after a crash to pick up where you left off.
565 Now, XEmacs is not perfect, and there may occasionally be times, or
566 particular sequences of actions, that cause it to crash. If you can
567 come up with a reproducible way of doing this (or even if you have a
568 pretty good memory of exactly what you were doing at the time), the
569 maintainers would be very interested in knowing about it. Post a
570 message to comp.emacs.xemacs or send mail to <crashes@xemacs.org>.
571 Please note that the `crashes' address is exclusively for crash reports.
573 If at all possible, include a stack backtrace of the core dump that
574 was produced. This shows where exactly things went wrong, and makes it
575 much easier to diagnose problems. To do this, you need to locate the
576 core file (it's called `core', and is usually sitting in the directory
577 that you started XEmacs from, or your home directory if that other
578 directory was not writable). Then, go to that directory and execute a
581 gdb `which xemacs` core
583 and then issue the command `where' to get the stack backtrace. You
584 might have to use `dbx' or some similar debugger in place of `gdb'. If
585 you don't have any such debugger available, complain to your system
588 It's possible that a core file didn't get produced, in which case
589 you're out of luck. Go complain to your system administrator and tell
590 him not to disable core files by default. Also *Note Q2.1.15::, for
591 tips and techniques for dealing with a debugger.
593 When making a problem report make sure that:
595 1. Report *all* of the information output by XEmacs during the crash.
597 2. You mention what O/S & Hardware you are running XEmacs on.
599 3. What version of XEmacs you are running.
601 4. What build options you are using.
603 5. If the problem is related to graphics, we will also need to know
604 what version of the X Window System you are running, and what
605 window manager you are using.
607 6. If the problem happened on a tty, please include the terminal type.
610 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.2, Next: Q2.1.3, Prev: Q2.1.1, Up: Installation
612 Q2.1.2: Cryptic Minibuffer messages.
613 ------------------------------------
615 When I try to use some particular option of some particular package,
616 I get a cryptic error in the minibuffer.
618 If you can't figure out what's going on, select Options/General
619 Options/Debug on Error from the Menubar and then try and make the error
620 happen again. This will give you a backtrace that may be enlightening.
621 If not, try reading through this FAQ; if that fails, you could try
622 posting to comp.emacs.xemacs (making sure to include the backtrace) and
623 someone may be able to help. If you can identify which Emacs lisp
624 source file the error is coming from you can get a more detailed stack
625 backtrace by doing the following:
627 1. Visit the .el file in an XEmacs buffer.
629 2. Issue the command `M-x eval-current-buffer'.
631 3. Reproduce the error.
633 Depending on the version of XEmacs, you may either select Edit->Show
634 Messages (19.13 and earlier) or Help->Recent Keystrokes/Messages (19.14
635 and later) from the menubar to see the most recent messages. This
636 command is bound to `C-h l' by default.
639 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.3, Next: Q2.1.4, Prev: Q2.1.2, Up: Installation
641 Q2.1.3: Translation Table Syntax messages at Startup
642 ----------------------------------------------------
644 I get tons of translation table syntax error messages during startup.
645 How do I get rid of them?
647 There are two causes of this problem. The first usually only strikes
648 people using the prebuilt binaries. The culprit in both cases is the
651 * The binary cannot find the `XKeysymDB' file. The location is
652 hardcoded at compile time so if the system the binary was built on
653 puts it a different place than your system does, you have
654 problems. To fix, set the environment variable XKEYSYMDB to the
655 location of the `XKeysymDB' file on your system or to the location
656 of the one included with XEmacs which should be at
657 `<xemacs_root_directory>/lib/xemacs-19.16/etc/XKeysymDB'.
659 * The binary is finding the XKeysymDB but it is out-of-date on your
660 system and does not contain the necessary lines. Either ask your
661 system administrator to replace it with the one which comes with
662 XEmacs (which is the stock R6 version and is backwards compatible)
663 or set your XKEYSYMDB variable to the location of XEmacs's
667 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.4, Next: Q2.1.5, Prev: Q2.1.3, Up: Installation
669 Q2.1.4: Startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
670 -----------------------------------------------------
672 How can I avoid the startup warnings about deducing proper fonts?
674 This is highly dependent on your installation, but try with the
675 following font as your base font for XEmacs and see what it does:
677 -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
679 More precisely, do the following in your resource file:
681 Emacs.default.attributeFont: \
682 -adobe-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1
684 If you just don't want to see the `*Warnings*' buffer at startup
685 time, you can set this:
687 (setq display-warning-minimum-level 'error)
689 The buffer still exists; it just isn't in your face.
692 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.5, Next: Q2.1.6, Prev: Q2.1.4, Up: Installation
694 Q2.1.5: XEmacs cannot connect to my X Terminal!
695 -----------------------------------------------
697 Help! I can not get XEmacs to display on my Envizex X-terminal!
699 Try setting the DISPLAY variable using the numeric IP address of the
700 host you are running XEmacs from.
703 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.6, Next: Q2.1.7, Prev: Q2.1.5, Up: Installation
705 Q2.1.6: XEmacs just locked up my Linux X server!
706 ------------------------------------------------
708 There have been several reports of the X server locking up under
709 Linux. In all reported cases removing speedo and scaled fonts from the
710 font path corrected the problem. This can be done with the command
713 It is possible that using a font server may also solve the problem.
716 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.7, Next: Q2.1.8, Prev: Q2.1.6, Up: Installation
718 Q2.1.7: HP Alt key as Meta.
719 ---------------------------
721 How can I make XEmacs recognize the Alt key of my HP workstation as a
724 Put the following line into a file and load it with xmodmap(1) before
727 remove Mod1 = Mode_switch
730 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.8, Next: Q2.1.9, Prev: Q2.1.7, Up: Installation
732 Q2.1.8: got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)
733 ------------------------------------------------------
735 Natalie Kershaw <nataliek@rd.scitec.com.au> writes:
737 I am trying to run xemacs 19.13 under X11R4. Whenever I move the
738 mouse I get the following error. Has anyone seen anything like
739 this? This doesn't occur on X11R5.
742 (error "got (wrong-type-argument color-instance-p nil)
743 and I don't know why!")
745 dinos <map01kd@gold.ac.uk> writes:
747 I think this is due to undefined resources; You need to define
748 color backgrounds and foregrounds into your
749 `.../app-defaults/Emacs' like:
751 *Foreground: Black ;everything will be of black on grey95,
752 *Background: Grey95 ;unless otherwise specified.
753 *cursorColor: Red3 ;red3 cursor with grey95 border.
754 *pointerColor: Red3 ;red3 pointer with grey95 border.
756 Natalie Kershaw adds:
758 What fixed the problem was adding some more colors to the X color
759 database (copying the X11R5 colors over), and also defining the
762 xemacs*cursorColor: black
763 xemacs*pointerColor: black
765 With the new colors installed the problem still occurs if the above
766 resources are not defined.
768 If the new colors are not present then an additional error occurs
769 on XEmacs startup, which says `Color Red3' not defined.
772 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.9, Next: Q2.1.10, Prev: Q2.1.8, Up: Installation
774 Q2.1.9: XEmacs causes my OpenWindows 3.0 server to crash.
775 ---------------------------------------------------------
777 The OpenWindows 3.0 server is incredibly buggy. Your best bet is to
778 replace it with one from the generic MIT X11 release. You might also
779 try disabling parts of your `.emacs', like enabling background pixmaps.
782 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.10, Next: Q2.1.11, Prev: Q2.1.9, Up: Installation
784 Q2.1.10: Warnings from incorrect key modifiers.
785 -----------------------------------------------
787 The following information comes from the `PROBLEMS' file that comes
790 If you're having troubles with HP/UX it is because HP/UX defines the
791 modifiers wrong in X. Here is a shell script to fix the problem; be
792 sure that it is run after VUE configures the X server.
795 xmodmap 2> /dev/null - << EOF
796 keysym Alt_L = Meta_L
797 keysym Alt_R = Meta_R
802 keysym Mode_switch = NoSymbol
804 keysym Meta_R = Mode_switch
805 add mod2 = Mode_switch
809 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.11, Next: Q2.1.12, Prev: Q2.1.10, Up: Installation
811 Q2.1.11: `Can't instantiate image error...' in toolbar
812 ------------------------------------------------------
814 Dr. Ram Samudrala <expt@alanine.ram.org> writes:
816 I just installed the XEmacs (20.4-2) RPMS that I downloaded from
817 `http://www.xemacs.org/'. Everything works fine, except that when I
818 place my mouse over the toolbar, it beeps and gives me this message:
820 Can't instantiate image (probably cached):
821 [xbm :mask-file "/usr/include/X11/bitmaps/leftptrmsk :mask-data
822 (16 16 <strange control characters> ...
824 Kyle Jones <kyle_jones@wonderworks.com> writes:
825 This is problem specific to some Chips and Technologies video
826 chips, when running XFree86. Putting
830 in `XF86Config' gets rid of the problem.
833 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.12, Next: Q2.1.13, Prev: Q2.1.11, Up: Installation
835 Q2.1.12: Problems with Regular Expressions on DEC OSF1.
836 -------------------------------------------------------
838 I have xemacs 19.13 running on an alpha running OSF1 V3.2 148 and
839 ispell would not run because it claimed the version number was incorrect
840 although it was indeed OK. I traced the problem to the regular
843 Douglas Kosovic <douglask@dstc.edu.au> writes:
845 Actually it's a DEC cc optimization bug that screws up the regexp
848 Rebuilding using the `-migrate' switch for DEC cc (which uses a
849 different sort of optimization) works fine.
851 See `xemacs-19_13-dunix-3_2c.patch' at the following URL on how to
852 build with the `-migrate' flag:
854 `http://www-digital.cern.ch/carney/emacs/emacs.html'
856 NOTE: There have been a variety of other problems reported that are
857 fixed in this fashion.
860 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.13, Next: Q2.1.14, Prev: Q2.1.12, Up: Installation
862 Q2.1.13: HP/UX 10.10 and `create_process' failure.
863 --------------------------------------------------
865 Dave Carrigan <Dave.Carrigan@ipl.ca> writes:
867 With XEmacs 19.13 and HP/UX 10.10, anything that relies on the
868 `create_process' function fails. This breaks a lot of things
869 (shell-mode, compile, ange-ftp, to name a few).
871 Phil Johnson <johnson@dtc.hp.com> writes:
873 This is a problem specific to HP-UX 10.10. It only occurs when
874 XEmacs is compiled for shared libraries (the default), so you can
875 work around it by compiling a statically-linked binary (run
876 configure with `--dynamic=no').
878 I'm not sure whether the problem is with a particular shared
879 library or if it's a kernel problem which crept into 10.10.
881 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
883 I had a few problems with 10.10. Apparently, some of them were
884 solved by forcing a static link of libc (manually).
887 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.14, Next: Q2.1.15, Prev: Q2.1.13, Up: Installation
889 Q2.1.14: `C-g' doesn't work for me. Is it broken?
890 --------------------------------------------------
892 Ben Wing <ben@666.com> writes:
894 `C-g' does work for most people in most circumstances. If it
895 doesn't, there are only two explanations:
897 1. The code is wrapped with a binding of `inhibit-quit' to `t'.
898 `Ctrl-Shift-G' should still work, I think.
900 2. SIGIO is broken on your system, but BROKEN_SIGIO isn't
903 To test #2, try executing `(while t)' from the `*scratch*' buffer.
904 If `C-g' doesn't interrupt, then you're seeing #2.
906 Morten Welinder <terra@diku.dk> writes:
908 On some (but *not* all) machines a hung XEmacs can be revived by
909 `kill -FPE <pid>'. This is a hack, of course, not a solution.
910 This technique works on a Sun4 running 4.1.3_U1. To see if it
911 works for you, start another XEmacs and test with that first. If
912 you get a core dump the method doesn't work and if you get
913 `Arithmetic error' then it does.
916 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.15, Next: Q2.1.16, Prev: Q2.1.14, Up: Installation
918 Q2.1.15: How to Debug an XEmacs problem with a debugger
919 -------------------------------------------------------
921 If XEmacs does crash on you, one of the most productive things you
922 can do to help get the bug fixed is to poke around a bit with the
923 debugger. Here are some hints:
925 * First of all, if the crash is at all reproducible, consider very
926 strongly recompiling your XEmacs with debugging symbols, with no
927 optimization, and with the configure options `--debug=yes' and
928 `--error-checking=all'. This will make your XEmacs run somewhat
929 slower but make it a lot more likely to catch the problem earlier
930 (closer to its source), and a lot easier to determine what's going
933 * If you're able to run XEmacs under a debugger and reproduce the
934 crash (if it's inconvenient to do this because XEmacs is already
935 running or is running in batch mode as part of a bunch of scripts,
936 consider attaching to the existing process with your debugger;
937 most debuggers let you do this by substituting the process ID for
938 the core file when you invoke the debugger from the command line,
939 or by using the `attach' command or something similar), here are
940 some things you can do:
942 * If XEmacs is hitting an assertion failure, put a breakpoint on
945 * If XEmacs is hitting some weird Lisp error that's causing it to
946 crash (e.g. during startup), put a breakpoint on
947 `signal_1()'--this is declared static in eval.c.
949 * Internally, you will probably see lots of variables that hold
950 objects of type `Lisp_Object'. These are exactly what they appear
951 to be, i.e. references to Lisp objects. Printing them out with
952 the debugger probably won't be too useful--you'll likely just see
953 a number. To decode them, do this:
955 call debug_print (OBJECT)
957 where OBJECT is whatever you want to decode (it can be a variable,
958 a function call, etc.). This will print out a readable
959 representation on the TTY from which the xemacs process was
962 * If you want to get a Lisp backtrace showing the Lisp call stack,
965 call debug_backtrace ()
967 * Using `debug_print' and `debug_backtrace' has two disadvantages -
968 it can only be used with a running xemacs process, and it cannot
969 display the internal C structure of a Lisp Object. Even if all
970 you've got is a core dump, all is not lost.
972 If you're using GDB, there are some macros in the file
973 `src/gdbinit' in the XEmacs source distribution that should make it
974 easier for you to decode Lisp objects. Copy this file to
975 `~/.gdbinit', or `source' it from `~/.gdbinit', and use the macros
976 defined therein. In particular, use the `pobj' macro to print the
977 internal C representation of a lisp object. This will work with a
978 core file or not-yet-run executable. The aliases `ldp' and `lbt'
979 are provided for conveniently calling `debug_print' and
982 If you are using Sun's `dbx' debugger, there is an equivalent file
983 `src/dbxrc' to copy to or source from `~/.dbxrc'.
985 * If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're
986 seeing stack traces with some of the innermost frames mangled, it
987 may be due to dynamic linking. (This happens especially under
988 Linux.) Consider reconfiguring with `--dynamic=no'. Also,
989 sometimes (again under Linux), stack backtraces of core dumps will
990 have the frame where the fatal signal occurred mangled; if you can
991 obtain a stack trace while running the XEmacs process under a
992 debugger, the stack trace should be clean.
994 Curtiss <1CMC3466@ibm.mtsac.edu> suggests upgrading to ld.so
995 version 1.8 if dynamic linking and debugging is a problem on Linux.
997 * If you're using a debugger to get a C stack backtrace and you're
998 getting a completely mangled and bogus stack trace, it's probably
999 due to one of the following:
1001 a. Your executable has been stripped. Bad news. Tell your
1002 sysadmin not to do this--it doesn't accomplish anything
1003 except to save a bit of disk space, and makes debugging much
1006 b. Your stack is getting trashed. Debugging this is hard; you
1007 have to do a binary-search type of narrowing down where the
1008 crash occurs, until you figure out exactly which line is
1009 causing the problem. Of course, this only works if the bug
1010 is highly reproducible.
1012 c. If your stack trace has exactly one frame in it, with address
1013 0x0, this could simply mean that XEmacs attempted to execute
1014 code at that address, e.g. through jumping to a null function
1015 pointer. Unfortunately, under those circumstances, GDB under
1016 Linux doesn't know how to get a stack trace. (Yes, this is
1017 the third Linux-related problem I've mentioned. I have no
1018 idea why GDB under Linux is so bogus. Complain to the GDB
1019 authors, or to comp.os.linux.development.system). Again,
1020 you'll have to use the narrowing-down process described above.
1022 d. If you compiled 19.14 with `--debug' (or by default in later
1023 versions), you will get a Lisp backtrace output when XEmacs
1024 crashes, so you'll have something useful.
1027 * If you compile with the newer gcc variants gcc-2.8 or egcs, you
1028 will also need gdb 4.17. Earlier releases of gdb can't handle the
1029 debug information generated by the newer compilers.
1031 * The above information on using `src/gdbinit' works for XEmacs-21.0
1032 and above. For older versions of XEmacs, there are different
1033 `gdbinit' files provided in the `src' directory. Use the one
1034 corresponding to the configure options used when building XEmacs.
1037 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.16, Next: Q2.1.17, Prev: Q2.1.15, Up: Installation
1039 Q2.1.16: XEmacs crashes in `strcat' on HP/UX 10
1040 -----------------------------------------------
1042 >From the problems database (through
1043 `http://support.mayfield.hp.com/'):
1045 Problem Report: 5003302299
1048 System/Model: 9000/700
1049 Product Name: HPUX S800 10.0X
1050 Product Vers: 9245XB.10.00
1052 Description: strcat(3C) may read beyond
1053 end of source string, can cause SIGSEGV
1056 *** PROBLEM TEXT ***
1057 strcat(3C) may read beyond the source string onto an unmapped page,
1058 causing a segmentation violation.
1061 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.17, Next: Q2.1.18, Prev: Q2.1.16, Up: Installation
1063 Q2.1.17: `Marker does not point anywhere'
1064 -----------------------------------------
1066 As with other errors, set `debug-on-error' to `t' to get the
1067 backtrace when the error occurs. Specifically, two problems have been
1068 reported (and fixed).
1070 1. A problem with line-number-mode in XEmacs 19.14 affected a large
1071 number of other packages. If you see this error message, turn off
1074 2. A problem with some early versions of Gnus 5.4 caused this error.
1078 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.18, Next: Q2.1.19, Prev: Q2.1.17, Up: Installation
1080 Q2.1.18: 19.14 hangs on HP/UX 10.10.
1081 ------------------------------------
1083 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> writes:
1085 For the record, compiling on hpux 10.10 leads to a hang in Gnus
1086 when compiled with optimization on.
1088 I've just discovered that my hpux 10.01 binary was working less
1089 well than expected. In fact, on a 10.10 system, `(while t)' was not
1090 interrupted by `C-g'. I defined `BROKEN_SIGIO' and recompiled on
1091 10.10, and... the hang is now gone.
1093 As far as configure goes, this will be a bit tricky: `BROKEN_SIGIO'
1094 is needed on 10.10, but *not* on 10.01: if I run my 10.01 binary
1095 on a 10.01 machine, without `BROKEN_SIGIO' being defined, `C-g'
1098 Richard Cognot <cognot@ensg.u-nancy.fr> adds:
1100 Apparently somebody has found the reason why there is this `poll:
1101 interrupted...' message for each event. For some reason, libcurses
1102 reimplements a `select()' system call, in a highly broken fashion.
1103 The fix is to add a -lc to the link line *before* the -lxcurses.
1104 XEmacs will then use the right version of `select()'.
1106 Alain Fauconnet <af@biomath.jussieu.fr> writes:
1108 The *real* solution is to *not* link -lcurses in! I just changed
1109 -lcurses to -ltermcap in the Makefile and it fixed:
1111 1. The `poll: interrupted system call' message.
1113 2. A more serious problem I had discovered in the meantime, that
1114 is the fact that subprocess handling was seriously broken:
1115 subprocesses e.g. started by AUC TeX for TeX compilation of a
1116 buffer would *hang*. Actually they would wait forever for
1117 emacs to read the socket which connects stdout...
1120 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.19, Next: Q2.1.20, Prev: Q2.1.18, Up: Installation
1122 Q2.1.19: XEmacs does not follow the local timezone.
1123 ---------------------------------------------------
1125 When using one of the prebuilt binaries many users have observed that
1126 XEmacs uses the timezone under which it was built, but not the timezone
1127 under which it is running. The solution is to add:
1129 (set-time-zone-rule "MET")
1131 to your `.emacs' or the `site-start.el' file if you can. Replace
1132 `MET' with your local timezone.
1135 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.20, Next: Q2.1.21, Prev: Q2.1.19, Up: Installation
1137 Q2.1.20: `Symbol's function definition is void: hkey-help-show.'
1138 ----------------------------------------------------------------
1140 This is a problem with a partially loaded hyperbole. Try adding:
1142 (require 'hmouse-drv)
1144 where you load hyperbole and the problem should go away.
1147 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.21, Next: Q2.1.22, Prev: Q2.1.20, Up: Installation
1149 Q2.1.21: Every so often the XEmacs frame freezes
1150 ------------------------------------------------
1152 This problem has been fixed in 19.15, and was due to a not easily
1153 reproducible race condition.
1156 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.22, Next: Q2.1.23, Prev: Q2.1.21, Up: Installation
1158 Q2.1.22: XEmacs seems to take a really long time to do some things
1159 ------------------------------------------------------------------
1161 David Moore <dmoore@ucsd.edu> writes:
1163 Two things you can do:
1167 When you see it going mad like this, you might want to use gdb
1168 from an 'xterm' to attach to the running process and get a stack
1169 trace. To do this just run:
1171 gdb /path/to/xemacs/xemacs ####
1173 Where `####' is the process id of your xemacs, instead of
1174 specifying the core. When gdb attaches, the xemacs will stop [1]
1175 and you can type `where' in gdb to get a stack trace as usual. To
1176 get things moving again, you can just type `quit' in gdb. It'll
1177 tell you the program is running and ask if you want to quit
1178 anyways. Say 'y' and it'll quit and have your emacs continue from
1183 Turn on debug-on-quit early on. When you think things are going
1184 slow hit C-g and it may pop you in the debugger so you can see
1185 what routine is running. Press `c' to get going again.
1187 debug-on-quit doesn't work if something's turned on inhibit-quit
1188 or in some other strange cases.
1191 File: xemacs-faq.info, Node: Q2.1.23, Prev: Q2.1.22, Up: Installation
1193 Q2.1.23: Movemail on Linux does not work for XEmacs 19.15 and later.
1194 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
1196 Movemail used to work fine in 19.14 but has stopped working in 19.15
1197 and 20.x. I am using Linux.
1199 SL Baur <steve@xemacs.org> writes:
1201 Movemail on Linux used to default to using flock file locking.
1202 With 19.15 and later versions it now defaults to using `.lock' file
1203 locking. If this is not appropriate for your system, edit
1204 src/s/linux.h and uncomment the line that reads:
1206 #define MAIL_USE_FLOCK