3 Known Problems and Workarounds
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1. Introduction
This release note documents the Silicon Graphics Help
System, SGIHelp. SGIHelp is based upon the IRIS InSight
technology. Content that is displayed to the user is
retrieved directly from a set of IRIS InSight "books". Once
within the SGIHelp Viewer, the user can scroll throught the
text, navigate via hypertext links, view glossary terms,
print, and browse an available Index of Help topics for the
particular application that generated a help request.
SGIHelp is an application that is invoked only when a
request is made to get ``Help''. A user should never have to
start SGIHelp from the command-line.
Note: Packaged with this software is a separate sheet that
contains the Software License Agreement. This
software is provided to you solely under the terms
and conditions of the Software License Agreement.
Please take a few moments to review the Agreement.
These release notes contain the following chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Installation Information
3. Known Problems and Workarounds
1.1 Release_Identification_Information
Following is the release identification information for
SGIHelp:
Software Option Product SGIHelp
Version 1.0.1
System Software Requirements IRIX 5.2 or later
1.2 Online_Release_Notes
After you install the online documentation for a product
(the relnotes subsystem), you can view the release notes on
your screen.
Select ``Release Notes'' from the Help submenu of the
Toolchest. This displays the grelnotes(1) graphical browser
for the online release notes.
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Refer to the grelnotes(1) man page for information on
options to this command.
1.3 Online_Help
After you install the SGIHelp product, you can view the
online help that is available for the product.
The online help can be accessed from the ``Help'' menu item
of the Viewer or from the ``Help'' pushbutton of the Index
window.
1.4 Product_Support
Silicon Graphics, Inc., provides a comprehensive product
support maintenance program for its products.
If you are in North America and would like support for your
Silicon Graphics-supported products, contact the Technical
Assistance Center at
1-800-800-4SGI.
If you are outside North America, contact the Silicon
Graphics subsidiary or authorized distributor in your
country.
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2. Installation_Information
This chapter lists information supplemental to the IRIS
Software Installation Guide. The information listed here is
product-specific; use it with the Installation Guide to
install this product.
2.1 SGIHelp_Subsystems
This area includes a description of all relevant and
interesting subsystems that apply to the usage of the
SGIHelp environment.
The SGIHelp product includes these subsystems:
sgihelp.books.ViewerHelp SGIHelp help
application information
sgihelp.man.man SGIHelp man pages
sgihelp.man.relnotes SGIHelp release notes
(this document)
sgihelp.sw.eoe SGIHelp software
Other required subsystems include:
insight.sw.data data files shared by
IRIS InSight and
SGIHelp
insight_gloss.books.global IRIS InSight Glossary
Help content for the IndigoMagic Desktop on the Indy
platform is retrieved from the following IRIS InSight
books (subject to change):
desktop_eoe.books.DesktopHelp IndigoMagic Desktop
Help
desktop_eoe.books.IRISEssentials Desktop IRIS
Essentials
desktop_tools.books.Utilities Desktop IRIS Utilities
Guide
desktop_eoe.books.PerSysAdmin Desktop Personal System
Administration Guide
insight.books.help IRIS InSight Viewer
Help
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desktop_eoe.books.ErrorMessageHelp Desktop Help on
Error Messages
sysmon.books.ErrorHelp Desktop System Monitor
Error Message Help
sysmon.books.Help Desktop System Monitor
Help
Help content for a non-IndigoMagic Desktop is
retrieved from the following IRIS InSight books
(subject to change):
desktop_tools.books.Utilities IRIS Utilities Guide
insight.books.help IRIS InSight Viewer
Help
2.2 SGIHelp_Subsystem_Disk_Space_Requirements
This section lists the subsystems (and their sizes) of the
SGIHelp software.
All of the subsystems are installed if you use the ``go''
menu item. To install a different set of subsystems, use
the ``install,'' ``remove,'' ``keep,'' and ``step'' commands
in inst to customize the list of subsystems to be installed,
then select the ``go'' menu item.
Note: The listed subsystem sizes are approximate. Refer to
the IRIS Software Installation Guide for information
on finding exact sizes.
Subsystem Name Subsystem Size
(512-byte blocks)
sgihelp.books.ViewerHelp 340
sgihelp.man.man 10
sgihelp.man.relnotes 25
sgihelp.sw.eoe 6700
2.3 Installation_Method
All of the subsystems for SGIHelp can be installed using
IRIX. You do not need to use the miniroot. Refer to the
IRIS Software Installation Guide for complete installation
instructions.
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2.4 Other_Installation_Information
Refer to the IRIS InSight release notes concerning
information about the installation of books (content).
If the on-line books are being mounted from another source,
and are not installed locally, the directory /usr/share/help
should also be mounted from the same source. This directory
contains application helpmap files which aid SGIHelp in
determining what information to display for a given help
request.
2.5 Execution_After_Installation
After the software has been installed, you might want to
force your shell to re-cache its list of known executables:
rehash
You should never have to explicitely execute the sgihelp
process. It will automatically start when a help request is
made from another application (via a ``Help'' menu item,
``Help'' pushbutton, or a direct message).
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3. Known_Problems_and_Workarounds
This chapter describes the known problems with the current
release of the SGIHelp Viewer and how to work around them.
3.1 SGIHelp_Viewer
o Occasionally, when a help request is made from an
application, an informational message may come from the
SGIHelp process:
Sorry, information on that help topic is not available
at this time for this application. You may need to install
certain IRIS InSight books. For the product you are requesting
help for, you may wish to install the following book(s) from
their corresponding subsystem: <> <>
This message indicates that the Help content for this
application has not been installed. Refer to the the
``Installation Information'' found in this document, or
refer to the release notes for the application that you
wish to receive help on, for further information.
Once the book is installed, the SGIHelp process will
need to be restarted in order for it to utilize the
newly-installed book. To do this, determine if sgihelp
is currently running using the ``ps'' command:
% ps -ef | grep sgihelp
SGIhelp will quit normally after a certain amount of
time of inactivity (See below for further information
on this). However, if you wish not to wait, then
execute the ``killall'' command on sgihelp (if other
user's are accessing SGIHelp on your system, this
command should be be executed by a privileged user):
% /etc/killall sgihelp
At this point, make your help request again, and
SGIHelp should find and use the newly-installed book.
o If the on-line books are being mounted from another
source, and are not installed locally, the directory
/usr/share/help should also be mounted from the same
source. This directory contains application helpmap
files which aid SGIHelp in determining what information
to display for a given help request.
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o Some glossary terms (underlined terms in the content)
might be missing from the Glossary. When you click on
such a term, the viewer may beep, indicating a warning
that the term was not found.
o When you drag the scroll elevator in the Viewer, it may
appear to flash. To workaround this problem, page up or
down by clicking above or below the elevator (or use
the keys); or line up or down by clicking on the arrows
in the scrollbar area (or use the arrow keys).
o If you are using a mountable file system off the CD-ROM
to retrieve and view your content (see the IRIS InSight
Release Notes for information on this), and the SGIHelp
process has been accessing data from it, you may not be
able to eject the CD-ROM immediately, despite the fact
that the SGIHelp Viewer is not currently being
displayed.
This is due to the fact that the SGIHelp process
remains in the process queue waiting to receive other
help requests. It will remain around for a default time
of 10 minutes.
Note that the ``10 minutes'' is a configurable number
which a user could change in the application defaults
file, or override in a local Xdefaults file. The
resource is called ``TimeoutInMin''.
After the designated time has passed, SGIHelp will
quit, allowing the user to eject the CD-ROM. If you
wish not to wait, then execute the ``killall'' command
on sgihelp (if other user's are accessing SGIHelp on
your system, this command should be executed by a
privileged user):
% /etc/killall sgihelp
Many applications also use the information found on the
CD-ROM to automatically configure their ``Help'' menu.
Because of that, ``Help'' menus for these applications
can be configured improperly, until content becomes
available. At that point, the application should be
stopped and re-invoked to ensure that it reads the
content properly.
The SGIHelp process itself will tell the user if
content is unavailable. Upon receiving a request, it
will start up (if not already running), and display the
message:
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Cannot find any books to read! Exiting...
Re-mounting the file system off the CD-ROM and making
another help request from an application should remedy
this. The alternative is to install the applicable IRIS
Insight books on your hard disk.
Refer to the IRIS InSight release notes, the
``Installation Information'' found in this document, or
to the release notes for the application that you wish
to receive help on, for further information.
o See the IRIS InSight release notes, ``Known Problems
and Workarounds'' for additional information.