5 Known Problems and Workarounds
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1. Introduction
The X Window System is a device-independent, network-
transparent window system developed at MIT. It runs on a
wide range of computing and graphics systems. The X window
server mediates all access to the graphics display and
allows it to be shared by both 2D and 3D applications.
Note: Packaged with your 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.
This document contains the following chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Installation Information
3. Changes and Additions
4. Bug Fixes
5. Known Problems and Workarounds
1.1 Release_Identification_Information
Following is the release identification information for X
Window System:
Version 3.1.2
Product Code SC4-W4D-5.2
System Software Requirements IRIX 5.2
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. You can also view the release notes directly
from the CD, without installing them; see the pamphlet in
the CD case for instructions.
If you have a graphics system, select ``Release Notes'' from
the Help toolchest. This displays the grelnotes(1) graphical
browser for the online release notes. Refer to the
grelnotes(1) man page for information on options to this
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command.
If have a nongraphics system, you can use the relnotes
command. Refer to the relnotes(1) man page for accessing
the online release notes.
1.3 Product_Support
Silicon Graphics, Inc., provides a comprehensive product
support maintenance program for its products.
If you are in the U.S. or Canada and would like support for
your Silicon Graphics-supported products, contact the
Technical Assistance Center at 1-800-800-4SGI.
If you are outside these areas, contact the Silicon Graphics
subsidiary or authorized distributor in your country.
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2. Installation_Information
This chapter lists supplemental information 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 X_Window_System_Subsystems
The X software includes these subsystems:
x_eoe.sw.Server The X window server. You must
install this if you want to use any
graphics on your system. The font
server is also contained in this
subsystem.
x_eoe.sw.eoe A set of necessary tools for
managing your X11 window server.
This subsystem must be installed to
run any X clients.
x_eoe.sw.Xfonts Font datafiles used by most X
applications. Most applications do
not work without these.
x_eoe.sw.Xoptfonts A set of optional X fonts. Most
applications can work without these
fonts.
x_eoe.sw.Xapps Useful application programs written
using the X Window System.
x_eoe.sw.Xgifts Application programs written using
the X Window System. They are not
supported by Silicon Graphics, but
are provided ``as is.''
x_eoe.sw.pex The dynamically loaded PEX X Window
System extension and PEX fonts.
x_eoe.sw.xdps The dynamically loaded Display
PostScript X server extension.
x_eoe.man.eoe Manual pages for the applications
provided in the eoe subsystem.
x_eoe.man.Xapps Manual pages for the applications
provided in the Xapps subsystem.
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x_eoe.man.Xgifts Manual pages for the applications
provided in the Xgifts subsystem.
x_eoe.man.Server Manual pages for the X11R5 window
server.
x_eoe.man.relnotes These release notes.
2.2 Installation_Method
All of the subsystems for X can be installed using IRIX.
You do not need to use the miniroot. Refer to the IRIS
Software Installation Guide for complete installation
instructions.
2.3 X_Window_System_Subsystem_Disk_Space_Requirements
This section lists the subsystems of the X Window System,
along with their sizes and whether they are installed by
default. If you are installing this option for the first
time, the subsystems marked ``default'' 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, before you 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)
x_eoe.sw.Server (default) 13443
x_eoe.sw.eoe (default) 17022
x_eoe.sw.Xfonts (default) 8362
x_eoe.sw.Xoptfonts 3042
x_eoe.sw.Xapps (default) 3656
x_eoe.sw.Xgifts 2437
x_eoe.sw.pex 2538
x_eoe.sw.xdps 10832
x_eoe.man.eoe (default) 763
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x_eoe.man.Xapps (default) 581
x_eoe.man.Xgifts 240
x_eoe.man.Server (default) 122
x_eoe.man.relnotes (default) 20
2.4 Prerequisites
To Install... You Must Also Install...
x_eoe.sw.Xgifts or x_eoe.sw.eoe
x_eoe.sw.Xapps
x_eoe.sw.Xfonts x_eoe.sw.Server
x_eoe.sw.Server x_eoe.sw.eoe
x_eoe.sw.pex x_eoe.sw.Server
x_eoe.sw.xdps x_eoe.sw.Server, dps_eoe.sw.dpsfonts
x_eoe.sw.eoe eoe1.sw.cpp, compiler_eoe.sw.cpp
x_eoe.sw.Xoptfonts x_eoe.sw.Server
x_eoe.sw.Xapps x_eoe.sw.eoe
x_eoe.sw.Xgifts x_eoe.sw.eoe
2.5 Configuration_Files
The X Window System and its applications are highly
configurable. Please refer to the manual pages for xdm(1)
or the application you wish to configure.
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3. Changes_and_Additions
o The Xlib library has new support for
internationalization. Many of the tools needed to
produce internationalized applications have themselves
been internationalized: atobm, bmtoa, editres, listres,
viewres, bitmap, xclipboard, xcutsel, xedit, and xmh.
o Scalable fonts are supported, allowing a font to be
displayed at any point size.
o Adobe Type1 and Bitstream Speedo fonts can be read by
the X server and scaled. The Type1 fonts used by the
IRIS Font Manager and Display PostScriptr (DPS) can now
be made available to normal X clients.
o A font server is supported, allowing the X server to
retrieve fonts remotely. It is located at
/usr/bin/X11/fs. chkconfig fontserver enables a font
server. A font server can be added to your font path
with the command:
xset +fp tcp/mumble.abc:7000
where tcp is the name of the transport, mumble.abc is
the name of the system the font server is running on,
and 7000 is the port the font server listens to (7000
is the traditional port for the font server).
o Most of the important X libraries are now supported as
dynamic shared libraries. This includes Xlib, Xt, Xmu,
Xaw, Xext, and Xi. This can significantly reduce the
size of many X executables. In IRIX 4.0, only Xlib and
Xt were supported as shared libraries, and they were
statically linked.
o The X server now consumes less memory when it is
running. When possible, the server even decreases its
size.
o Many bugs have been fixed and enhancements made to the
MIT clients. These clients are now part of the X Gifts
product. Silicon Graphics does not support them.
o When started by xdm, the X server starts up with a
light blue background instead of the black and white
basketweave. This was done to reduce flickering at
power-up.
o Libraries and include files match those supplied by MIT
for X11R5.
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o Rendering performance into 16- and 32-bit-deep pixmaps
has been improved.
o The PEX extension is now available. It is compatible
with Open3D 2.0 from Digital Equipment Corporation, and
it supports the immediate rendering and structure store
subsets (but not the workstation subset) of the PEX 5.1
protocol. A PEX library has also been supplied.
o The new x_eoe.sw.Xoptfonts subsystem contains less
often used X fonts. If you use Open Look Lucida fonts,
Hebrew fonts, Utopia bold or italic fonts, Charter
fonts, or SGI custom fonts like Rock or Haeberli,
install this subsystem. This subsystem is not
installed by default.
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4. Bug_Fixes
o The X server's memory allocation has been improved. It
does not grow as quickly as in previous releases and
should not grow as large.
o Applications written with the XView library do not hang
the X server as they did in some releases of IRIX
4.0.5.
o The X Input Extension is now supported.
o The X Display PostScript extension is now supported.
o The version of xdm on the system now supports all X11R5
features.
o XGetImage performance is improved.
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5. Known_Problems_and_Workarounds
o The X Display PostScript extension is now working in
IRIX 5.0.1. Note that it is a prerequisite for the
IRIS Impressario product. If you wish to run
Impressario on your system, be sure to install:
dps_eoe.sw.dps * 246+ DPS Base Execution Environment
dps_eoe.sw.dpsfonts * 2212+ DPS Base Execution Environment Support
Otherwise, dps_eoe is not required to run X.
o Applications built with -lsocket (the MIPS ABI-
compliant way) cannot connect to the X server using
UNIXr Domain Sockets (unix:0). Instead, they must use
the TCP/IP loopback mechanism (localhost:0).
Applications not explicitly linking in libsocket work
with UNIX Domain Sockets. This will be fixed in a
later release.
o The shared memory transport interface (shm:0) has
changed between 4.0.5 and 5.1. COFF-based executables
that attempt to use shared memory transport silently
fall back to UNIX Domain Sockets.
o The PCF font format has changed between IRIX 4.0.X and
5.1. Silicon Graphics has supplied new versions of all
its PCF files. The bdftopcf utility produces 5.1-
compatible PCF files. The IRIX 4 utility showpcf does
not understand the new PCF format, so results from it
are no longer meaningful.
o If you are getting your password via NIS and the NIS
server fails, xlock may crash. At that point, your
system is unlocked. A possible work-around is to keep
a copy of the password file on your local machine.
o xstdcmap does not work properly, nor do the colormap
utilities in libXmu. The X server creates the standard
colormap properties by default at startup. They work
properly if not accessed through libXmu.
o GL overlay windows are not clipped properly when
obscured by a window in the overlays.
o libXt assumes that time always moves forward. If you
turn the system clock backwards, applications built
with libXt will behave improperly and often consume too
much of the system CPU. You must stop and restart
these applications.
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o If a device is already grabbed, subsequent calls to
XSetDeviceValuators will hang the application.
o The X server does not yet support the large request
mechanism. Protocol requests are limited to 64K words
(262,144 bytes) in length. This applies to the core X
protocol as well as to extension protocols such as PEX.
o The PEX extension does not support texture mapping or
anti-aliasing.
o PEX applications should use PEXMatchRenderingTargets to
determine what visual to use. The SGI PEX
implementation advertises a single PEX-capable
TrueColor visual supporting depth buffering via
PEXMatchRenderingTargets.
o PEX applications that store structures in the server
can fail with a PEXLabelError protocol error if they
attempt to locate elements with an offset from the
beginning of a structure ("whence" argument ==
PEXBeginning). This can only occur as a result of
calling PEXDeleteToLabel(), PEXCopyElements(), or
PEXElementSearch(). This problem can be avoided by
using PEXCurrent or PEXEnd as the "whence" argument.
o This message is for Indy users with the 14" monitor
installed. In order to comply with EN69241 part 3, the
font used for the terminal emulator window must be at
least as large as: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal--20-140-
100-100-c-100-iso8859-1