X11: Frequently Asked Questions

[Phil St. Romain]

The following FAQs are valid up to/including Panther

- most content from sao -

NOTE: This is a closed thread. Please post questions and comments on threads about these topics on this forum, or start a new topic if none exists.

- - -

See also the following FAQs
X11 users group
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/x-faq/xfree86/
http://www.xfree86.org/current/

_________________________________

INDEX OF TOPICS (listed by post # in thread).

General info for getting started

1. Index
2. X11, Xfree86, X-Window: General information.
3. X11 installation
4. Locating software to run on X11
5. Installing software to run on X11
- 5.1 What is Fink?
- 5.2 Using Fink to install Software in Apple X11
- 5.3 Fink: Setting your PATH environment variable
- 5.4 (Miscellaneous - forthcoming)
6. Opening software using xterm or the application launcher.
7. The .xinitrc file

Tips and troubleshooting

8. How do I run X11 applications from a Terminal.app window?
9. The hide command actually destroys the X11 windows. Any solution?
10. True Type Fonts are working well under Apple's X11
11. The Mac menu bar coverup problem
12. Minimized windows
13. Events to the X11 root window

- Keyboard Issues -

14. Keyboard Problem
15. Delete key
16. To specify your Keyboard type (French Keyboard example)
17. Switching from USA to Italian Pro Keyboard in X11
18. Specific German keymapping Problem
19. Japanese keyboard input
20. Spanish Keyboard with X11


21. Hover events from underlying app
22. Cut and Paste Problem
23. Resize gadget completely covers the scroll
24. How to run apps at launch
25. Trouble getting ssh-agent working with Apple X11
26. Problem with zombies
27. Problem with KDE and Apple's X11
28. Problems replacing Fink Xfree86 with Apple's X11
29. Confusion with Fink 'system-xfree86' placeholder package
30. Reflections on Firewall rule for X11 usage
31. How to pause a Fink installation for X11
32. To tell Matlab to use Apple's X11 public beta
33. To make xterm in Apple's X11 behave more like Terminal.app
34. Apple's X11 won't start anymore
35. Apple X11 Library Warning
36. Integrating LyX for Apple's X11


Apple's X11 PUBLIC BETA for MacOS X v0.2

37. Upgrading to Apple's X11 Public Beta 0.2
38. New in X11 v0.2
39. Launch of twm instead of Aqua Quartz Window Manager issue
40. What does the "option for no-click-to-focus" do?
41. X11 0.2 crashing on launch
42. Apple's FAQs for X11 Public Beta v0.2 (2 Parts)
43. Fink Script to fix the library issues in Apple's X11
44. About x11 Extension
45. Keyboard shortcut to quit X11
46. To keep your .dmg files
47. Custom Xmodmap files
48. Windows not refocusing with WindowMaker - Codetek?
49. If the 'nph-x11.hqx' file doesn't expand
50. X11 for Mac OS X Beta 0.2.1 released
51. If you installed both, Apple's X11 and XDarwin
52. Print from X11 applications using "lp"
53. Configure a three-button mouse to work with X11.app
54. KDE window opens with it's title bar hidden underneath X11's menu bar
55. X11, Fonts, and OpenOffice
56. More on OpenOffice
57. AppleScript to launch Apple's X11 and The Gimp
58. Printing from Abiword


Apple's X11 PUBLIC BETA for MacOS X v0.3

59. Download Apple's X11 Public Beta v0.3 and SDK
60. What's New in X11 Public Beta 3
61. Apple's FAQs for X11 Public Beta v0.3
62. Fink and Apple's X11 v.03
63. KDE 3.1 in Fink Stable and Apple's X11
64. Pseudocolor (8-bit) visual plane support
65. xman from Apple's X11 v.03
66. Howto: Seamless Postscript printing
67. Trouble launching OOo with Apple's X11
68. OpenOffice + Fink + dlcompat libraries
69. To get xterm to support scrollback while in "screen"
70. If you are using Fink installed KDE and Apple's X11
71. Installing Matlab on Mac OS X With Apple's X11
72. To start OOo with Apple's X11
73. To activate the "font menu" in xterm
74. Application to launch gv in Finder
75. Instructions to download and compile X11-wwdc (v1.0) source code
76. Latest Apple Developer Tools Update and Fink
77. To install OpenOffice if you have already Apple's X11 and Fink installed
78. X11 for Mac OS X v1.0 to ship in Panther
79. Source code for the X11 v1.0 in the GM version of Panther


Apple's X11 1.0 for MacOS X 10.3 (Panther)

80. Installing Apple's X11 1.0 in Panther.
81. Installing Xcode and the X11 SDK package.
82. Fresh install of Fink on a 10.3 system (Panther)
83. Upgrading your previous Fink installation.
84. "Check for circular dependencies" error.
85. Can't find X11.app after installation of Apple's X11 in Panther.
86. Full screen mode in Apple's X11 1.0.
87. Cut and Paste if you don't use quartz-wm.
88. Fink keep asking to install xfree86 after installing Apple's X11 1.0 in Panther.
89. I upgraded to Apple's X11 in Panther and now my window title bars are missing
90. To remove your Fink xfree86 packages and install Apple's X11 1.0
91. Apple's X11 1.0 in Panther and CodeTek VirtualDesktop.
92. "The State of Fink"
93. Fink "Circular Dependency Problem" Solved
94. Official Apple's X11 1.0 FAQ
95. Is it possible to run Apple's X11 logging in as ">console" ?
96. To make Terminal.app and X11 boot in csh?
97. Using Apple's X11 1.0 "Applications" menu in Panther
98. The startx script in Apple's X11 for Panther
99. Problem with the "kde binaries" on panther
100. Double-click apps — Launch X11 applications directly in the Finder
101. Matlab - license manager doesn't start at startup
102. Apple's X11 Customization
103. Apple X11 Beta 3 alternatives
104. X11 1.0 for Panther
105. Display InsightII™ from SGI to Panther
106. X11 Forwarding on MacOS X
107. Sharing the Fink
108. Matlab and Apple's X11
109. Fink, the X11SDK and the Apple Installer
110. Using Xnest to run X11 sessions in a window
111. X11 Bug fixes in 10.3.4

[Phil St. Romain]

Q. What is X11 for Mac OS?

A. X11 for Mac OS X offers a complete X Window System implementation for running X11-based applications on Mac OS X. Based on the de facto-standard for X11, the open source XFree86 project, X11 for Mac OS X is compatible, fast and fully integrated with Mac OS X. It includes the full X11R6.6 technology including a window server, libraries and basic utilities such as xterm.
- from http://www.apple.com/macosx/x11/


Q. What does "X11-based applications" mean?

A. These are applications that run in the X Window System, which is an open source graphic rendering engine used in Unix and Linux operating systems. Some of these applications include the popular Gimp graphic editing application, AbiWord word processor, and Open Office, which is a suite of applications similar to MS Office.
Learn more about X11.


Q. What is Xfree86?

A. "The XFree86 Project, Inc is the "organisation which produces XFree86 , a freely redistributable open-source implementation of the X Window System which runs on UNIX(R) and UNIX-like operating systems such as Linux, all of the BSD variants, Sun Solaris x86, Mac OS X (via Darwin), as well as other platforms like OS/2 and Cygwin."
from http://www.xfree86.org/


Summary: just as the Classic environment makes it possible to run classic Mac OS applications in Mac OS X, so does Xfee86 make it possible to run X11 applications in Mac OS X. Apple's X11 has radically simplified the process of installing this environment.

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -

A. Check http://www.apple.com/macosx/x11/ for the most recent version of X11. The download is around 40 MB.

B. Check the bottom of that web page for Apple's SDK package and download it (3.8 MB)

C. Double-click the disk image of these downloads to install as with any other application.

--------------

If you have already XFree86 installed with Fink and want to install Apple X11

First make sure that you remove your existing Fink xfree86 packages, use dpkg with the --force-depends option from the Command-Line, like so:

sudo dpkg -r --force-depends xfree86-rootless xfree86-rootless-shlibs xfree86-base xfree86-base-shlibs

Or,

If you are using 'FinkCommander' (GUI for the Fink software packaging system for Mac OS X)

Just select:

xfree86-rootless, xfree86-rootless-shlibs, xfree86-base, and xfree86-base-shlibs

and from the menu run:

Source -> Force Remove


Then install Apple's X11 and X11 SDK, and then run:

For binaries:
'sudo apt-get update'
'sudo apt-get install system-xfree86' (for binaries)

or

To get the latest system-xfree86 package from CVS:
'fink selfupdate-cvs'
'fink install system-xfree86'

[Phil St. Romain]

A. Check out http://opendarwin.org/ for available X11 packages, most notably Gimp. Download and install as you do OS X applications.

B. For Open Office, go to http://www.openoffice.org/

C. Installing packages with "Fink".
Fink currently lists a total of 2064 packages in 22 sections you could install in precompiled binary packages or build from source.
To download Fink:
http://fink.sourceforge.net/download/index.php

D. Installing packages with "FinkCommander".
FinkCommander is a graphical user interface for the Fink software packaging system for Mac OS X.
To download FinkCommander:
http://finkcommander.sourceforge.net/

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -

First, make sure you download and install "BOTH", X11 Public Beta (41.4 MB) and the Mac OS X Public Beta SDK. (3.8MB) from Apple X11 web page.

Do not download the "common toolkits" from OpenDarwin, they will likely interact poorly with Fink's installation.

Then, download and install Fink from here:

http://fink.sourceforge.net/download/index.php

Once Fink's is installed, make sure to install with it, the 'system-xfree86' package, version 4.2-3 or higher by running the following commands in terminal.app:

For binaries:
'sudo apt-get update'
'sudo apt-get install system-xfree86'

Or if you also installed Apple December 2002 Developer Tools (recommended) run:
'fink selfupdate-cvs'
'fink install system-xfree86'

to install the latest system-xfree86 package from CVS.

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -

Fink is a package manager and installer of Unix software for MacOS X. It uses Debian tools like dpkg and apt-get to provide powerful binary package management. You can choose whether you want to download precompiled binary packages or build everything from source.

Is free, fast and reliable and it offers the easiest way of installing software to run on Apple X11. Fink currently lists in its database 2062 packages you could install, including the unstable tree and the latest packages from CVS (as 1-14-03).

The fink packages seem to get updated fairly quickly to follow the updates in the basic unix source. Fink has support 24/7 through the fink-mailing lists. And it's extremely easy to uninstall, as it keeps all the things at one place (/sw).

For more information:

http://fink.sourceforge.net/

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -

To install the software Fink uses package managment tools ported over from Linux:

apt-get, dselect, dpkg

and it's own tool named ...'fink'

You can choose between two installing models:

1-Pre-compiled binary packages
When you install a binary package what you get is a ready to run program saving you the time for compiling. The packages are tailor-made for Mac OS X / Darwin. The tools Fink use to install pre-compiled binary packages are:

'apt-get' and 'dselect'


2-The source distribution
If you install from source you have the advantage to usually get newer software. You get to test the latest packages. With Fink, you can install packages from source, using its own tool named 'fink'.

So, if you run in terminal:

fink install 'packagename'

Fink will download the package, it will unpack it, apply any needed patches, auto-configure, compile, test, and install into a .deb file which gets installed for you by dpkg. Compared to binary installs, it's a slow process -- but it can be much more reliable in many cases.

To install packages from source with Fink, you need the latest version of Apple Developer Tools installed. After you register for free, you can get them from the ADC:

http://www.apple.com/developer/

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -

If you use tcsh (the default on Mac OS X), add the following line to the .cshrc file in your home directory:

source /sw/bin/init.csh

If you don't have a .cshrc file, run these commands:

Go to your home directory:

cd

Open the text editor pico, and create a file named .cshrc:

pico .cshrc

When the text editor open, type:

source /sw/bin/init.csh

at the end of the line press Return once.

Then press Control-O, Return, and control-X

to save the file and return to the prompt.

Attention: If you use tcsh and happen to have a .tcshrc file in your home directory, this will be read instead of .cshrc .

It's then better to write 'source /sw/bin/init.csh' in .tcshrc .


If you are using bash, sh or zsh:

Type instead in .profile:

source /sw/bin/init.sh


The scripts also add /usr/X11R6/bin and /usr/X11R6/man to your path so you can use X11 when it is installed.

[Phil St. Romain]

- space reserved for forthcoming tip -

[Phil St. Romain]

In Xterm, simply type the directory path of the Application and hit Enter.

- E.g. /sw/bin/AbiWord

or just type:

AbiWord &

and hit Enter.

-----------

In X11, follow these steps:

A. Choose Customize from the Application menu.
B. Click "Add Item"
C. Double Click under Name in the new item and type the name of the application.
D. Double Click under Command and type the absolute path to the application:
- e.g. /sw/bin/AbiWord

repeat steps B and C as needed.

[Phil St. Romain]

By default, Apple's X11 will execute the .xinitrc file if one is present. If not, it will launch the quartz-wm and launch an xterm.

If you want to run a bunch of apps at launch, add them to your .xinitrc file and add 'exec quartz-wm' if you want them to run with the Apple window manager. If you want Apple's X11 to run with another window manager, add 'exec wmanagername' to your .xinitrc file.

The .xinitrc file is a shell script that runs when you start the X11 system (or when it automatically starts for you).

This file contains the commands to define which applications are started when your X11 system boots up.

It contain for example, the commands to start the window manager, some xterms or a desktop environment (like GNOME or KDE), along with various command line options to control their behavior or appearance, such as setting sizes, background colors, fonts, etc.

What is typically done is to start applications in the background and then finally start the window manager in the foreground. In this way, when exit from the window manager, the .xinitrc script exits and the X11 system goes away.

When the .xinitrc script exits, the X11 system will close down and allow you to logout.

An example of a simple .xinitrc file that starts an xterm and the quartz window manager:

source /sw/bin/init.sh

xterm -geometry 75x34+687+40 &

exec quartz-wm

If you want to use another window manager, like blackbox-rootless and start other apps at launch, you could write for example, your ~/.xinitrc file like:

source /sw/bin/init.sh

xterm -geometry 72x34+100+40 &

multi-gnome-terminal --foreground Yellow --background Black --geometry 75x34+687+40 &

wmCalClock &
wmMoonClock &
wmSpaceWeather &
gkrellm -w &

exec blackbox

[Phil St. Romain]

To start X11 applications from Terminal.app, write in your .cshrc or .login or .tcshrc file:

if (! $?DISPLAY) then
   setenv DISPLAY :0.0
endif

If you are using Bash:

if [ ${#DISPLAY} -eq 0 ]; then
   export DISPLAY=':0.0'
 fi

The 'standard' way to do it in the Bourne shells:

: ${DISPLAY:=':0.0'}
 export DISPLAY

This also works with zsh.

[Phil St. Romain]

Workaround:
You should be able to revive all X11 windows after hiding. Just select X11 and then select "Bring All to Front" from the Window menu.

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -


To set-up True Type Fonts under XDarwin, write in your ~/.xinitrc file:

xset fp+ /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -


Window title bars disappear under the Mac menu bar.

Workaround:

1- If you use wmaker instead of quartz-wm, one of the preference panels allows you to put a starting point for new windows (it works along with the automatic setting). You could start new windows at x=64 and y=64 for example.


2- Open your X11 applications with the geometry option:

To start them at launch, write them in your ~/.xinitrc file, for example:

multi-gnome-terminal --foreground Yellow --background Black --geometry 75x34+687+40 &

xterm -geometry 72x34+100+700 &

or write them in the X11 Application menu X11 (Application menu>Customize):

sw/bin/xemacs -geometry 70x30+100+40

sw/bin/gvim -geometry 80x30+687+40


The "units" in some programs are characters (xterm, emacs) and others use pixels.

For most programs the position +100+40 is in pixels.

To learn more about geometry check 'man X' (GEOMETRY SPECIFICATIONS)

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -


Minimized windows sometimes become "passive": clicking doesn't maximize them and they can't be removed from the dock. Curiously, quitting X11 does not help: the minimized windows simply stay in the dock, do not respond to a click and still can't be removed. restarting X11 doesn't change this. Up to now I've seen this only with xterm windows.

Workaround:
logout - login helps

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -

Greg Parker wrote 'xroot tool', it creates a small X11 window that routes input events to the X11 root window. In particular, you can click on it to get window manager menus.
You can get xroot tool from here:

http://sealiesoftware.com/xroot.c

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -


In the 'X11 application Menu' the 'azerty' keyboard is properly recognized, in all 'xterm' windows it switches to 'qwerty'.

Apple is working on fixing this.

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -


To make the delete key in Apple's X11.app behave like that in XDarwin:

If the behavior of the delete key is different between XDarwin and Apple X11. This can be rectified by adding the following lines to the appropriate X startup files:

.Xmodmap:

keycode 59 = Delete


.Xresources:

xterm*.deleteIsDEL: true
xterm*.backarrowKey: false
xterm*.ttyModes: erase ^?


.xinitrc

xrdb -load $HOME/.Xresources
xmodmap $HOME/.Xmodmap

[Phil St. Romain]

- by sao -


The following example is for French Keyboard, adjust to your own language.

You have to start X11 from the terminal with:

/Applications/X11.app/Contents/MacOS/X11 --xquartz-be-xinit -keymap /System/Library/Keyboards/Francais.keymapping

and place this in your ~/.xinitrc:

xmodmap -e 'keycode 66 = Mode_switch'

xmodmap -e 'keycode 69 = Alt_L'


Or


There is a way to change that without modifying anything in /System:

mkdir ~/Library/Keyboards
cd ~/Library/Keybaords
ln -s /Library/Keyboards/Francais.keymapping USA.keymapping

and then restart X11.app.


Or


% startx -- -keymap Francais.keymapping &
% xterm &

In xterm :
% cd
% xmodmap -pke > .Xmodmap

exit xterm and quit X

Then add to your .xinitrc :

xmodmap $HOME/.Xmodmap
xmodmap -e 'keycode 66 = Mode_switch'

Also add to .tcshrc

stty -istrip

Then restart X11 by double-cliking the icon.