Using AfterStep 1.6.x with a RedHat 5.x box

Intro.

   OK - I am no pro writer so don't expect this README to be perfect or
anything :)  Basically, I want to cut down on the "My Start menu keeps
resetting when I restart X" problems.

Credit.

   Umm - Me for writing it?  No.   The whole AfterStep team deserves credit
for it.   Without AfterStep, this document would not have been created, and
besides, What would we use without AfterStep?  I shudder to think! :)


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Ok, first off a bit of Info.  Red Hat 5.1 ships with AfterStep 1.4.?
RedHat 5.2 ships with AfterStep 1.5beta4   Both are out of date.  You are
reading this so I assume the version you have is 1.6.0  (And yes, we changed
the versioning structure.  See www.afterstep.org for info on this)
The first thing to do, get rid of the old AfterStep.  This is done by

    rpm -e AfterStep

... which must (Of Course) must be done as root.  

Now, go install AfterStep.  Read the README, which of course, being a smart,
and skilled Linux user, you intend on doing anyway, right? :)  Get back here
after you are done installing it...


....  La la la..  Compile AfterStep, Compile...


Ok - Done?  Good.  Now, there are a few things RedHat does "Differently"
The Start Menu is configured by a program called wmconfig.  This makes 
things a bit difficult for RedHat users, as the man pages and documentation
do not cover this.  The wmconfig was designed to allow the various window  
managers' authors the ability to rely on a global "Start" menu, while still
allowing the user to add personalized menus atop that global one.
This was a great idea, but it never inspired any easy to use tools.
(Any aspiring developers interested in this position?)  :)

   Anyway, in a nutshell, this is how the wmconfig program works.
You issue the startx command to your computer. X reads in the xinit file
and processes settings and commands in there before starting. The xinit
files call upon wmconfig to read in the default "Start" menu, and any
personal menus you create. Finally, after all the configuration is done,
X loads.  When you start X, wmconfig will overwrite any changes you may
have made to your start menu.

   There are three ways around this; of them I will detail only 2.
The third way, which is the most difficult is to actually use the wmconfig.
The file formats are very much like the AfterStep formats, and in time I
may play with it to see if I can make it work for us, but for now, I
suggest using one of the following 2 workarounds.

   Method #1
 
     Edit /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients and remove, or comment out the line

       wmconfig --output=afterstep --directories  .... etc

This line may or may not be in there, depending on whether or not you 
installed the wmconfig RPM. (Installed automatically with AfterStep or
WindowMaker) This line is the line which outputs the menu to your directory.
Disable it and your menu is safe :)

   Method #2

     Remove your ~/.wm_style file, and edit the ~/.xinitrc to contain only

            exec afterstep


And if you read back a few lines, I said I was going to detail only two.
I kinda lied :)  This information was email-ed to me, and is definitely
worth including. 
(The authors words are not mine, etc., and the views expressed by said 
 author do not reflect mine etc.) :):)


As an alternative, Kai Puolamaki (Kai.Puolamaki@iki.fi) suggests that you
configure your wmconfig utility to make things work better. This is likely 
the best way to make these adjustments. Red Hat's wmconfig utility relies 
on a system-wide directory, /etc/X11/wmconfig, but is adjustable by users
through an individual directory, ~/.wmconfig. So, if you wanted a menu item,
"Mail", containing both mutt and elm, you would add two files:


     ~/.wmconfig/mutt
     ~/.wmconfig/elm


The file "mutt" would contain the following:


     mutt name "Mutt"
     mutt description "Mutt email client"
     mutt group Mail
     mutt exec "xterm -e mutt &"


The file "elm" would be similar:


     elm name "Elm"
     elm description "Elm email client"
     elm group Mail
     elm exec "xterm -e elm &"


More information is available from the wmconfig manpage. Note that there
is an additional advantage to this syntax: it
ensures that your menu changes are also available if you change window
managers.


Ok - for a new user, it may be confusing. I prefer not to use wmconfig.
Different strokes for different folks though, so there you have it. :)


And if all three methods fail, you can do it this way.

	rpm -e wmconfig

It will tell you that wmconfig is needed by either AnotherLevel,
WindowMaker or AfterStep. Do the same for those,

	rpm -e AfterStep
	rpm -e AnotherLevel
	rpm -e WindowMaker

Then 

	rpm -e wmconfig     again

This completely erases wmconfig from your system, and any window managers 
that needed it as well. (But hey, Who needs them anyways? You have AfterStep)


And that is all. I may improve on this README soon, actually I hope I do.
It is a mess I know, but I hope it is enough to get the point across. 
Any questions, suggestions, complaints or general flames can be sent to me.

 Email me, panther@dsis.net   or  The AfterStep Mailing List
  Or, Find us on EFNet in #AfterStep :)  Good Luck :>  Enjoy! :)

           Panther , Shadow on the IRC