PART 1: ==================================================== From brichardson@lineone.net Mon Jan 11 00:51:33 1999 Subject: RE: afterstep 1.6.6-3 rpm > I did the upgrade and now i cant get back into afterstep it just loads > fvwm2-95 all the time. This is because /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients (called by /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc, unless you made your own .xinitrc) is looking for the afterstep binary in /usr/X11R6/bin and the new version is in /usr/local/bin. 1. Rename your ~/GNUstep directory to ~/GNUstep.old mv ~/GNUstep ~/GNUstep.old 2. Create ~/.Xclients and put a line in it to run the new afterstep, directing standard error to .AfterStep-errors. echo "exec /usr/local/bin/afterstep >~/.AfterStep-errors 2>&1" >~/.Xclients 3. restart X startx AfterStep will create a new GNUStep directory structure. You can now build a menu you like by mixing and matching stuff from /usr/local/share/afterstep/start and ~/GNUstep.old/Library/AfterStep/start. *IMPORTANT* you _must_ copy the basic AfterStep controls to your new user start directory; those being: 1. Desktop directory and files (and make the associated necessary directories - ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/backgrounds for images found in "Pictures" ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/feels for feel.files found in "Feels" ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/looks for look.files found in "Looks" ~/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep/themes for downloaded themes ) 2. Quit directory and files 3. Modules directory and files Creating your own .Xclients also gets rid of wmconfig, which is called from /etc/X11/xinit/Xclients and insists on overwriting whatever is in your start menu with the system default. It does this because Red Hat rpms include wmconfig menu items and you therefor automatically get items for new apps placed on your menu. All fine and well but it totally wipes out any modifications you've made AND all the vital AfterStep stuff in Start/Modules, Start/Quit etc. Of course, if you really want to keep the Red Hat configuration you can put links in to fix it. ln -s /usr/local/share/afterstep /usr/share/afterstep ln -s /usr/local/bin/afterstep /usr/X11R6/bin/afterstep But my advice is not. In addition, the AfterStep applications used to be part of the AfterStep window manager rpm release, as of 1.6.x, this is not the case. If you have the AfterStep-APPS rpm already loaded, simply keep it. Otherwise, locate the rpm of the app you wish at any rpm mirror or storehouse on the net. PART 2: ================================================================ [this is the official README.redhat missing from the rpm, or unkown to the end user that it exists in the /usr/doc/AfterStep-/ dir] 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! :) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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