Arch Linux

Agnelo de la Crotche

Member

Registered: 2011-10-25

Posts: 19

aterm doesn't start under twm/ctwm/mwm (only)

Hi,

Any attempt to start aterm under twm/ctwm/mwm fails with the following error message:

$ aterm
X Error of failed request:  BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
  Major opcode of failed request:  20 (X_GetProperty)
  Resource id in failed request:  0xc0000b
  Serial number of failed request:  26
  Current serial number in output stream:  26

However:

• it affects only twm, ctwm and mwm. Many other wms or desktops are OK (including fvwm2, icewm, windowmaker, sawfish, openbox, LXDE, XFCE, Gnome and KDE)

• it seems to happen only in ArchLinux

• it ONLY occures when twm, ctwm and mwm are started from gdm (?!). When I start  them from xdm or kdm or using startx, aterm works fine.

I could imagine (but not understand) that aterm would not work with a wm for some reason. But I can not figure out why it wouldn't work only if a wm is started from gdm. I renamed my Xsession in /etc/gdm and used the default one instead, just to make sure it's not a configuration problem on my side. It made no difference.

Any idea?

Trilby

Inspector Parrot

Registered: 2011-11-29

Posts: 29,578

Website

Re: aterm doesn't start under twm/ctwm/mwm (only)

Whoa, that's a lot of permutations you must have tested, and a very peculiar problem indeed.  But are you after the solution for any reason other than pure curiosity?

Did you really plan to use aterm in twn/ctwm/mwm when started from gdm?

---

"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

Agnelo de la Crotche

Member

Registered: 2011-10-25

Posts: 19

Re: aterm doesn't start under twm/ctwm/mwm (only)

Whoa, that's a lot of permutations you must have tested, and a very peculiar problem indeed.  But are you after the solution for any reason other than pure curiosity?

Did you really plan to use aterm in twn/ctwm/mwm when started from gdm?

Are you asking this question for any reason other than pure curiosity? And how does what I plan to do make a difference in fixing the problem?

To be even more precise about this issue, it only happens when users try to log in locally - because gdm uses the gnome-shell interface in this case. When loging in remotely (through NX), gdm shows the simple greeter (or whatever it is called), and aterm is starting fine in the NX session.

My options are either to get it fixed or edit more files (Xsession and some scripts) to  replace aterm with xterm or another terminal. I would rather understand and fix this issue. Some people do indeed start ctwm from gdm. And I mentioned twm, because it is X default wm, and I don't see why aterm should not work there. If it does not, it's a bug that should be addressed and fixed.