Re: Problem launching XTerm on new Cygwin installation

[Mark Hansen <meh@winfirst.com>]

On 3/7/2014 11:57 AM, Mark Hansen wrote:
> I just installed the 64-bit version of Cygwin on both a desktop PC and a laptop PC.
> On the desktop, everything worked as expected without problems. On the laptop, I
> have the following problems:
>
> When I launch a shell window, I get the following error:
>
> Your group is currently "mkgroup". This indicates that neither your gid nor your pgsid is in /etc/group.
>
> Also, when I try to launch an XTerm, I get the following message in the XTerm window for
> just a few seconds and then the window goes away:
>
> /cygdrive/c/Apps/cygwin/bin/xterm: Could not exec XTERM_SHELL=XTERM_SHELL=: No such file or directory
>
> I'm starting the XWin Server using a shortcut with the following:
>
> C:\Apps\cygwin\bin\run.exe
>           /usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c
>           "/usr/bin/startxwin.exe -- -emulate3buttons -multiwindow -clipboard -swcursor"
>
> I'm starting the XTerm using a shortcut with the following:
>
> C:\Apps\cygwin\bin\run.exe
>           -p /usr/X11R6/bin xterm +tb -sb -sl 5000 -display 127.0.0.1:0.0 -ls /bin/zsh -l
>
> I've searched for this XTERM_SHELL error, but can't find anything. Can anybody help me?
>
> Thanks,

Well, I did the following two things:

1. I changed the group id for my entry in the /etc/passwd file from 10530 (or whatever
that value was) to 545 (Users) and the first error went away.

2. I changed the shortcut I use to launch the XTerms and removed the shell name at
the end, so it now looks like this:

C:\Apps\cygwin\bin\run.exe
           -p /usr/X11R6/bin xterm +tb -sb -sl 5000 -display 127.0.0.1:0.0 -ls

and now the XTerm is started without any errors.

I guess it's working now, but I'm curious why these problems happened on the laptop
installation and not on the desktop installation.

Especially why the XTerm launch command had to change. The one I showed first I've
been using for years without problems. I don't remember how I came up with it now,
but I remember spending a lot of time putting that together. Also, that original
launch command is working on my other PC (the desktop) as well as my other machines
running the 32-bit version of Cygwin.

Thanks for any feedback/clarification.



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