public inbox for cygwin-xfree@sourceware.org
help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Will Parsons <varro@nodomain.invalid>
To: cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com
Subject: Re: startxwin.exe no longer exists?
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 22:58:00 -0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <slrnm91e8d.15ku.varro@anukis.local> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CACoZoo07+HetoNkknrHUoKYqRL0sRubn98W--FURN0qnXLHDrg@mail.gmail.com>

Erik Soderquist wrote:
><snip>
>
>> Shouldn't the startxwin script check for running instances and delete all
>> lock-files related to non-existent instances?  Why must this be a manual
>> operation?
>
> I generally recommend against automagic cleanup of lock files from
> dead sessions being a general default because that also wipes out
> warning that something went wrong.  I do it in my situation because I
> have it on (essentially) dumb terminals where the session working is
> much more important than knowing something went wrong, and the dumb
> terminals are on flaky power, so most of the dead sessions are due to
> power failure anyway.

Apparently not.  If I start an X session (using the standard menu item
under the start menu) and manually shut it down, the lock file is not
deleted.

>> The prior startxwin.exe "just worked", and this new replacement script is
>> clearly creating problems for previously happy CygwinX users, where no
>> problems existed before (or, at least the problems weren't visible and
>> didn't affect normal use).

Yes, startxwin.exe "just worked", and the replacement doesn't.

> I actually have no experience with startxwin; I always called the X
> server directly with the options I wanted.

What do you mean "directly"?  From a mintty or such?

> However, I can say that
> freeing of lock files is the job of the process that created the lock
> files.  If you kill the process, stray lock files are a normal
> expectation.

No they're not, unless you restrict "kill" to mean "kill -9" or
equivalent.  If you kill a process using just "kill", or bu shutting
it down normally, it should clean up its lock file.

>> I would have preferred to have seen startxwin.exe retained, and this new
>> script phased in gradually, perhaps as "startxwin_new" in the first release.
>> Then, when startxwin_new stabilizes, rename the executable to
>> startxwin_old.exe and the script to startxwin. Several updates later,
>> quietly remove startxwin_old.exe.
>>
>> It seems nonsensical to treat all CygwinX users as alpha testers. I'm more
>> than willing to help test new features, but not in the dark: Make it very
>> clear when significant subsystems are being evolved, and provide a way to
>> try the new without losing the old.
>
> The changes were announced, and the announcement already sited in this
> thread.  Having read the announcement again, it looks like the
> replacement has as one of its goals bringing the X system more in line
> with general X and *nix standards, which, as far as I know, has always
> been a general goal of the entire Cygwin set of projects.

Then it's not succeeding.  Shutting down X normally under *nix does not
result in left-over lock files.

-- 
Will


--
Unsubscribe info:      http://cygwin.com/ml/#unsubscribe-simple
Problem reports:       http://cygwin.com/problems.html
Documentation:         http://x.cygwin.com/docs/
FAQ:                   http://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/


  parent reply	other threads:[~2014-12-16 22:58 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 18+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2014-12-13 16:20 Will Parsons
2014-12-13 18:17 ` Marco Atzeri
2014-12-16  2:50   ` Will Parsons
2014-12-16  2:56     ` Larry Hall (Cygwin-X)
2014-12-16  3:30       ` Will Parsons
2014-12-16  3:35         ` Larry Hall (Cygwin-X)
2014-12-16 14:29     ` Mark Hansen
2014-12-16 16:00     ` Erik Soderquist
2014-12-16 16:36       ` rcunningham
2014-12-16 17:06         ` Erik Soderquist
2014-12-16 17:23           ` rcunningham
2014-12-16 22:58           ` Will Parsons [this message]
2014-12-16 23:39             ` Erik Soderquist
2014-12-17 17:29               ` mathog
2014-12-17 17:40                 ` Erik Soderquist
2014-12-17 17:52                   ` mathog
2014-12-17 18:36                     ` Erik Soderquist
2014-12-17 19:02                       ` mathog

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=slrnm91e8d.15ku.varro@anukis.local \
    --to=varro@nodomain.invalid \
    --cc=cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for read-only IMAP folder(s) and NNTP newsgroup(s).