The motif version of 32 bit poplog has worked fine for many years. But as
far as I know all the 64 bit linux poplog versions have had a strange
problem with motif.
The symptom is that that in 64 bit motif poplog, using the mouse to kill an
XVed window works perfectly: the window disappears and poplog continues.
But for any other window, e.g. a non-ved graphical window, killing it kills
poplog. This problem does not exist in 64 bit poplog without motif.
(This may also apply to some poplog non-ved menu interfaces?)
Towards a diagnosis:
I have recently been streamlining the display on my stonebook mini laptop,
setting it up to work without titlebars on windows, for which alternative
functionality is provided nicely in the highly tailorable ctwm window
manager -- my favourite -- recently given a new lease of life here:
www.ctwm.org/download.html
While setting up headless windows I discovered that ctwm provides support
for a distincion between 'delete' and 'destroy' functions applied to
windows. 'destroy' kills not just the window, but the application to which
the window belongs. 'delete' just removes the window.
In motif poplog using xved, it is possible to use the mouse to kill an xved
window without killing poplog. But if any non-vededitor process in poplog
creates a window, then killing that window using a mouse kills poplog. So
if an rc_graphic window is killed using the mouse poplog is killed, but not
if an xved window is killed.
Past discussion of this problem has led to the conclusion that there must
be a bug in the 64 bit motif library that is not present in 32 bit motif.
I now conjecture that there is a different explanation, which should lead
to a fairly straightforward fix by someone willing to look into the poplog
X window code.
I assume that the 64-bit motif package supports the distinction between
a mouse event that kills the whole process and one that kills only the
window clicked.
Moreover, I also assume that that distinction is used in the motif code for
the Xved subset of poplog: since xved windows can by shut by mouse actions,
without killing poplog.
I also assume that that the poplog motif code for non-xved windows, e.g.
graphical windows, invokes only the kill *process* action rather than the
kill *window* action for a mouse 'kill' event.
Since I am both over-committed and unfamiliar with the low level internals
of poplog I shall not try to identify the procedure calls that need to be
changed in the non-ved graphical bits of poplog motif extensions to match
the corresponding calls in the ved motif extensions.
I suspect it involves finding a bit of code for removing windows in
response to mouse events in the xved subsystem and copying it to all other
bits of code for removing windows in response to mouse events.
It may be as simple as replacing calls of 'destroy' with calls of 'delete'
throughout the motif extension to poplog?
I'll be happy to test the results, and if the change is successful I'll
rebuild the download package for poplog V16 described here:
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/V16/AREADME.html
It will involve rebuilding the main tar package here:
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/poplog/V16/DL
i.e.
latest_poplog_base.tar.bz2
There remain some unrelated mysteries concerned with command line handling,
in 64 bit poplog that are much easier for users to work around, by doing
more work *after* reading the command line rather than *while* reading it
(as done in the popracer package, causing problems in V16).
I suspect that problem will be much harder to fix, but is far less
important for most users.
Aaron
