F14 X server problem

[Dick St. Peters]

I need to run X with the fvwm window manager, but the F14 X server
doesn't play nice with fvwm - or with twm.  When fvwm or twm calls
XCreateFontSet(), the X server dies with a SIGSEGV.

To get around this, I have copied the F13 /usr/bin/Xorg server binary
and /usr/lib/xorg/modules directory contents to my F14 system, and
they work just fine with the F14 fvwm, F14 X libraries, and F14 fonts.
While this workaround works, it's not exactly a good long term fix.

Note that this workaround means the problem is with the F14 X server
or its loadable modules, not the F14 fvwm.

When twm is used, it calls XCreateFontSet() with a base_font_name_list
argument different from that in the fvwm XCreateFontSet() call, and
the F14 server dies, so the problem is not the font asked for by fvwm.

--
Dick St. Peters, stpeters(a)NetHeaven.com 
Gatekeeper, NetHeaven, Saratoga Springs, NY

[Tom Horsley]

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:33:54 -0500
Dick St. Peters wrote:

>  I need to run X with the fvwm window manager, but the F14 X server
>  doesn't play nice with fvwm 
I use fvwm all the time, I've never had the X server die on me.
Maybe you have something in your .fvwmrc file that
refers to some specific font for titles or menus or something that
the X server finds offensive? (Not that it should crash).

I seem to recall some bug floating around out there about font problems
with certain bitmap fonts and certain video drivers.

[Dick St. Peters]

Tom Horsley writes:
>  On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:33:35 -0500
>  Dick St. Peters wrote:
>  
>  > Let's be precise: you are using the F14-distributed fvwm with the
>  > F14-distributed /usr/bin/Xorg server, and it's working?  In other
>  > words:
>  > 
>  > $ rpm -qa | egrep 'fvwm|xorg-x11-server-Xorg'
>  > fvwm-2.5.30-2.fc14.i686
>  > xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.9.1-3.fc14.i686
>  
>  Almost, I'm using the 64 bit versions:
>  
>  xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.9.1-3.fc14.x86_64
>  fvwm-2.5.30-2.fc14.x86_64
>  
>  I've got my own highly customized .fvwmrc file, but I
>  don't customize any fonts in it, so I'm getting whatever
>  fvwm uses as defaults for fonts. 
My normal .fvwmrc is highly customized, including some font sizes, but
I got the same problem with Xorg dieing when running as a user with no
.fvwmrc at all.  That was one of my early experiments when I began
fighting with this problem after the F13 -> F14 upgrade.

--
Dick St. Peters, stpeters(a)NetHeaven.com 
Gatekeeper, NetHeaven, Saratoga Springs, NY

[Tom Horsley]

On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:33:35 -0500
Dick St. Peters wrote:

>  Let's be precise: you are using the F14-distributed fvwm with
> the
>  F14-distributed /usr/bin/Xorg server, and it's working?  In other
>  words:
>  
>  $ rpm -qa | egrep 'fvwm|xorg-x11-server-Xorg'
>  fvwm-2.5.30-2.fc14.i686
>  xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.9.1-3.fc14.i686 
Almost, I'm using the 64 bit versions:

xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.9.1-3.fc14.x86_64
fvwm-2.5.30-2.fc14.x86_64

I've got my own highly customized .fvwmrc file, but I
don't customize any fonts in it, so I'm getting whatever
fvwm uses as defaults for fonts.

[Dick St. Peters]

Tom Horsley writes:
>  On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:33:54 -0500
>  Dick St. Peters wrote:
>  
>  > I need to run X with the fvwm window manager, but the F14 X server
>  > doesn't play nice with fvwm
>  
>  I use fvwm all the time, I've never had the X server die on me.
>  Maybe you have something in your .fvwmrc file that
>  refers to some specific font for titles or menus or something that
>  the X server finds offensive? (Not that it should crash). 
Well, the F13 X server copied to and running on my F14 system does not
mind anything the F14 fvwm does with the same .fvwmrc and fonts (and
libraries).  Also, the F14 fvwm with the same .fvwmrc and fonts works
fine with the F14 Xvnc.

Let's be precise: you are using the F14-distributed fvwm with the
F14-distributed /usr/bin/Xorg server, and it's working?  In other
words:

$ rpm -qa | egrep 'fvwm|xorg-x11-server-Xorg'
fvwm-2.5.30-2.fc14.i686
xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.9.1-3.fc14.i686

--
Dick St. Peters, stpeters(a)NetHeaven.com 
Gatekeeper, NetHeaven, Saratoga Springs, NY