Subject: Re: xfig problems (modular xorg-related?)
To: Jeremy C. Reed <reed@reedmedia.net>
From: Steven M. Bellovin <smb@cs.columbia.edu>
List: pkgsrc-users
Date: 09/11/2007 20:42:47
On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:24:14 -0500 (CDT)
"Jeremy C. Reed" <reed@reedmedia.net> wrote:

> On Tue, 11 Sep 2007, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
> 
> > > Please just add that patch to /pkgsrc/x11/Xaw3d/patches/.
> > 
> > Will do.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> > > By the why, what about building pkgsrc/graphics/xfig with: 
> > > XAW_TYPE=standard or XAW_TYPE=xpm?
> > > 
> > My X11 clue is minimal at best; I not only didn't know I could do
> > that, I have no idea what those options mean...
> 
> It is pkgsrc build option. (But not using options framework.)
> 
> XAW is the X Athena Widgets toolkit -- a GUI toolkit. It is higher
> level than and is based on the X Intrinsics toolkit (libXt). libXaw
> from X provides the official versions (well now we have X.org versus
> XFree86). I say plural versions because there are different versions
> of Xaw (6, 7, 8 all built from same main source, but each adding new
> features).
> 
> pkgsrc/x11/Xaw3d is a replacement for libXaw that provides a three 
> dimensional appearance of many widgets. It should be a compatible 
> replacement.
> 
> pkgsrc/x11/Xaw-Xpm "is hack on Xaw3d" that allows images to be used
> for widget backgrounds to improve appearance. It should be a
> compatible replacement.
> 
> pkgsrc also has pkgsrc/x11/neXtaw which makes the widgets look like 
> N*XTSTEP. All these provide a libXaw shared library replacement.
> 
> pkgsrc has a pkgsrc/mk/xaw.buildlink3.mk that allows choosing a Xaw 
> implementation by setting XAW_TYPE to standard, 3d, neXtaw, or xpm.
> You set that in make environment or mk.conf and rebuild.

Thanks -- quite informative.
> 
> If anyone is still listening here :) ... I wonder if this should be
> redone using options framework so we can see the Xaw options in "make 
> show-options".

How many packages are affected?  A quick grep hack suggests 25 or so;
do they each have to be touched, or can it be done just in mk?
> 
> By the way, I started using inkscape over a year ago to replace xfig.
> Not exactly the same, but does what I want.
> 
I've played a bit with inkscape, but enough of how it behaves is
counter-intuitive to me.  But in this case, I needed to edit an old
file, and inkscape's xfig imports (which, until 5 minute ago, I didn't
know it could do at all) don't seem great.


		--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb