I have a very annoying problem with xmodmap:
Inside X, in an xterm:
$ echo $DISPLAY :1
In console (agetty1):
$ echo $DISPLAY $ xmodmap .Xmodmap xmodmap: unable to open display '' $ xmodmap -display :2 .Xmodmap xmodmap: unable to open display ':2'
Until now, everything as expected. The problem is:
$ xmodmap -display :1 .Xmodmap $ echo $? 0
So, everything seems fine, but switching to the vt where X is I find that xmodmap didn't load anything. Note that if running "xmodmap .Xmodmap" from X it works. In console, I tried also setting the env variable DISPLAY (the only one relevant to xmodmap, according to the manual), to no avail.
You might wonder why is this a problem, since it works from X. I have a xmodmap command in the startup file of the window manager (openbox). Other X related commands work, only xmodmap fails. It seems that xmodmap requires being run from an emulator inside an X session, which it's not supposed to.
Any help about this essentially undocumented piece of software would be appreciated. Alternatively, anyone knows whether there is some alternative to xmodmap? xkb doesn't seem to be able to replace it, judging by what poor documentation there is out there.
TIA
Jorge Almeida
Jorge Almeida jjalmeida@gmail.com writes:
[...]
It seems that xmodmap requires being run from an emulator inside an X session, which it's not supposed to.
I'm afraid not. For me, I'm running it like this:
.xinitrc: #!/bin/sh metacity & wmpid=$! sleep 2 xmodmap ~/.xmodmaps & # other commands wait $wmpid
It works for me.
On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 1:50 PM, XeCycle xecycle@gmail.com wrote:
Jorge Almeida jjalmeida@gmail.com writes:
[...]
It seems that xmodmap requires being run from an emulator inside an X session, which it's not supposed to.
I'm afraid not. For me, I'm running it like this:
.xinitrc: #!/bin/sh metacity & wmpid=$! sleep 2 xmodmap ~/.xmodmaps & # other commands wait $wmpid
It works for me.
Thanks. It may be an openbox thing, but then you started your wm before other stuff. Any special reason for that? Why not exec into metacity in the end, rather than keeping .xinitrc waiting? And why backgrounding xmodmap? I suppose I should try all possibilities, but it remains the mystery: why running from the console doesn't work?
Jorge Almeida
On Sat, Oct 01, 2011 at 02:05:54PM +0100, Jorge Almeida wrote:
On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 1:50 PM, XeCycle xecycle@gmail.com wrote:
Jorge Almeida jjalmeida@gmail.com writes:
[...]
It seems that xmodmap requires being run from an emulator inside an X session, which it's not supposed to.
I'm afraid not. For me, I'm running it like this:
.xinitrc: #!/bin/sh metacity & wmpid=$! sleep 2 xmodmap ~/.xmodmaps & # other commands wait $wmpid
It works for me.
Thanks. It may be an openbox thing, but then you started your wm before other stuff. Any special reason for that? Why not exec into metacity in the end, rather than keeping .xinitrc waiting? And why backgrounding xmodmap? I suppose I should try all possibilities, but it remains the mystery: why running from the console doesn't work?
Jorge Almeida
FWIW, icewmbg, which is supposed to be run before icewm (according to the documentation); or which is supposed to be run by icewm-session; fails for similar reasons ($DISPLAY is not set and X is not running) unless I first run icewm, open a terminal window and then run icewmbg. For me this is not a big deal because I run icewm in order to run lean and clean and if I really want to see that background photo, I can run xfwm4.
T.
On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 2:19 PM, rara8avis@aol.com wrote:
FWIW, icewmbg, which is supposed to be run before icewm (according to the documentation); or which is supposed to be run by icewm-session; fails for similar reasons ($DISPLAY is not set and X is not running) unless I first run icewm, open a terminal window and then run icewmbg. For me this is not a big deal because I run icewm in order to run lean and clean and if I really want to see that background photo, I can run xfwm4.
I suppose that is a quirk of icewm. I set my background in the same script that is supposed to run xmodmap, and the background is really set. On the other hand, I put an "echo $DISPLAY" in the same script, just to check that the display is set, and it gives the expected output. As for X, the script is the client of xinit, and besides the other X-related tasks get done, only xmodmap fails.
J.A.
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