problems with XFree

[Tom Bozack]

Harold, thanks for the suggestions.  I was hoping that oue of them would 
solve the problem.  I checked and found only one cygwin1.dll on the 
system.  It's dated 5 July.  I update frequently using setup.exe.

I agree with you assessment of Windows.  However, my problem isn't the 
BSOD but XFree86 seg fault.  Windows keeps on working and the (apparent) 
memory leak resolves itself after CFree86 croaks.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do on my end to identify the 
problem.

Thanks,
Tom

Harold Hunt wrote:
> Tom,
> 
> I bet that you either have two copies of cygwin1.dll on your system, or that
> you have a really old version of cygwin1.dll.  For more information see:
> 
> http://xfree86.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-xfree-faq.html#q-status-access-vio
> lation
> 
> I run XDMCP sessions for several hours with no slowdowns or lockups.  I also
> log off and back on to XDMCP sessions all the time.  A couple of days ago I
> did identify and fix a memory leak that happens when the X server resets,
> which happens when you logoff an XDMCP session.
> 
> I think that Windows 2000 and Windows XP do not show a bluescreen anymore by
> default.  You can change that option in the Control Panel.  You mention that
> this also happens on Windows 95/98/Me, which seems to be about the level of
> information that you can expect from those OSes when they crash.
> 
> Harold
> 
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: cygwin-xfree-owner@cygwin.com
>>[mailto:cygwin-xfree-owner@cygwin.com]On Behalf Of Tom Bozack
>>Sent: Monday, July 22, 2002 10:32 PM
>>To: cygwin-xfree@cygwin.com
>>Subject: Re: problems with XFree
>>
>>
>>I think Cygwin/XFree86 is a great product  -- but there is nothing so
>>good that it can't be improved.  I agree with all of you comments,
>>although I haven't had the system reboot experience.
>>
>>One persistant problem that you didn't mention (manybe you haven't run
>>into it yet) is a very persistent and repeatable lock-up when used to
>>login to another host using XDMCP.  The symptom is of a sudden large
>>memory leak after 15-30 minutes of use.  XFree86 becomes unresponsive,
>>system memory and swap resources are rapidly used up, and finally
>>XFree86 crashes with a seg fault.  This also happens immediately (you
>>don't have to wait 15-30 min) when you logoff the host and login again.
>>  I've experienced this under Windows 98/98SE/ME.
>>
>>For me this is a showstopper since it makes Cygwin/XFree86 unusable as
>>an X server platform.  It's fun to play with, but this "bug" makes it
>>unacceptable for routine use as an X server.
>>
>>Tom
>>
>>gsroka@mmsa.com wrote:
>>
>>>(last email I sent complained about HTML MIME. i hope i'm not
>>>double-posting)
>>>
>>>I started playing with XFree last week. It's been a few years
>>
>>since I've
>>
>>>used UNIX, so you can call me a newbie, if you like. I'm
>>
>>running Windows
>>
>>>2000 Pro on a P4 1.7 GHz with 768 MiB of RAM and 10 GB free on my hard
>>>drive. I (eventually) did a full Cygwin/XFree86 download and install
>>>(binaries, not source).
>>>
>>>Please don't flame me if I'm out of line. I didn't know if I
>>
>>should break
>>
>>>this up into several emails or have one big one. Also, please send
>>>responses to me by email.
>>>
>>>Here are my obervations/problems.
>>>Showstoppers:
>>>1) The very first time I brought up the X server, I had modified
>>>startxwin.bat
>>>to use wmaker instead of twm. It crashed because /home
>>>hadn't been created yet. This was "fixed" by running the text-mode bash
>>>icon first.
>>>2) when I run Xman, it says "No App-Defaults File". If I run
>>
>>"Xman -notop"
>>
>>>instead, I can browse one man page, and then it stops working.
>>
>>(it gives a
>>
>>>"likeToSave" message box with yes and no buttons that don't seem to do
>>>anything.) It seems to be related to missing a locale binary.
>>
>>Is there a
>>
>>>way to get this to work?
>>>3) within the first few hours of usage, I ran a "find / -name
>>
>>abc -print"
>>
>>>from the command-line, and my trusty Windows 2000 box
>>
>>restarted. no blue
>>
>>>screen, no error. it was like someone pulled the power plug and
>>
>>plugged it
>>
>>>back in. after it came up, i tried the same command and it worked fine.
>>>4) i had a similar "restart" to #6 when I ran setup.exe while
>>
>>cygwin was
>>
>>>up. of course, bad user, i should have stopped cygwin before running
>>>setup, but i'm still amazed at how easily my robust kernel, based on NT
>>>Technology, came down.
>>>
>>>Nice-to-haves:
>>>5) it'd be nice if setup.exe showed the size (in bytes or
>>
>>megabytes, etc.)
>>
>>>of each package (it's in setup.ini). on my 56 Kb/s modem, downloading a
>>>large, unnecessary file takes a painfully long time, but a small
>>>unnecessary file is not so bad.
>>>6) on that note, how about displaying those nice descriptions from
>>>setup.ini in setup.exe so we can see what the packages are before
>>>downloading them. a resizable window would come in handy for this.
>>>7) the first time I downloaded (a partial download, not full), i picked
>>>"more" and "clear", but next time I went into setup.exe, it had
>>>"forgotten" that. perhaps if I can unrust my C, I can fix some of these
>>>bugs myself. give me a few weeks.
>>>8) the XFree86-fnts package is 16 MiB. it's kind of big. the
>>
>>first time i
>>
>>>downloaded from http:uiuc, it got 98% and stopped responding--1 hour
>>>wasted (at 56 Kb). the second time (no joke) it got 99% and
>>>stopped--another hour wasted. so i copied it from somewhere else.
>>>9) my X clients on an AIX box didn't work because i didn't use the -kb
>>>switch on XWin. but i found that one on the faq. a possible
>>
>>enhancement to
>>
>>>setup.exe?
>>>10) using K (or Ki) and B for byte on setup.exe is always nice.
>>
>>make sure
>>
>>>to leave a space between the number and the unit. 10 KB, not 10KB. how
>>>about estimated download time in addition to % ?
>>>11) also, what's all that /b stuff about in startxwin.bat?
>>
>>gotos, etc. but
>>
>>>there is no /b ! (there is no spoon either ;-)
>>>
>>>
>>>Please no one take offense at all this. I'm not trying to throw
>>
>>blame. It
>>
>>>seems like a great product, so far (except for the deadly
>>
>>restarts). These
>>
>>>are perhaps suggestions for doing it better. I know some coworkers who
>>>tried to get this to work, but gave up because of the problems. So will
>>>the average newbie or the busy IT pro who doesn't have time to
>>
>>read lots
>>
>>>of faqs and will buy Exceed instead. I hope my observations will help
>>>others.
>>>
>>>Gabriel Sroka
>>>gsroka at mmsa dot com
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>