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Re: xconsole



>>>>> "john" == john gennard <joney@clara.co.uk> writes:

john> KDE is installed and seems to behave as before except that on
john> booting xconsole screen appears with no contents and a new
john> screen starts each time - I now have 8, one on top of the
john> other. Whilst these can be minimized or maximized, they cannot
john> be closed from the 'x' button nor the menu.

john> I am unable to find out exactly what xconsole is, how it works
john> and where the configuration details are. I've looked at the man
john> pages, at /usr/X11R6/bin/xconsole, and
john> /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XConsole, but am too inexperienced to
john> make any sense of things.

Xconsole is supposed to show messages coming from syslogd(8).  For it
to work under linux, an entry has to be made in /etc/syslog.conf
looking like this:

# The named pipe /dev/xconsole is for the `xconsole' utility.  To use it,
# you must invoke `xconsole' with the `-file' option:
# 
#    $ xconsole -file /dev/xconsole [...]
#
# NOTE: adjust the list below, or you'll go crazy if you have a reasonably
#      busy site..
#
daemon.info;mail.info;\
	auth.info;*.notice;cron.*	|/dev/xconsole

and of course /dev/xconsole must be an existing named pipe.

What is a bit unusual about xconsole is that it is the only X program
that runs while xdm (or its replacements kdm or gdm) waits for user
login (though this can be disabled in /etc/X11/xdm/xdm-options).  I've
observed that attempts to start an additional copy of xconsole after
logging in, either from a script like ~/.xsession or from an xterm,
don't result in the creation of a new window: instead, the command
line parameters (window geometry, font etc.) seem to be applied to the
existing window.  I don't know myself how this works, and I'd be
grateful if someone can explain; but my point is that it seems there
is a problem with this mechanism on your system.  KDE probably runs
xconsole after you log in just because it remembers it had one when
you logged out, and instead of reconnecting to the running copy
(passed in from kdm) it somehow ends up creating a new window.

-- 
Ian Zimmerman, Oakland, California, U.S.A.
In his own soul a man bears the source
from which he draws all his sorrows and his joys.
Sophocles.



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