thanks dave, that's very cool. now... I don't program in c. would it
be easy to modify this program in two ways:
1) pass the display number as a parameter
2) print or return a specific error message if the connection is not
accepted?
-- NEW VERSION --
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
int main(argc, argv) int argc; char **argv; {
exit(XOpenDisplay(NULL) ? 0 : 1);
}
-- END --
$ gcc -o xprobe xprobe.c -L/usr/X11R6/lib -lX11
Now:
xprobe from an xterm: Connects to the xterm's server
xprobe from .xinitrc: Connects to new server
xprobe from a VT: Fails
DISPLAY=display xprobe Connects to display 'display'
As for an error message, here's what I'd do:
xprobe || echo "Foo! server not responding?" >&2
wicked cool! thanks