On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 10:18:10AM +0000, Curt wrote:
> On 2015-02-13, Charles Blair <c-blair@illinois.edu> wrote:
> > I tinkered with "Preferences/Applications". Did not
> > do anything about a special kind of Preference. If
> > this message gets posted, the thing worked :)
> >
> > If so, thanks!
> >
>
> I never click on those mailto links myself, but I followed my own advice
> for once and chose alpine as my mail client ('cause it's my main mail client)
> from the drop down menu (where it had defaulted to gmail?), clicked on a
> mailto link and ... it didn't work. Nothing.
>
> This must illustrate an ironic principle of which I am
> currently unaware.
>
> But how would or does "it" know to open a terminal if you don't use
> a "wrapper script" like Brian suggested? Or am I missing something?
> Why am I seeing so many mutt users in forums and elsewhere using this
> kind of script?
>
> Oh!! I finally took a look at claws-mail and realized that it is *not* a
> text-based mail client as I had assumed for reasons I am unable to
> explain.
>
> So the little wrapper script must only be necessary for text-based
> clients that need a terminal to come alive in (I think).
This is how linux works. There is, in essence, no difference between a
terminal program and a graphical one. Both are launched in the same way
(typically, using a system() or exec() call; a shell can be thought of
as just a way to repeatedly invoke that).
Both start executing in the same way. They are given a standard input, a
standard output and a standard error. The difference comes in that the
graphical program then makes a network connection to an X-server (mostly
that will be over a UNIX socket to the local host, but X can work quite
nicely across the network, too). Commands directed to that X-server
cause windows to be drawn etc.
This behaviour can be demonstrated by starting a terminal and running a
program such as `xev`. The program runs in the terminal (note, for
example, that the shell prompt doesn't return until the program exits),
but it opens a window immediately. The terminal remains active and
X-Windows events are printed to the commands standard out.
Now, just to complete the picture, if you run `xev` from a graphical
client (say, a run dialog, or by double-clicking the executable in a
file manager), xev still starts as normal. The window pops up. But you
won't see the X-window messages, because the stdin, stdout and stderr
are not connected to anything that will print them (probably, they're
actually connected to /dev/null).
>
> Anyhow over and out.
>
> --
>
> “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class
> is running the country.” – Kurt Vonnegut
>
>
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