4. Problems After Installing

4.1 I keep getting this "Cannot open display" error when I run AfterStep, what gives?

Don't try to run AfterStep as a command from the console. Since it is a window manager you need to start it with X (or from X). The easiest way to do this is

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echo "exec afterstep" > ~/.xinitrc

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4.2 Why isn't my alt key working in emacs anymore?

Because AfterStep stole it. The default feel AfterStep comes with uses the alt key in addition to other key combinations to do various tasks, such as minimize windows, bring up the startmenu, and switch desktops. Edit your feel file and remove the references to the alt key, or use the supplied feel.ICCCM. feel.ICCCM has no key combination bindings, and thus emacs will work fine.

4.3 I use RedHat Linux, and my startmenu changes keep disappearing, why?

RedHat, in an attempt to make your system easier to use, has a utility "wmconfig." What it is supposed to do is serve menus for all window managers, so that you can have the same startmenu in every window manager. However, since many people like to just use one window manager, or don't want to edit their menus via wmconfig, there are a variety of solutions presented:

David Mihm (webmaster@afterstep.org), suggests you simply avoid wmconfig this way:

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echo "exec afterstep" > ~/.xinitrc
echo "exec afterstep" > ~/.xsession
chmod 700 ~/.xsession

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Matteo Lunardi (matteo.lunardi@usa.net) has offered a work-around in some versions. In the xinit-1.4.2.noarch.rpm, he edited the file /etc/X11/xinit/XClients:

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if [ -f $HOME/.wm_style ] ; then
    WMSTYLE=Cat $HOME/.wm_style         case "$WMSTYLE" in
        Afterstep*|AfterStep*)
            # we have to start up afterstep
            if [ -x /usr/X11R6/bin/afterstep -a -f
/usr/share/afterstep/wmconfig.conf ] ; then
#               if [ ! -d $HOME/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep ]; then
                     mkdir -p $HOME/GNUstep/Library/AfterStep
                     wmconfig --output=afterstep --directories \
                        /usr/share/afterstep/wmconfig.conf 2>/dev/null
#               fi
                env > "$HOME"/Xrootenv.0
                # if this works, we stop here
                eval "exec /usr/X11R6/bin/afterstep" >
"$HOME"/.AfterStep-errors 2>&1
            fi

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In this case the change was to add comment marks ("#") to the "if" lines. Apparently it also works to add the comment marks to the "mkdir" and "wmconfig" lines.

Chris Wood (chris@hillwood93.freeserve.co.uk), suggests that you can actually use wmconfig to make things easier for yourself. (Keep in mind that the information here is in no way a complete wmconfig guide, and that the man pages or RedHat's documentation is a much better source of information) So, if you wanted a menu item, "Mail", containing both mutt and elm, you would add two files:

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~/.wmconfig/mutt
~/.wmconfig/elm

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The file "mutt" would contain the following:

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mutt name "Mutt"
mutt description "Mutt email client"
mutt group Mail
mutt exec "xterm -e mutt &"

---

The file "elm" would be similar:

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elm name "Elm"
elm description "Elm email client"
elm group Mail
elm exec "xterm -e elm &"

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4.4 How do I report a bug or suggest a new feature?

Tell someone. Email the as-devel list, bugs@afterstep.org, jump on irc, whatever. Just make the issue known to the maintainers. If it is a bug, someone will get to fixing it. If it is an idea for a new feature, keep in mind that the developers may not want to add it for a variety of reasons. It may be difficult to add, and not worth the work, such as "shaped titlebars" (which will never happen), or it may not be a good idea in their eyes. At any rate, they key is to tell other people of your problems and ideas.