The MGR Window System HOWTO Vincent Broman Draft 30 May 1996 ______________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents: 1. This HOWTO 1.1. Archiving 1.2. Authentication 1.3. Credit for the HOWTO 2. What is the MGR window system? 2.1. Function 2.2. Requirements 2.3. How do MGR, X11, and 8.5 compare? 3. Installing MGR 4. Running MGR 4.1. Applications not aware of MGR 4.2. MGR Applications (clients) distributed with the server 4.3. MGR-aware clients distributed separately, see "SUPPORT" file 5. Programming for MGR 6. More documentation 7. Credit for MGR ______________________________________________________________________ 11.. TThhiiss HHOOWWTTOO Copyright Vincent Broman 1995. Permission granted to make and distribute copies of this HOWTO under the conditions of the GNU General Public License. 11..11.. AArrcchhiivviinngg This HOWTO is archived in ffttpp::////aarrcchhiimmeeddeess..nnoosscc..mmiill//ppuubb//MMggrr//MMGGRR-- HHOOWWTTOO..ssggmmll, and also distributed from ffttpp::////ssuunnssiittee..uunncc..eedduu//ppuubb//LLiinnuuxx//ddooccss//HHOOWWTTOO//MMGGRR--HHOOWWTTOO. In nearby directories the same document may appear in alternate formats like MMGGRR--HHOOWWTTOO..ttxxtt. 11..22.. AAuutthheennttiiccaattiioonn Copies of the MGR distribution due to Broman should be accompanied by PGP signature files, signed by "Vincent Broman <broman@nosc.mil>". 11..33.. CCrreeddiitt ffoorr tthhee HHOOWWTTOO While Vincent Broman first put together this HOWTO, much of the information and text was obtained from FAQs, READMEs, etc. written by Stephen Uhler, Michael Haardt, and other public-spirited net-persons. Email corrections and suggested changes to bbrroommaann@@nnoosscc..mmiill. Uhler was the main architect of MMGGRR -- see the Credit section below. 22.. WWhhaatt iiss tthhee MMGGRR wwiinnddooww ssyysstteemm?? 22..11.. FFuunnccttiioonn MMGGRR (ManaGeR) is a graphical window system. The MMGGRR server provides a builtin window manager and windowed graphics terminal emulation on color and monochrome bitmap displays. MMGGRR is controlled by mousing pop-up menus, by keyboard interaction, and by escape sequences written on pseudo-terminals by client software. MMGGRR provides each client window with: termcap-style terminal control functions, graphics primitives such as line and circle drawing; facilities for manipulating bitmaps, fonts, icons, and pop-up menus; commands to reshape and position windows; and a message passing facility enabling client programs to rendezvous and exchange messages. Client programs may ask to be informed when a change in the window system occurs, such as a reshaped window, a pushed mouse button, or a message sent from another client program. These changes are called events. MMGGRR notifies a client program of an event by sending it an ASCII character string in a format specified by the client program. Existing applications can be integrated into the windowing environment without modification by having MMGGRR imitate keystrokes in response to user defined menu selections or other events. 22..22.. RReeqquuiirreemmeennttss MMGGRR currently runs on Linux, FreeBSD, Sun 3/4 workstations with SunOS, and Coherent. Various older versions of MMGGRR run on the Macintosh, Atari ST MiNT, Xenix, 386-Minix, DEC 3100, and the 3b1 Unix-pc. Many small, industrial, real-time systems under OS9 or Lynx in Europe use (another variant of) Mgr for their user interface. The programming interface is implemented in C and in ELisp, although supporting clients written in other languages is quite easy. Running MMGGRR requires much less in resources than X, or even gcc. It does not have the user-base, software repertory, or high-level libraries of X or MS-Windows, say, but it is quite elegant and approachable. It has been said that MMGGRR is to X as Unix was to Multics. 22..33.. HHooww ddoo MMGGRR,, XX1111,, aanndd 88..55 ccoommppaarree?? MMGGRR consists of a server with builtin window manager and terminal emulator, and clients which run in this terminal emulator and use it to communicate with the server. No resource multiplexing is done. X11 consists of a server and clients, which usually connect to the server using a socket. All user visible things like terminal emulators, window managers etc are done using clients. No resource multiplexing is done. 8.5, the Plan 9 window system, is a resource multiplexer, as each process running in a window can access //ddeevv//bbiittbblltt, //ddeevv//mmoouussee and //ddeevv//kkbbdd in its own namespace. These are multiplexed to the //ddeevv//bbiittbblliitt, //ddeevv//mmoouussee and //ddeevv//kkbbdd in the namespace of 8.5. This approach allows one to run 8.5 in an 8.5 window, a very clean design. 8.5 further has an integrated window manager and terminal emulator. 33.. IInnssttaalllliinngg MMGGRR The latest source distribution can be FTPed from the directory ffttpp::////aarrcchhiimmeeddeess..nnoosscc..mmiill//ppuubb//MMggrr//6699 or Mosaiced from hhttttpp::////aarrcchhiimmeeddeess..nnoosscc..mmiill//MMggrr//6699. The same should be found at ffttpp::////ssuunnssiittee..uunncc..eedduu//ppuubb//LLiinnuuxx//aappppss//MMGGRR and its mirrors. Older versions of this distribution from Haardt can be found on ttssxx--1111..mmiitt..eedduu and perhaps elsewhere. Pre-Linux versions of MMGGRR from Uhler and others have been found at ffttpp::////bbeellllccoorree..ccoomm//ppuubb//mmggrr, but I think they are gone now. I have saved a copy of everything about MMGGRR seen on the Internet, but I am not aware of anything weighty that is missing from this Linux/Sun distribution. MMGGRR has been through a lot of versions and releases, but the current *Linux* version number is 0.69. This version number could jump to 1.0 when stable 256-color VGA code for Linux appears (for more than one video card type). RCS version numbers have increased from Bellcore's 4.3 up to our 4.13 now. Required tools to build this distribution of MMGGRR are m4 (GNU, or perhaps another supporting the -D option), make (GNU, or perhaps another supporting include) and *roff for the docs. Also sh, awk, and POSIX install. Binary distributions are not assembled often so you need an ANSI C compiler environment, e.g. gcc. A Linux installation requires Linux 0.99.10 or better (1.2.13 is what I actually test on now), an HGC, EGA, VGA, or SVGA graphics card, and a mouse. Mouses supported are: serial Microsoft mouse, serial MouseSystems 3 and 5 byte mouse, serial MMSeries mouse, serial Logitech mouse, PS/2 mouse, or a bus mouse. With Buckey (Meta) hot keys enabled, even a mouseless system could do a certain amount of useful work under MMGGRR. The VGA 640x480 monochrome graphics mode is supported out of the box, as is 640x350 and 640x200. To run 800x600, or other modes that your BIOS can initialize and which do not require bank-switching, you need to run a small program (supplied as ssrrcc//vvggaammiisscc//rreeggss..eexxee) under DOS or an emulator to read the VGA registers and write a header file which you place in the directory ssrrcc//lliibbbbiittbblliitt//lliinnuuxx, so that it can be ##iinncclluuddee'd by the vvggaa..cc file there. Samples of these files are supplied, but please create your own. Some VGA cards can use 128k windows, and these might run higher monochrome resolutions. The Linux-colorport code also runs in the standard 320x200x256 color VGA mode without difficulty, because no bank switching is required. If you think of how few 64000 pixels is, you would realize this color mode is quite limited. Non-fast, but simple, bank-switching code has been added in version 0.65, and it works with a Tseng ET4000 card in 640x480x256 and 800x600x256 modes. The S3 code does not work in super VGA resolutions, yet. Supporting new super VGA cards requires writing one function to switch banks and then making sure that the desired screen mode can be initialized from a register dump, possibly with hand-tweaking. The Linux color servers generally mangle the screen fonts, necessitating use of restorefont as in runx. If someone were to extract the VGA initialization code out of X, this might make MGR work on a lot more color systems. Suns with SunOS 4.1.2+ and bbwwttwwoo, ccggtthhrreeee, or ccggssiixx frame buffers are supported. Their speed handling color is good. Coherent installations should refer to the VVeerrssiioonnss//RREEAADDMMEE..CCoohh file in the source distribution. Porting the latest-and-greatest MMGGRR to another POSIX-like system which provides sseelleecctt(()) and pty's and direct access to a bitmapped frame-buffer ought to be straightforward, just implementing the lliibbbbiittbblliitt library based on the ssuunnmmoonnoo or ccoolloorrppoorrtt code, say. If you want to install everything, you need 7 MB disk space for binaries, fonts, manual pages etc. The sources are about 4.5 MB, plus object files during compilation. Normally, //uussrr//mmggrr should be either the directory or a link to the directory where you install MMGGRR stuff for runtime use. Typing cd /usr/mgr; tar xvfz whereveryouputit/mgrusr-0.69.tgz and optionally cd /usr/mgr; tar xvfz wherever/morefonts-0.69.tgz will unpack these. The source can be put anywhere, e.g. typing cd /usr/src/local/mgr; tar xvfz wherever/mgrsrc-0.69.tgz to unpack the sources from aarrcchhiimmeeddeess..nnoosscc..mmiill. The source tree can be compiled from one top-level Makefile which invokes lower-level Makefiles, all of which "include" a ""CCoonnffiiggffiillee"" at the top level. The CCoonnffiiggffiillee is created by an interactive sh script named CCoonnffiigguurree, which asks you questions, then runs m4 on a CCoonnffiiggffiillee..mm44. So you type something like this: chdir /usr/src/local/mgr sh ./Configure make first make depend make install make clean It might be wise, before running make, to eyeball the CCoonnffiiggffiillee generated by the CCoonnffiigguurree script, checking that it looks reasonable. (At least one m4 poops out (Sun //uussrr//bbiinn//mm44), creating a very short CCoonnffiiggffiillee. If this happens, try hand editing a copy of CCoonnffiiggffiillee..ssuunn or CCoonnffiiggffiillee..llxx) One can also mmaakkee aallll in any directory with a Makefile as soon as the libraries have been compiled and installed. The server, libraries, and some clients have been linted, but several clients are K&R C code that generates many compiler warnings. Several flags in MGRFLAGS can be added/omitted in the Configfile to change some optional features in the server, viz: --DDWWHHOO muck utmp file so "who" works --DDVVII code for clicking the mouse in vi moving the cursor --DDDDEEBBUUGG enable debugging output selectable with -d options. --DDFFAASSTTMMOOUUSSEE XOR the mouse track --DDBBUUCCKKEEYY for hot-key server commands without mousing --DDPPRRIIOORRIITTYY for priority window scheduling instead of round-robin; the active window gets higher priority --DDCCUUTT for cut/paste between windows and a global snarf buffer --DDMMGGRR__AALLIIGGNN forces window alignment for fast scrolling (monochrome) --DDKKIILLLL kills windows upon tty i/o errors --DDSSHHRRIINNKK use only some of the screen ($MGRSIZE in environment) --DDNNOOSSTTAACCKK don't permit event stacking --DDBBEELLLL audibly ring the bell --DDKKBBDD read mmggrr input from the sun kbd, instead of stdin. This permits redirection of console msgs to a window. --DDFFRRAACCCCHHAARR fractional character movement for proportional fonts --DDXXMMEENNUU extended menu stuff (experimental) --DDMMOOVVIIEE movie making extension which logs all operations to a file for later replay -- not quite working under Linux --DDEEMMUUMMIIDDMMSSBBUUTT Emulate a missing middle mouse button by chording Not all combinations of these options have been tested on all systems. The BITBLITFLAGS macro should contain --DDBBAANNKKEEDD if you're trying out the super VGA color. C code for the static variables in the server containing icons and fonts is generated by a translator from icon and font files. Not all the clients are compiled and installed by the Makefiles. Clients found under ssrrcc//cclliieennttss having capitalized names or not compiled by the supplied Makefiles may have problems compiling and/or running, but they may be interesting to hack on. Most of the screen drivers found under the lliibbbbiittbblliitt directory are of mainly archeological interest. Grave robbing can be profitable. At some point check that your //eettcc//tteerrmmccaapp and/or tteerrmmiinnffoo file contain entries for MMGGRR terminals such as found in the mmiisscc directory. If all your software checks $TERMCAP in the environment, this is not needed, as long as you run eevvaall ``sseett__tteerrmmccaapp`` in each window. MMGGRR works better if run setuid root, because it wants to chown ptys and write in the utmp file. This helps the ify iconifier client work better and the event passing mechanism be more secure. On Linux, root permissions are _r_e_q_u_i_r_e_d in order to do in/out on the screen device. Otherwise, you decide whether to trust it. In versions around 0.62 there are troubles on the Sun with using the csh as the default shell. Programs seem to run in a different process group than the foreground process group of the window's pty, in contradiction to man pages and posix specs. There is no trouble with bash, sh, or rc. Ideas why? 44.. RRuunnnniinngg MMGGRR The only file _r_e_q_u_i_r_e_d in an MMGGRR installation is the server itself. That would give you terminal emulator windows with shells running in them and cutting and pasting with the mouse, but no nice clocks, extra fonts, fancy graphics, etc. Depending on options, a monochrome server needs about 200K of RAM plus dynamic space for windows, bitmaps, etc. If //uussrr//mmggrr//bbiinn is in your PATH, then just type "mmggrr" to start up. After enjoying the animated startup screen, press any key. When the hatched background and mouse pointer appear, hold down the left mouse button, highlight the "new window" menu item, and release the button. Then drag the mouse from corner to corner where you want a window to appear. The window will have your default shell running in it. Hold down the left mouse button over an existing window to see another menu for doing things to that window. Left-clicking on an obscured window raises it to the top. The menu you saw that pops-up over the empty background includes the quit command. For people with a two button mouse: press both buttons together to emulate the missing middle button used by some clients. The quit submenu includes the "really quit" option, a suspend option which should only be used if you run a job-control shell, and a screen saver and locker option, which waits for you to type your login password when you come back to your machine. When trying to run MMGGRR, if you get: ccaann''tt ffiinndd tthhee ssccrreeeenn make sure you have a //ddeevv entry for your display device, e.g. on a Sun //ddeevv//bbwwttwwoo00. If not, as root cd to //ddeevv, and type "MAKEDEV bwtwo0". Otherwise, you might need the --SS//ddeevv//bbwwttwwoo00 or (on Linux) the --SS664400xx448800 command line option when starting mmggrr. On Linux, you might also make sure that //uussrr//mmggrr//bbiinn//mmggrr was installed setuid root. ccaann''tt ffiinndd tthhee mmoouussee make sure //ddeevv//mmoouussee exists, usually as a symbolic link to the real device name for your mouse. If you haven't permission to write in //ddeevv, then something like a --mm//ddeevv//ccuuaa00 option can be given when starting mmggrr. Also, make sure you've supplied the right mouse protocol choice when you configured mmggrr. The mouse may speak Microsoft, even if that is not the brand name. ccaann''tt ggeett aa ppttyy make sure all of //ddeevv//[[ttpp]]ttyy[[ppqq]]?? are owned by root, mode 666, and all programs referenced with the "shell" option in your ..mmggrrcc startup file (if any) exist and are executable. nnoonnee bbuutt tthhee ddeeffaauulltt ffoonntt make sure MMGGRR is looking in the right place for its fonts. Check the CCoonnffiiggffiillee in the source or see whether a --ff//uussrr//mmggrr//ffoonntt option to mmggrr fixes the problem. ccoommpplleetteellyy hhuunngg ((nnoott eevveenn tthhee mmoouussee ttrraacckk mmoovveess)) login to your machine from another terminal (or rlogin) and kill the mmggrr process. A buckey-Q key can quit MMGGRR if the keyboard still works. 44..11.. AApppplliiccaattiioonnss nnoott aawwaarree ooff MMGGRR Any tty-oriented application can be run in an MMGGRR window without further ado. Screen-oriented applications using termcap or curses can get the correct number of lines and columns in the window by your using sshhaappee((11)) to reshape the window or using sseett__tteerrmmccaapp((11)) to obtain the correct termcap entry. 44..22.. MMGGRR AApppplliiccaattiioonnss ((cclliieennttss)) ddiissttrriibbuutteedd wwiitthh tthhee sseerrvveerr bbddffttoommggrr converts some BDF fonts to MGR fonts bbrroowwssee an icon browser bbuurryy bury this window cc__mmeennuu vi menus from C compiler errors cclloocckk digital display of time of day cclloocckk22 analog display of time of day cclloossee close this window, iconify ccoolloorr set the foreground and background color for text in this window ccoolloorrmmaapp read or write in the color lookup table ccuurrssoorr change appearance of the character cursor ccuutt cut text from this window into the cut buffer ccyyccllee display a sequence of icons ddmmggrr crude ditroff previewer ffaaddee fade a home movie script from one scene to another ffoonntt change to a new font in this window ggrrooppbbmm a groff to PBM driver using Hershey fonts hhppmmggrr hp 2621 terminal emulator iiccoo animate an icosahedron or other polyhedron iiccoonnmmaaiill notification of mail arrival iiccoonnmmssggss message arrival notification iiffyy iconify and deiconify windows llooaaddffoonntt load a font from the file system mmaazzee a maze game mmcclloocckk micky mouse clock mmeennuu create or select a pop-up menu mmggrr bellcore window system server and window manager mmggrrbbdd boulder-dash game mmggrrbbiiffff watch mailbox for mail and notify mmggrrllooaadd graph of system load average mmggrrlloocckk lock the console mmggrrllooggiinn graphical login controller mmggrrmmaagg magnify a part of the screen, optionally dump to file mmggrrmmaaiill notification of mail arrival mmggrrmmooddee set or clear window modes mmggrrmmssggss message arrival notification mmggrrpplloott Unix "plot" graphics filter mmggrrsscclloocckk sandclock mmggrrsshhoowwffoonntt browse through mgr fonts mmggrrsskkeettcchh a sketching/drawing program mmggrrvviieeww view mgr bitmap images mmlleessss start up less/more in separate window, menu added for less mmnneeww startup up any program in a separate, independent window mmpphhoooonn display the current phase of the moon mmvvii start up vi in a separate window, with mouse pointing oocclloossee (old) close a window oommggrrmmaaiill (old) notification of mail arrival ppbbmmrraawwttoommggrr,, ppggmmrraawwttoommggrr,, ppppmmrraawwttoommggrr convert raw PBM/PGM/PPM image files to mgr bitmap format ppbbmmssttrreeaamm split out a stream of bitmaps ppbbmmttoopprrtt printer output from PBM ppggss ghostscript patch and front end, a PS viewer ppiilloott a bitmap browser, or image viewer rreesseettwwiinn cleanup window state after client crashes messily rroottaattee rotate a bitmap 90 degrees. ssccrreeeenndduummpp write graphics screen dump to a bitmap file sseett__ccoonnssoollee redirect console messages to this window sseett__tteerrmmccaapp output an appropriate TERM and TERMCAP setting sseettnnaammee name a window, for messages and iconifying sshhaappee reshape this window ssqquuaarree square this window ssqquueeeezzee compress mgr bitmap using run-length encoding ssttaarrttuupp produce a skeleton startup file for current window layout tteexxmmggrr TeX dvi file previewer tteexxtt22ffoonntt,, ffoonntt22tteexxtt convert between mgr font format and text dump uunnssqquueeeezzee uncompress mgr bitmap using run length encoding vvggaaffoonntt22mmggrr,, mmggrrffoonntt22vvggaa convert between mgr font format and VGA wwiinnddooww__pprriinntt print an image of a window zzoooomm an icon editor bboouunnccee,, ggrraavv,, ggrriidd,, hhiillbbeerrtt,, mmggrreeyyeess,, ssttrriinnggaarrtt,, wwaallkk graphics demos 44..33.. MMGGRR--aawwaarree cclliieennttss ddiissttrriibbuutteedd sseeppaarraatteellyy,, sseeee ""SSUUPPPPOORRTT"" ffiillee ccaallccttooooll on-screen calculator cchheessss frontend to //uussrr//ggaammeess//cchheessss ggnnuu eemmaaccss editor with lliisspp//tteerrmm//mmggrr..eell mouse & menu support ggnnuupplloott universal scientific data plotting mmeettaaffoonntt font design and creation oorriiggaammii folding editor ppbbmmpplluuss portable bitmap format conversions, manipulations ppllpplloott slick scientific data plotting The Emacs support in mmiisscc//mmggrr..eell and mmiisscc//mmaaiillccaapp includes very usable MIME support, via Rmail and metamail. A general image viewer could be cobbled together from ppiilloott and the netPBM filters, but I have not taken the time to do it. 55.. PPrrooggrraammmmiinngg ffoorr MMGGRR The MMGGRR programmers manual, the C language applications interface, is found in the doc directory in troff/nroff form. It covers general concepts, the function/macro calls controlling the server, a sample application, with an index and glossary. Porting client code used with older versions of MMGGRR sometimes requires the substitution of #include <mgr/mgr.h> for #include <term.h> #include <dump.h> and clients using old-style B_XOR, B_CLEAR, et al instead of BIT_XOR, BIT_CLR, et al can be accommodated by writing #define OLDMGRBITOPS #include <mgr/mgr.h> Compiling client code generally requires compiler options like the following. -I/usr/mgr/include -L/usr/mgr/lib -lmgr One can get some interactive feel for the MMGGRR server functions by reading and experimenting with the mmggrr..eell terminal driver for GNU Emacs which implements the MMGGRR interface library in ELisp. The usual method of inquiring state from the server has the potential of stumbling on a race condition if the client also expects a large volume of event notifications. The problem arises if an (asynchronous) event notification arrives when a (synchronous) inquiry response was expected. If this arises in practice (unusual) then the MMGGRR state inquiry functions would have to be integrated with your event handling loop. The only major drawing function missing from the MMGGRR protocol, it seems, is an area fill for areas other than upright rectangles. There is new code for manipulating the global colormap, as well as (advisory) allocation and freeing of color indices owned by windows. If you are thinking of hacking on the server, you can find the mouse driver in mmoouussee..** and mmoouussee__ggeett..**, the grotty parts of the keyboard interface in kkbbdd..cc, and the interface to the display in the ssrrcc//lliibbbbiittbblliitt//** directories. The main procedure, much initialization, and the top level input loop are in mmggrr..cc, and the interpretation of escape sequences is in ppuutt__wwiinnddooww..cc. 66.. MMoorree ddooccuummeennttaattiioonn The programmer's manual is essential for concepts. Nearly all the clients supplied come with a man page which is installed into //uussrr//mmggrr//mmaann//mmaann11 or mmaann66. Other useful man pages are bbiittbblliitt..33, ffoonntt..55, and bbiittmmaapp..55. There is some ambiguity in the docs in distinguishing the internal bitmap format found in your frame- buffer and the external bitmap format found in files, e.g. icons. The mmggrr..11 man page covers command line options, commands in the ~~//..mmggrrcc startup file, mouse and menu interaction with the server, and hot-key shortcuts available on systems with such hot-keys. Many of the fonts in //uussrr//mmggrr//ffoonntt//** are described to some extent in //uussrr//mmggrr//ffoonntt//**..ttxxtt, e.g. //uussrr//mmggrr//ffoonntt//FFOONNTTDDIIRR..ttxxtt gives X-style font descriptions for the fonts obtained in .bdf format. Font names end in WWxxHH, where WW and HH are the decimal width and height in pixels of each character box. 77.. CCrreeddiitt ffoorr MMGGRR Stephen Uhler, with others working at Bellcore, was the original designer and implementer of MMGGRR, so Bellcore has copyrighted much of the code and documentation for MMGGRR under the following conditions. * Permission is granted to copy or use this program, EXCEPT that it * may not be sold for profit, the copyright notice must be reproduced * on copies, and credit should be given to Bellcore where it is due. One required showing of the copyright notice is the startup title screen. Other credits to: