Mjølner System - LessTif FAQ

Contents

• Part I: Frequently Asked Questions
  • Q01) What is Lesstif?
  • Q02) What is motif?
  • Q03) Does Lesstif work with Beta?
  • Q04) How do I install Lesstif?
  • Q05) Why does Texteditor not work correctly

  PART I: Frequently Asked Questions

  Q01) What is Lesstif?

  

  Lesstif is a free Motif clone. It makes it possible to develop and run motif applications on your pc for free. The libraries and sourcecode is free because it is developed on a noncommercial basis. Naturally this also means that the product is not excatly the same as the original software, (bugs occur!) but it grows in the right direction as time goes by. More and more programs is reported to run well with Lesstif.
  Since Beta uses Motif to draw windows, all errors in Lesstif, will also occur as errors in the Mjolner System and you must to wait for a Lesstif update on work around it in your BETA program by using another pattern. When ever you find a problem with the Mjolner System and Lesstif fell free to report it by email (include program-text, also big program, and description)
  Note that Lesstif only is interesting with the Mjolner System if you run Linux.

  Here is a cut from the general Lesstif-faq:

  LessTif is a clone of the Motif toolkit. Currently LessTif is partially implemented with most of the API in place. Saying this a lot of the internal functionality is still missing. Compatibility can have several degrees, the ultimate one being binary compatibility. This is the one we're aiming for. This can be tested even today on most platforms on which shared libraries are supported : if you also have Motif® shared libraries, you can choose which library to use by setting an environment variable such as LD_LIBRARY_PATH prior to executing an application. The primary objectives have been to develop the widget code of the LessTif Toolkit. Intermittently, the window manager (mwm) and the combination of UIL compiler and libMrm are being worked on. Volunteers to advance one or more parts of LessTif development, or for writing documentation without an OSF, X/Open or The Open Group copyright on it, are always welcome.

  Download the latest (0.82 or later) version of Lesstif libraries here

  Q02) What is Motif

  Motif is a widely used graphics library for X-Windows. In the Mjolner System Motif is used to implement Lidskjald. The Mjolner System uses Motif to draw windows, buttons etc.

  Q03) Does Lesstif work with Beta

  Yes. It runs, but not 100%. All the basic functions works, eg. all the guienv demos compile and run well.
  There is cosmetic errors in some of the widgets, but the functionality seems to be ok.

  Q04) How to install Lesstif with the Mjolner System?

  Installation isn't normally a problem. If your Linux installation isn't long from a normal installation it should be pretty easy.
  1. Download Lesstif libraries (0.82 or later). (www.lesstif.org)
  2. Install Lesstif libraries according to the Lesstif installation guide.
  3. Make sure that ld (gnu linker) can find the libraries (normally located in /usr/local/lib). Use ldconfig -v | more as root to ensure that. Perhaps you must append /usr/local/lib to linker configuration file /etc/ld.so.conf
  4. Recompile a subset of the BETA system: (as the owner of BETALIB):

             cd $BETALIB/guienv/v1.6/private/X11
             chmod -R u+w .
             rm linux/guienv_unix.o
             rm linux/Canvas.o
             rm linux/Button.o
             rm linux/IconButton.o
             rm linux/ToggleButton.o
             beta guienv_unixbody
             chmod -R a-w .
     
     

     Now try to compile a couple of the Lidskjalv demos in /demo/guienv/. It works normally. Try setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH path where "path" is the path of your compiled lesstif libraries if your beta program dont link.
     Don't hessitate to email the me with any errors, and I'll have a look.

  Q05) Why does Texteditor not work correctly

  First of all "Cut and Paste" is not implemented correctly in Lesstif, but they are working on it.
  This means thas all Lidskjald patterns, where you can use "Cut and Paste" does not work correctly with Lesstif.

  Second TextEditor.contents.delete doesn't work because it uses an unimplemented function. This is being fixed by the Lesstif group.

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  Mjølner System - LessTif FAQ

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