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Re: Eliminating the xterm

On Nov 21, 2007, at 11:32 AM, Merton Campbell Crockett wrote:

Why not go even further and totally disassociate the X-server and Xquartz window manager from X11.app. Add X-windows to System Preferences > System. The key preference item would be the Enable checkbox. If checked, the X-server and Xquartx window manager are started when the system boots. As I always run X applications, I would prefer to have the default setting for this to be enabled. People that do not use Apple or X terminal applications could disable X windows to minimize the demand on system resources.

The launchd on-demand launching of the X server makes this unnecessary. For the average user, seeing an "X" in the System Preferences will be confusing, since the operating system is "Mac OS X". I can see it now... "Can I disable 'X windows' to run Classic applications? Even if you called it "X11", you probably have a horde of basic users asking about "Mac OS Ecks 11", which they would perceive to be a next-generation version of Mac OS.

This also won't fly for people like me. As I get deeper into the Mac world (I've been a Mac user since last March), I get further from X11. Really, the only thing I use X11 for with any regularity is MATLAB. I don't need X11 running except when I run MATLAB, but I don't want to have to fool with a System Preferences setting to enable it when I need it. Making this an option would be a step backwards from launchd auto-launching.

Other preferences that could be set would be the system-wide default characteristics of the xterm window, i.e. background color, slidebar, geometry, etc. It could provide a choice of using xterm or xterm-color for the default window. Another preference could be system-wide PATH additions.

Just as Terminal.app doesn't have an icon in System Preferences, neither should xterm settings or geometries. This isn't a system-wide configuration; this is a per-user, single-application configuration. And that's what .Xresources is for.

With the above in place, X11.app becomes simply a means to open an interactive xterm window with the user's preferred shell. In essence, it would be little different from Apple's new Terminal.app released with Leopard. With Terminal.app now behaving like an xterm and allowing me command line access to X applications without the funky "open" command prefix, I find that the reason for using X11.app has largely disappeared.

This disassociation would mean that X11.app would be simplified to "xterm -ls". The X11.app preferences could then be expanded to set user specific preferences regarding shell, path, and xterm characterisitcs to override the system-wide defaults set in System Preferences > System > X-Windows.


X11.app is already just an xterm launcher. And Leopard doesn't require you to use "open" to start X11 applications with launchd auto- launching. And again, preferences like xterm properties don't belong in System Preferences. It belongs in .Xresources, or perhaps in plists.
--
Andrew J. Hesford <email@hidden>
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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References: 
 >Fwd: Eliminating the xterm (From: "Nathaniel Gray" <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Bill Campbell <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: "Mark E. Perkins" <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Martin Costabel <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Ben Byer <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Jeremy Huddleston <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Ben Byer <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Ralph Martin <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Jeremy Huddleston <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Martin Costabel <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: "Nathaniel Gray" <email@hidden>)
 >Re: Eliminating the xterm (From: Merton Campbell Crockett <email@hidden>)



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